Quotes from Robert Greene

We imagine we are looking for the truth, or being realistic, when in fact we are holding on to ideas that bring a release from tension and soothe our egos, make us feel superior. This pleasure principle in thinking is the source of all of our mental biases. If you believe that you are somehow immune to any of the following biases, it is simply an example of the pleasure principle in action

It is an extremely human response to not look inward after a mistake or crime, but rather to look outward and to affix blame and guilt on a convenient object.

Although we might enter these situations with excitement about what we can learn or do with our new skills, we quickly realize how much hard work there is ahead of us. The great danger is that we give in to feelings of boredom, impatience, fear, and confusion. We stop observing and learning. The process comes to a halt.

What will seduce a person is the effort we expend on their behalf, showing how much we care, how much they are worth. Leaving things to chance is a recipe for disaster, and reveals that we do not take love and romance very seriously.

O caminho falso na vida é, em geral, algo a que somos atraídos por motivos equivocados – dinheiro, fama, atenção, e assim por diante. Se é de atenção que precisamos, em geral experimentamos uma espécie de vazio interior, que esperamos preencher com o falso amor

If you yearn for power, quickly lay honesty aside, and train yourself in the art of concealing your intentions.

you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

El amante accesible. Cuando la gente madura, se protege contra experiencias dolorosas encerrándose en sí misma. El precio de esto es la rigidez, física y mental. Pero los niños están por naturaleza desprotegidos y dispuestos a experimentar, y esta receptividad es muy atractiva.

Tienen un don —facilidad de palabra, a menudo— que los distingue de la muchedumbre. Expresan una visión.

Hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals just not your real ones. You will kill three birds with one stone: you appear friendly, open, and trusting; you conceal your intentions; and you send your rivals on time-consuming wild-goose chases.

Sometimes, however, it is better to play the most capricious, unpredictable move.

Character is destiny. —Heraclitus

Not only because of the fact that . . . oppression usually increases if it is suffered calmly and without protest, but also because opposition gives us inner satisfaction, distraction, relief . . . Our opposition makes us feel that we are not completely victims of the circumstances. GEORG SIMMEL, 1858–1918

Your honesty is likely to offend people; it is much more prudent to tailor your words, telling people what they want to hear rather than the coarse and ugly truth of what you feel or think.

The court imagined itself the pinnacle of refinement, but underneath its glittering surface a cauldron of dark emotions - greed, envy, lust, hatred - boiled and simmered. Our world today similarly imagines itself the pinnacle of fairness, yet the same ugly emotions still stir within us, as they have forever.

By being unabashedly open you make yourself so predictable and familiar that it is almost impossible to respect or fear you, and power will not accrue to a person who cannot inspire such emotions.

Use Resistance and Negative Spurs Every negative is a positive. The bad things that happen to me, I somehow make them good. —50 Cent

Da Vinci había seguido fielmente su guía hasta el final y, habiendo completado su curso, era hora de morir. Quizá en ese momento regresaron a él estas palabras, escritas años atrás en su libreta: "Así como un día rebosante trae consigo dulces sueños, una vida bien empleada procura una muerte dulce".

Muéstrate abierto a la influencia de los demás, y caerán más fácilmente bajo tu hechizo.

They forget the favors they have received and imagine they have earned their success by their own merits.

The key to success in any field is first developing skills in various areas, which you can later combine in unique and creative ways.

Sacrifice is a ritual, perhaps the most ancient ritual of all; ritual too is a well-spring of power.

Daily Law: As Xenophon said, your obstacles are not rivers or mountains or other people; your obstacle is yourself. The 33 Strategies of War, Strategy 1: Declare War on Your Enemies—The Polarity Strategy

elige una causa, un ideal, una visión, y demuestra que no te desvías de tu meta. La gente imaginará que tu seguridad procede de algo real.