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.

Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.

For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying

From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.

For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world there are only the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on.

For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find.

Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.