The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.

Verträge bricht man um des Nutzens willen.

Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.

… to a Prince who wants to do great things, it is necessary to learn to deceive.

It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.

It is of the greatest important in this world that a man should know himself, and the measure of his own strength and means; and he who knows that he has not a genius for fighting must learn how to govern by the arts of peace.