Ability and perseverance are the weapons of weakness.

The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.

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.

A wise ruler should rely on what is under his own control, not on what is under the control of others.

Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself; for that power is produced by him either through craft or force; and both of these are suspected by the one who has been raised to power.

One must consider the final result

There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.