It is naturally given to all men to esteem their own inventions best.
Two evils, greed and faction are the destruction of all justice.
It is a wise mans part, rather to avoid sickness, than to wish for medicines.
In the first place, most princes apply themselves to the arts of war, in which I have neither ability nor interest, instead of to the good arts of peace. They are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms by hook or by crook than on governing well those that they already have.
It's a poor doctor who can't cure one disease without giving you another.
The times are never so bad but that a good man can make shift to live in them.