“Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities. And it must be understood that a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things which are considered good in men, being often obliged, in order to maintain the state, to act against faith, against charity, against humanity, and against religion. And, therefore, he must have a mind disposed to adapt itself according to the wind, and as the variations of fortune dictate, and, as I said before, not deviate from what is good, if possible, but be able to do evil if constrained.”

“When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off my muddy, sweaty, workday clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death: I pass indeed into their world.”

“Those who believe that where great personages are concerned new favors cause old injuries to be forgotten deceive themselves.”

“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.”

“Without an opportunity, their abilities would have been wasted, and without their abilities, the opportunity would have arisen in vain.”

“These opportunities, then, gave these men the chance they needed, and their great abilities made them recognize it.”

“To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people”

“In an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

“If the chief party whether it be the people or the army or the nobility which you think most useful and of most consequence to you for the conservation of your dignity be corrupt you must follow their humor and indulge them and in that case honesty and virtue are pernicious.”

“Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful.”

“Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.”