Let a prince be guarded with soldiers, attended by councillors, and shut up in forts; yet if his thoughts disturb him, he is miserable.

Children ought to be led to honorable practices by means of encouragement and reasoning, and most certainly not by blows and ill treatment.

Men who marry wives very much superior to themselves are not so truly husbands to their wives as they are unawares made slaves to their position.

Blinded as they are to their true character by self-love, every man is his own first and chiefest flatterer, prepared, therefore, to welcome the flatterer from the outside, who only comes confirming the verdict of the flatterer within.

Children are to be won to follow liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced thereto by whipping.

A warrior carries his shield for the sake of the entire line.

The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.