Quotes from Robert Greene

People who involve themselves completely in the immediate problem are intimidating; because they are focusing so intensely, they seem more powerful than they are.

Listen to Your Inner Authority

Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands

You] will tend to deny that you ever experience any envy, at least strong enough to act on. you are simply not being honest with yourself.

See into the Spirit of the Times A man's shortcomings are taken from his epoch; his virtues and greatness belong to himself. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The greatest discovery of my generation is the fact that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. —William James

The greatest danger you face is your general assumption that you really understand people and that you can quickly judge them. Instead, you must begin with the assumption that you are ignorant and that you have natural biases that will make you judge people incorrectly. Each person you meet is like an undiscovered country, with a very particular psychological chemistry that you will carefully explore.

Moralizers who try to separate themselves and denounce the narcissists in the world today are often the biggest narcissists of them all - they love the sound of their voice as they point fingers and preach.

I have always believed," he later wrote, "that when a man gets it into his head to do something, and when he exclusively occupies himself in that design, he must succeed, whatever the difficulties.

parents like to see themselves more as equals, with a bit more knowledge and experience, whose role is really to validate their children's feelings and make sure they are continually entertained and occupied. They are more like older friends. This same leveling dynamic applies to teachers and students, where learning must be fun.

Doubt is a powerful weapon: Once you let it out of the bag with insidious rumors, your opponents are in a horrible dilemma.

Sentir temor y peligro puede agudizar más tarde la seducción; pero si provocas esas sensaciones en las primeras etapas, lo más probable es que ahuyentes a tu víctima.) Con frecuencia, la mejor manera de parecer inofensivo y concederte margen de maniobra es establecer una amistad, acercándote cada vez más pero manteniendo siempre la distancia adecuada con amistades del sexo opuesto.

We all believe we are masters in the realm of opinions and reasoning. You must be careful, then: Learn to demonstrate the correctness of your ideas indirectly.

When we are tired, it is often because we are bored. When no real challenge faces us, a mental and physical lethargy sets in. "Sometimes death only comes from a lack of energy," Napoleon once said, and lack of energy comes from a lack of challenges, comes when we have taken on less than we are capable of. Take a risk and your body and mind will respond with a rush of energy. Make risk a constant practice; never let yourself settle down.

Understand this: Words are a dime a dozen. Everyone knows that in the heat of an argument, we will all say anything to support our cause. We will quote the Bible, refer to unverifiable statistics. Who can be persuaded by bags of air like that? Action and demonstration are much more powerful and meaningful.

Daily Law: With some distance and awareness, you can become much more than a follower of or a rebel against your generation; you can mold your own relationship to the zeitgeist and become a formidable trendsetter.

In the face of the Sublime, we feel a shiver, a foretaste of death itself, something too large for our minds to encompass. And for a moment it shakes us out of our smugness and releases us from the deathlike grip of habit and banality.

Y la mejor manera de encontrar las debilidades del jefe no es por medio de espías, sino de un fuerte abrazo. Detras de una fachada amigable, aun servil, puedes observar a tus enemigos, lograr que se sinceren y delaten. Llega a lo más hondo; piensa como ellos. Una vez que descubras su vulnerabilidad —

The Laws of Human Nature, 17: Seize the Historical Moment—The Law of Generational Myopia

Finally, power itself always exists in concentrated forms. In any organization it is inevitable for a small group to hold the strings. And often it is not those with the titles. In the game of power, only the fool flails about without fixing his target.

In moments of uncertainty and danger, you need to fight this desire to turn inward. Instead, make yourself more accessible, seek out old allies and make new ones, force yourself into more and more different circles. This has been the trick of powerful people for centuries.

Any success that we have in life inevitably depends on some good luck, timings, the contributions of others, the teachers who helped us along the way, the whims of the public in need of something new. Our tendency is to forget all of this and imagine that any success stems from our superior self.

To become indignant at [people's] conduct is as foolish as to be angry with a stone because it rolls into your path.

your weaknesses, your emotions, your lack of resolution in seeing things through to the end. You must declare unceasing war on yourself. As a warrior in life, you welcome combat and conflict as ways to prove yourself, to better your skills, to gain courage, confidence, and experience. Instead of repressing your doubts and fears, you must face them down, do battle with them.