Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

A wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him.

Wise men say, and not without reason, that whosoever wished to foresee the future might consult the past.

One can say this in general of men: they are ungrateful, disloyal, insincere and deceitful, timid of danger and avid of profit...Love is a bond of obligation that these miserable creatures break whenever it suits them to do so; but fear holds them fast by a dread of punishment that never passes.

The reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order.

So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.