There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.

The sinews of war are not gold, but good soldiers; for gold alone will not procure good soldiers, but good soldiers will always procure gold.

Good order and discipline in any army are to be depended upon more than courage alone.

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.

It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.