Quotes from Robert Greene

Some 2,600 years ago the ancient Greek poet Pindar wrote, "Become who you are by learning who you are.

Absence diminishes minor passions and inflames great ones, as the wind douses a candle and fans a fire. —François de La Rochefoucauld

Look at the part of a person that is most visible—their greed, their lust, their intense fear. These are the emotions they cannot conceal, and over which they have the least control. And what people cannot control, you can control for them.

La verdad suele verse, rara vez oírse".

Everybody steals in commerce and industry. I've stolen a lot myself. But I know how to steal. Thomas Edison, 1847-1931

la coqueta emite señales contradictorias que estimulan respuestas contradictorias, hundiendo a la víctima en la confusión.

Lo que la gente diga de sí misma no importa; dirá lo que sea. Ve lo que ha hecho; los actos no mienten.

Daily Law: Rationality is something to be acquired by individuals, not by mass movements or technological progress. Feeling superior and beyond it is a sure sign that the irrational is at work. The Laws of Human Nature, 1: Master Your Emotional Self—The Law of Irrationality

This is a lesson that the stars in the sky teach us—they may be related to the sun, and just as brilliant, but they never appear in her company. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

To imagine that we are not always in control of what we do is a frightening thought, but in fact it is the reality.

Mao actually encouraged China's disagreements with the Soviet Union and the United States; without clear-cut enemies, he believed, his people would lose any sense of what Chinese Communism meant. A sharply defined enemy is a far stronger argument for your side than all the words you could possibly put together.

This law applies not only to war but to everyday situations. People are always trying to read the motives behind your actions and to use your predictability against you. Throw in a completely inexplicable move and you put them on the defensive. Because they do not understand you, they are unnerved, and in such a state you can easily intimidate them.

Esto no debe anunciarse en tus palabras, sino en tu actitud. No te preocupes si esta cualidad oculta es negativa, como peligro, crueldad o amoralidad; la gente se sentirá atraída por el enigma de todas maneras, y es raro que la bondad pura sea seductora.

Daily Law: If you are too present and familiar, always available and visible, you seem too banal. You give people no room to idealize you. But if you are too aloof, people cannot identify with you. The Laws of Human Nature, 15: Make Them Want to Follow You—The Law of Fickleness

It is the natural course of things that power eventually fades and weakens.

Appearance Bias I understand the people I deal with; I see them just as they are. We see people not as they are, but as they appear to us. And these appearances are usually misleading.

Você precisa adaptar a sua Missão de Vida às novas circunstâncias. Não insista nas formas ultrapassadas de fazer as coisas, ou correrá o risco de ficar para trás, sofrendo as consequências. É preciso ser flexível e se adaptar o tempo todo. Se a mudança lhe for imposta, como aconteceu com Freddie Roach, você deve resistir à tentação de se exaltar ou de sentir pena de si mesmo.

Trying to deny our self-absorbed nature, trying to pretend we are somehow more altruistic than others, make it impossible for us to transform ourselves.

The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear.

We are subject to forces from deep within us that drive our behavior and that operate below the level of our awareness.

lo que separa a quienes dominan un campo de los muchos que sencillamente ejercen un empleo es una cualidad emocional. El nivel de nuestro deseo, paciencia, persistencia y seguridad termina por desempeñar en el éxito un papel mucho más importante que la posesión de facultades mentales extraordinarias. Si nos sentimos motivados y vigorizados podemos vencer casi todo.

The same should apply to an entrepreneurial venture. Mistakes and failures are precisely your means of education. They tell you about your own inadequacies.

Primero tendrás que demostrar que eres menos inhibido que tu público: que irradias una sexualidad peligrosa, no temes a la muerte, eres deliciosamente espontáneo. Aun un indicio de estas cualidades hará pensar a la gente que eres más poderoso de lo que en verdad eres.

What gets us into trouble in the realm of power is often our own overreaction to the moves of our enemies and rivals. That overreaction creates problems we would have avoided had we been more reasonable.