"It is better to be impetuous than cautious, because Fortune is a woman, and if you wish to control her, it is necessary to beat and ill-use her."

"Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by feeling."

"He who is not strong enough to be a fox and a lion at the same time, will be ruined by either."

"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."

"A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and loyal; for, with a very few examples, he will be more merciful than those who, fro…"