Men are always wicked at bottom unless they are made good by some compulsion.

Well used are those cruelties (if it is permitted to speak well of evil) that are carried out in a single stroke, done out of necessity to protect oneself, and are not continued but are instead converted into the greatest possible benefits for the subjects. Badly used are those cruelties which. although being few at the outset, grow with the passing time instead of disappearing. Those who follow the first method can remedy their condition with God and with men; the others cannot possibly survive.

With difficulty he is beaten who can estimate his own forces and those of his enemy.

....it cannot be called ingenuity to kill one's fellow citizens, to betray friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; by these means one can aquire power but not glory.

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.

Results are often obtained by impetuosity and daring which could never have been obtained by ordinary methods.

Speaking generally, men are ungrateful, fickle, hypocritical, fearful odanger and covetous ogain.