Quotes from Robert Greene

The passive-ironic attitude is not cool or romantic, but pathetic and destructive.

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite—inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Be like a slippery ball that cannot be held: Let no one know what gets to you, or where your weaknesses like.

In all cases, the degree of awareness represents the difference. Rational people can readily admit their own irrational tendencies and the need to be vigilant. On the other hand, irrational people become highly emotional when challenged about the emotional roots of their decisions. They are incapable of introspection and learning. Their mistakes make them increasingly defensive.

Nunca dividía a su ejército en unidades menores, ya que eso infringiría el principio militar de mantener concentradas las fuerzas; además, dispersarlas dificultaría su monitoreo, y se perdería el control de la batalla.

Tan pronto como te sientes contra mí, has dejado de comprender mi posición, ¡y por tanto mis argumentos! Tienes que ser víctima de la misma pasión".

It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Understand this: In the game of power, the people you associate with are critical. The risk of associating with infectors is that you will waste valuable time and energy trying to free yourself. Through a kind of guilt by association, you will also suffer in the eyes of others. Never underestimate the dangers of infection.

Be like a slippery ball that cannot be held: Let no one know what gets to you, or where your weaknesses lie.

Control is an elusive phenomenon. Often, the harder you tug at people, the less control you have over them. Leadership is more than just barking out orders; it takes subtlety.

In dealing with fools you must adopt the following philosophy: they are simply a part of life, like rocks or furniture.

Time is an artificial concept that we ourselves have created to make the limitlessness of eternity and the universe more bearable, more human.

Conoce  a tu presa,  y  elígela con cuidado. No pier- das tiempo en la caza menor: los conejos que caen en la trampa, el visón preso en el cepo perfumado. Desafío es placer.

the personality we project to the world plays a substantial role in our success and in our ascension to mastery.

Understand: when you enter a new environment, your task is to learn and absorb as much as possible.

Al comenzar, no debe ha- ber nada seductor en tu actitud. La seducción ha de iniciarse desde un ángulo, indirectamente, para que el objetivo  se percate de ti en forma gra- dual.

Fortunately, to acquire rationality is not complicated. It simply requires knowing and working through a three-step process. First, we must become aware of what we shall call low-grade irrationality. This is a function of the continual moods and feelings that we experience in life, below the level of consciousness. When we plan or make decisions, we are not aware of how deeply these moods and feelings skew the thinking process.

Daily Law: Look at the sky and stars as if seeing them for the first time. Law of the Sublime, 1: Expand the Mind to Its Furthest Reaches—The Cosmic Sublime

They create in our thinking pronounced biases that are so deeply ingrained in us that we see evidence of them in all cultures and all periods of history. These biases, by distorting reality, lead to the mistakes and ineffective decisions that plague our lives. Being aware of them, we can begin to counterbalance their effects.

Be careful in assembling this team that you are not seduced by expertise and intelligence. Character, the ability to work under you and with the rest of the team, and the capacity to accept responsibility and think independently are equally key.

This will rule out working in groups larger than a handful of people—above a certain number, political considerations inevitably rise to the surface. This means working for yourself or on very small startups.

When we unconsciously disconnect ourselves from the awareness of death, we forge a rather loose relationship with time. We image that we have more time than is reality. Our minds drift to the future, where all our hopes and wishes will be fulfilled.

Daily Law: Confront one of your limitations—one of the obstructions in your path—today. Break beyond it, climb over it, think your way around it. Don't run from it. It was created for you. Mastery, I: Discover Your Calling—The Life's Task

We humans like to imagine that we have an objective knowledge of the world. We take it for granted that what we perceive on a daily basis is reality—this reality being more or less the same for everybody. But this is an illusion. No two people see or experience the world in the same way. What we perceive is our personal version of reality, one that is of our own creation. To realize this is a critical step in our understanding of human nature.