It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
— Niccolo Machiavelli
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.
The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.
Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
