Every man whom chance alone has, by some accident, made a public character, hardly ever fails of becoming, in a short time, a ridiculous private one.
Great men help dazzle the people; after that, they dazzle themselves even more dangerously.
Timorous minds are much more inclined to deliberate than to resolve.
One of man’s greatest failings is that he looks almost always for an excuse, in the misfortune that befalls him through his own fault, before looking for a remedy-which means he often finds the remedy too late.
Weakness has many stages. There is a difference between feebleness by the impotency of the will, of the will to the resolution, of the resolution to the choice of means, of the choice of the means to the application.
When you are obliged to make a statement that you know will cause displeasure, you must say it with every appearance of sincerity; this is the only way to make it palatable.
It’s easier to fight one’s enemies than to get on with one’s friends.
Persecution to persons in a high rank stands them in the stead of eminent virtue.
Every numerous assembly is a mob; everything there depends on instantaneous turns.
Where princes are concerned, a man who is able to do good is as dangerous and almost as criminal as a man who intends to do evil.
What is necessary is never a risk.
Of all the passions, fear weakens judgment most.
Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can’t understand.
Weak souls always set to work at the wrong time.
There are no small steps in great affairs.
If you have to make an unpopular speech, give it all the sincerity you can muster; that’s the only way to sweeten it.
Nothing indicates the soundness of a man’s judgment so much as knowing how to choose between two disadvantages.
Most men only commit great crimes because of their scruples about petty ones.
The most mistrustful are often the greatest dupes.
The man who can own up to his error is greater than he who merely knows how to avoid making it.