Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.
Men are always wicked at bottom unless they are made good by some compulsion.
There is no avoiding war it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
It is a common fault of men not to reckon on storms in fair weather.
One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.
Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
A prince need take little account of conspiracies if the people are disposed in his favor.
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man o...
Considering thus how much honor is awarded to antiquity, and how many times—letting pass infinite other examples—a fragment of an ancient statue has been bought at high price because someone wants to...
War is just when it is necessary arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.