So far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil.

Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.

All who contribute to the overthrow of religion, or to the ruin of kingdoms and commonwealths, all who are foes to letters and to the arts which confer honour and benefit on the human race (among whom I reckon the impious, the cruel, the ignorant, the indolent, the base and the worthless), are held in infamy and detestation.

The princes who have done great things are the ones who have taken little account of their promises.

...people are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.

A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savor of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.

The nature of man is such that people consider themselves put under an obligation as much by the benefits they confer as by those they receive.