Because just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals.

The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved.

One should never allow chaos to develop in order to avoid going to war, because one does not avoid a war but instead puts it off to his disadvantage

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.

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

Never lead your soldiers to battle if you have not first confirmed their spirit and known them to be without fear and ordered; and never test them except when you see that they hope to win.

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