"Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them, they take vengeance, whereas if you wound them incurably, they are unable to do so."

"To be feared is much safer than to be loved."

"It is always necessary to take the lesser evil as good."

"Men are by nature much more inclined to evil than to good; and therefore, if you would have the good, you must put them under the necessity of being so."

"A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands."