Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
Since love and fear can hardly coexist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.
Because just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals.
A prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding. If his own prowess fails to compare with theirs, at least it has an air of greatness about it.
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.