Men are of three different capacities: one understands intuitively; another understands so far as it is explained; and a third understands neither of himself nor by explanation. The first is excellent, the second, commendable, and the third, altogether useless.

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

He who would foresee what is to happen should look to what has happened: for all that is has its counterpart in time past.

So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.

You have to be a prince to understand the people, and you have to belong to the people to understand the princes.

There are three kinds of minds: first those that attain insight and understanding of things by their own means, then those that recognize what is right when others explain it to them, and finally those that are capable of neither one nor the other.

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.