Quotes from Robert Greene

In this world, where the game is played with loaded dice, a man must have a temper of iron, with armor proof to the blows of fate, and weapons to make his way against men. Life is one long battle; we have to fight at every step; and Voltaire very rightly says that if we succeed, it is at the point of the sword, and that we die with the weapon in our hand. —Arthur Schopenhauer

Daily Law: Embrace negative experiences. When was the last time you failed, felt embarrassed, got criticized? What were you doing? What did the experience teach you? The Laws of Human Nature, 13: Advance with a Sense of Purpose—The Law of Aimlessness

you must begin with the assumption that you are ignorant and that you have natural biases that will make you judge people incorrectly.

Remember the following: Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your

su  narcisismo re- sulta endemoniadamente  atractivo.

Accept People as Facts

The power of demonstrating your idea is that your opponents do not get defensive, and are therefore more open to persuasion.

Create a Ladder of Descending Goals

no es la posesión sino el deseo lo que impulsa en secreto a la gente.

Remember: You have only so much energy and so much time. Every moment wasted on the affairs of others subtracts from your strength.

Make understanding people a fun game, the solving of puzzles. It is all part of the human comedy. Yes, people are irrational, but so are you. Make your acceptance of human nature as radical as possible. This will calm you down and help you observe people more dispassionately, understanding them on a deeper level. You will stop projecting your own emotions on to them. All of this will give you more balance and calmness, more mental space for thinking.

Use this tactic in the following manner: 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.

Las mujeres [narcisistas] son las que más fascinan a los hombres.

Daily Law: Examine the faults you see in others and how they are in you as well.

Third and most important, we must begin to make the transformation into the healthy narcissist. Healthy narcissists have a stronger, even more resilient sense of self.

Wage guerrilla war on your mind, allowing no static lines of defense, no exposed citadels—make everything fluid and mobile.

To hold an idea and convince ourselves we arrived at it rationally, we go in search of evidence to support our view. What could be more objective or scientific? But because of the pleasure principle and its unconscious influence, we manage to find the evidence that confirms what we want to believe. This is known as confirmation bias.

All working situations require a kind of distance between people. You are trying to work, not make friends; friendliness (real or false) only obscures that fact. The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.

Our greatest weakness is losing heart, doubting ourselves, becoming unnecessarily cautious. Being more careful is not what we need; that is just a screen for our fear of conflict and of making a mistake.

by embracing the full picture of themselves, their self-love is more real and complete. From this stronger inner position, they can turn their attention outward more often and more easily. This attention goes in one of two directions, and sometimes both.

In fact it is often wise to choose the most innocent victim possible as a sacrificial goat.

La mayoría somos de- masiado  obvios; tú sé difícil de entender.

Instead, see other people as phenomena, as neutral as comets or plants. They simply exist. They come in all varieties, making life rich and interesting. Work with what they give you, instead of resisting and trying to change them.

He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how. —Friedrich Nietzsche