Hence it comes that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.

Results are often obtained by impetuosity and daring which could never have been obtained by ordinary methods.

It has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain as fame or power not founded on its own strength.

....for friendships that are acquired by a price and not by greatness and nobility of character are purchased but are not owned, and at the proper moment they cannot be spent.

Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.

A prince need trouble little about conspiracies when the people are well disposed, but when they are hostile and hold him in hatred, then he must fear everything and everybody.

When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off my muddy, sweaty clothes of everyday, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death; I pass indeed into their world.