"A prudent man should always follow in the path of great men and imitate those who have been most excellent, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it."

"Men must either be caressed or annihilated; they will revenge themselves for slight wrongs, but not for great ones."

"A wise prince, therefore, ought to find a means by which his subjects will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then they will always be faithful to him…"

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

"The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present."