All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and the State in which they are most eager, the worst.

The most beautiful motion is that which accomplishes the greatest results with the least amount of effort.

There are three arts which are concerned with all things: one which uses, another which makes, and a third which imitates them.

Renouncing the honors at which the world aims, I desire only to know the truth... and to the maximum of power, I exhort all other men to do the same.

It is as expedient that a wicked man be punished as that a sick man be cured by a physician; for all chastisement is a kind of medicine.

Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.