Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.
Injuries, therefore, should be inflicted all at once, that their ill savour being less lasting may the less offend; whereas, benefits should be conferred little by little, that so they may be more ful...
War is just when it is necessary arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
Men injure either from fear or hatred.
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful.
To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people.
Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.
War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.
Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.
For the friendships which we buy with a price, and do not gain by greatness and nobility of character, though they be fairly earned are not made good, but fail us when we have occasion to use them.
Decide which is the line of conduct that presents the fewest drawbacks and then follow it out as being the best one because one never finds anything perfectly pure and unmixed or exempt from danger.
A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
Never was anything great achieved without danger.
Only those means of security are good are certain are lasting that depend on yourself and your own vigor.
Benefits should be granted little by little so that they may be better enjoyed.
There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first...
What remains to be done must be done by you; since in order not to deprive us of our free will and such share of glory as belongs to us, God will not do everything himself.
And what physicians say about consumptive illnesses is applicable here: that at the beginning, such an illness is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognized...
