It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things.

Every little advantage is of great moment when men have to come to blows.

Never was anything great achieved without danger.

Politics have no relation to morals.

Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself.

Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them.

Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.

We work in the Dark, to serve the Light.

A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.

For as good habits of the people require good laws to support them, so laws, to be observed, need good habits on the part of the people.

Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.

Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.

Besides what has been said, people are fickle by nature; and it is a simple to convince them of something but difficult to hold them in that conviction; and, therefore, affairs should be managed in such a way that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force.

It is a foolish prince who entrusts the safety of his lands to hired men.

Whoever takes it upon himself to establish a commonwealth and prescribe laws must presuppose all men naturally bad, and that they will yield to their innate evil passions as often as they can do so with safety.

The ends justifies the means.

It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.

Before all else, be armed.

From this arises the following question: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other, but because they are difficult to combine, it is far better to be loved than feared if you cannot be both.

Always assume incompetence before looking for conspiracy.