To ensure victory the troops must have confidence in themselves as well as in their commanders.

Men are more ready to offend one who desires to be beloved than one who wishes to be feared.

For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying

It is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman.

One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain; and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons when danger is far away; but when it comes nearer to you, they turn away.

Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.

Men seldom rise from low condition to high rank without employing either force or fraud, unless that rank should be attained either by gift or inheritance.