Quotes from Robert Greene

El aislamiento es tan fatal para las artes creativas como para las artes sociales.

Impatience, on the other hand, only makes you look weak. It is a principal impediment to power.

Our levels of desire, patience, persistence, and confidence end up playing a much larger role in success than sheer reasoning powers. Feeling motivated and energized, we can overcome almost anything. Feeling bored and restless, our minds shut off and we become increasingly passive.

Interdependence remains the law, independence a rare and often fatal exception. Better to place yourself in a position of mutual dependence, then, and to follow this critical law rather than look for its reversal. You will not have the unbearable pressure of being on top, and the master above you will in essence be your slave, for he will depend on you.

You will also become humbler, realizing you're not superior to others in the way you had imagined. This will not make you feel guilty or weighed down by your self-awareness, but quite the opposite. You will accept yourself as a complete individual, embracing both the good and the bad, dropping your falsified self-image as a saint. You will feel relieved of your hypocrisies and free to be more yourself. People will be drawn to this quality in you.

Emotions tend to narrow the mind, making us focus on one or two ideas that satisfy our immediate desire for power or attention, ideas that usually backfire.

The key in life is to always be willing to walk away.

Your timidity infects people with awkward energy, elicits embarrassment. Doubt springs up on all sides. Boldness destroys such gaps.

In the beginning, strategy indeed belonged to a select few—a general, his staff, the king, a handful of courtiers. Soldiers were not taught strategy, for that would not have helped them on the battlefield. Besides, it was unwise to arm one's soldiers with the kind of practical knowledge that could help them to organize a mutiny or rebellion.

Everything in life conspires to push you into the center, and not just politically. The center is the realm of compromise. Getting along with other people is an important skill to have, but it comes with a danger: by always seeking the path of least resistance, the path of conciliation, you forget who you are, and you sink into the center with everyone else. Instead see yourself as a fighter, an outsider surrounded by enemies. Constant battle will keep you strong and alert.

No matter how hard people try to pull you in, never let your interest in their affairs and petty squabbles go beyond the surface.

La fortaleza. Al- ta y erguida sobre la colina, la ciudadela se convierte en un símbolo de todo lo detestable del poder y la autoridad. Los ciu- dadanos lo traicionarán ante el pri- mer enemigo que aparezca. Aislada de toda comunicación y de toda inteligen- cia, la ciudadela caerá con suma facilidad.

Be extra careful in the work environment with those who like to maintain their position through charm and being political, rather than by getting things done.

We humans are born with a tremendous potential for understanding people on a level that is not merely intellectual. It is a power developed by our earliest ancestors, in which they learned how to intuit the moods and feelings of others by placing themselves in their perspective.

At a certain point, we move from student to practitioner. We try out our own ideas, gaining valuable feedback in the process. We use our expanding knowledge in ways that are increasingly creative. Instead of just learning how others do things, we bring our own style and individuality into play.

A man suddenly spared the guillotine is a grateful man indeed, and will go to the ends of the earth for the man who has pardoned him.

quienes son capaces de prever por adelantado y planear con paciencia para lograr que sus planes den sus frutos tienen un poder cercano al de los dioses.

You will need a degree of humility in this process. You can never know exactly what people are thinking and can easily make mistakes, and so you must not rush to judgments but keep yourself open to learning more. People are more complex than you imagine. Your goal is to simply see their point of view better. As you go through this process, it becomes like a muscle that gets stronger the more you exercise it.

The strategies that succeed in war, whether conventional or unconventional, are based on timeless psychology, and great military failures have much to teach us about human stupidity and the limits of force in any arena.

It is important to remember, though, that being self-reliant does not mean burdening yourself with petty details. You must be able to distinguish between small matters that are best left to others and larger issues that require your attention and care.

Si tropiezas con un rasgo especial de maldad o estupidez, […] no permitas que te enfade o te perturbe; velo como una adición a tu conocimiento, un dato nuevo a tomar en cuenta en el estudio del carácter de la humanidad. Tu actitud será la del mineralogista que tropieza con un muy peculiar espécimen de un mineral. —ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

There is no good and bad, there are only circumstances.

If strategy is the art of getting results, of putting ideas into practice, then it should be spread far and wide, particularly among those who have been traditionally kept ignorant of it, including women.

If you never expect gratitude from a friend, you will be pleasantly surprised when they do prove grateful.