In order not to annul our free will, I judge it true that Fortune may be mistress of one half our actions but then even she leaves the other half, or almost, under our control.

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.

Ability and perseverance are the weapons of weakness.

It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.

Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.

Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself.

The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.