"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."

"The prince who relies entirely on fortune is ruined when she changes."

"The common people are always caught by appearances and by the outcome of a thing; and in the world there are only the common people."

"For the nature of men is such that they are much more bound by the benefits they confer than by those they receive."

"And it is to be noted that in taking a state, the conqueror must arrange to commit all his cruelties at once, so as not to have to repeat them daily, but to be able, by not repeating them, to reassure…"