Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves

....nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power.

Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.

He who builds on the people, builds on the mud

There is nothing so difficult or so dangerous as to undertake to change the order of things.

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.

The prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches.