"For it must be noted that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge slight injuries, but not severe ones; hence the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such…"

"Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others."

"The Roman state was ruined by the ambition of the people as much as by the ambition of the nobility."

"For there is no other way of guarding oneself from flatterers than by letting men understand that to tell you the truth will not offend you."

"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…"