Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.

Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.

And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.

A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.

The nature of man is such that people consider themselves put under an obligation as much by the benefits they confer as by those they receive.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

A prince who is not himself wise cannot be wisely advised. . . . Good advice depends on the shrewdness of the prince who seeks it, and not the shrewdness of the prince on good advice.