I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.

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  Men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.

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  When evils are foreseen, they can be quickly remedied; but when, through not having been foreseen, they have been permitted to grow in a way that everyone can see them, there is no longer a remedy.

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  He who is the cause of another becoming powerful is ruined.

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  The first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him.

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  There is no other way of guarding oneself from flatterers except letting men understand that to tell you the truth does not offend you.

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  It is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.

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