"It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are bad, and that they will use their malignity of mind whenever they have a free opportunity to do so."

"He who desires to rule, must be prepared to use fraud and deceit."

"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves."

"If a prince wants to keep his state, he must learn how to be not good, and to use or not use this according to the necessity."

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