Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

Men may second fortune, but they cannot thwart her.

Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results.

....nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power.

Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time; but many other states that have been disarmed have lost their liberties in less than forty years.