Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.

Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.

Besides what has been said, people are fickle by nature; and it is a simple to convince them of something but difficult to hold them in that conviction; and, therefore, affairs should be managed in such a way that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force.

It is better to be bold than too circumspect, because fortune is of a sex which likes not a tardy wooer and repulses all who are not ardent.

One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.

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.

Republics have a longer life and enjoy better fortune than principalities, because they can profit by their greater internal diversity. They are the better able to meet emergencies.