"For there is no other way of guarding oneself from flatterers than by letting men understand that to tell you the truth will not offend you."

"For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often even more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are."

"All men are bad and ever ready to use their inherent baseness whenever they have a free opportunity to do so."

"A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests."

"He who is not a friend to the new order of things must be an enemy to it."