Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

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

There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.

God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.

War should be the only study of a prince. he should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.