I have wasted my hours.
Nature has placed in the front part of man, as he moves, all those parts which when struck cause him to feel pain; and this is felt in the joints of the legs, the forehead and the nose, and has been so devised for the preservation of man, because if such pain were not felt in these limbs they would be destroyed by the many blows they receive.
Better to illuminate than merely to shine; to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.
All our knowledge hast its origins in our perceptions … In nature there is no effect without a cause … Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments … Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass.
The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.
Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity.
Anyone who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it; for such a city may always justify rebellion in the name of liberty and its ancient institutions.
I hold it to be a proof of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words toward anyone, for neither diminishes the strength of the enemy.
For those colours which you wish to be beautiful, always first prepare a pure white ground.
The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them.
Love is a binding force, by which another is joined to me and cherished by myself.
He who achieves power by violence does not truly become lord or master.
Good order makes men bold, and confusion, cowards.
Charity is the form, mover, mother and root of all the virtues.
It is a foolish prince who entrusts the safety of his lands to hired men.
Avoid the precepts of those thinkers whose reasoning is not confirmed by experience.
We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.
A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. And, on the contrary, it is seen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they have lost their states. And the first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art.
Men and words are ready made, and you, O Painter, if you do not know how to make your figures move, are like an orator who knows not how to use his words.
O Lord, thou givest us everything, at the price of an effort.
Knowing how to fight made men more bold, because no one fears doing what it seems to him he has learned to do. Therefore, the ancients wanted their citizens to be trained in every warlike action.
To such an extent does nature delight and abound in variety that among her trees there is not one plant to be found which is exactly like another; and not only among the plants, but among the boughs, the leaves and the fruits, you will not find one which is exactly similar to another.
Good writing comes from good talent.
...it is a base thing to look to others for your defense instead of depending upon yourself. That defense alone is effectual, sure, and durable which depends upon yourself and your own valor.
The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.
A life well used procures a happy death.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.
Lying on a feather mattress or quilt will not bring you renown.
One of the great secrets of the day is to know how to take possession of popular prejudices and passions, in such a way as to introduce a confusion of principles which makes impossible all understanding between those who speak the same language and have the same interests.
The lie is so vile, that even if it were in speaking well of godly things, it would take off something from God's grace; and Truth is so excellent, that if it praises but small things they become noble.
How perilous it is to free a people who prefer slavery.
Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature.
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.
One's thoughts turn towards Hope.
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.
As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.
To enjoy - to love a thing for its own sake and for no other reason.
Although human ingenuity may devise various inventions which, by the help of various instruments, answer to one and the same purpose, yet will it never discover any inventions more beautiful, more simple or more practical than those of nature, because in her inventions there is nothing lacking and nothing superfluous; and she makes use of no counterpoise when she constructs the limbs of animals in such a way as to correspond to the motion of their bodies, but she puts into them the soul of the body.
I say that every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel. He must, however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness.
When you are alone you are all your own.
They have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly, but they have many when they reach the summit.
Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.
I love those who can smile in trouble.
Arrive at knowledge over small streamlets, and do not plunge immediately into the ocean, since progress must go from the easier to the more difficult.
average human “looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking.
Feathers shall raise men even as they do birds towards heaven :- That is by letters written with their quills.
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
The things that we love tell us what we are.
Never was anything great achieved without danger.
He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building.
Experience never misleads; what you are misled by is only your judgment, and this misleads you by anticipating results from experience of a kind that is not produced by your experiments.
He who desires or attempts to reform the government of a state and wishes to have it accepted, must at least retain the semblance of the old forms; so that it may seem to the people that there has been no change in the institutions, even though in fact they are entirely different from the old ones. For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities.
Medicine is the restoration of discordant elements; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body.
There is nothing that deceives us more than our own judgment when used to give an opinion on our own works. It is sound in judging the work of our enemies but not that of our friends, for hate and love are two of the most powerfully motivating factors found among living things.
For as laws are necessary that good manners be preserved, so there is need of good manners that law may be maintained.
Practice should always be based upon a sound knowledge of theory.
Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.
Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.
