Men as a whole judge more with their eyes than with their hands.
Human beings remain constant in their methods of conduct.
Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself; for that power is produced by him either through craft or force; and both of these are suspected by the one who has been raised to power.
So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.
One arises from a low to a high station more often by using fraud instead of force.
He who has once begun to live by rapine always finds reasons for taking what is not his.
The peasant wants only to be left alone to prosper in peace.
He who would foresee what is to happen should look to what has happened: for all that is has its counterpart in time past.
The world has always been the same; and there is always as much good fortune as bad in it.
Impetuosity and audacity often achieve what ordinary means fail to achieve.
Always assume incompetence before looking for conspiracy.
It is a foolish prince who entrusts the safety of his lands to hired men.
Anyone who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it; for such a city may always justify rebellion in the name of liberty and its ancient institutions.
To be feared is much safer then to be loved.
We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed.
War brings out thieves and peace hangs them.
Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.
The prince must be a lion, but he must also know how to play the fox.
If the present be compared with the remote past, it is easily seen that in all cities and in all peoples there are the same desires and the same passions as there always were.
It is a common failing of man not to take account of tempests during fair weather.