For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find.

A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.

Nothing feeds upon itself as liberality does.

We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed.

Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.

He who desires or attempts to reform the government of a state and wishes to have it accepted, must at least retain the semblance of the old forms; so that it may seem to the people that there has been no change in the institutions, even though in fact they are entirely different from the old ones. For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities.

Princes should delegate to others the enactment of unpopular measures and keep in their own hands the means of winning favours.