Cruelties should be committed all at once.

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

For this is the tragedy of man circumstances change, but he does not.

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.

When every province of the world so teems with inhabitants that they can neither subsist where they are nor remove themselves elsewhere.

As all those have shown who have discussed civil institutions, and as every history is full of examples, it is necessary to whoever arranges to found a Republic and establish laws in it, to presuppose that all men are bad and that they will use their malignity of mind every time they have the opportunity.

He who builds on the people, builds on the mud