"There are three kinds of intellect: one which comprehends by itself; another that discerns what another comprehends; and a third which comprehends neither by itself nor by the showing of another."

"He who is not a friend to the new order of things must be an enemy to it."

"For of men it may generally be affirmed, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous."

"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."

"Hence it is to be remarked that, in seizing a state, the usurper ought to arrange to commit all his cruelties at once, so as not to have to repeat them every day, and thus able to secure men without f…"