Quotes from Robert Greene

In the world today many people rightfully feel entitled to have success and the good things in life, but they usually understand it will require sacrifice and hard work.

Power is the measure of the degree of control you have over circumstances in your life and the actions of the people around you. It is a skill that is developed by a deep understanding of human nature, of what truly motivates people, and of the manipulations necessary for advancement and protection.

If you're in business or politics, you need to have an intense understanding of what's going on around you.

Animals behave in set patterns, which is why we are able to hunt and kill them. Only man has the capacity to consciously alter his behavior, to improvise and overcome the weight of routine and habit.

Though men determine, the gods doo dispose: and oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip.

Evil or manipulative people don't need a book, they just do it anyway.

Few are drawn to the person whom others avoid and neglect; people gather around those who have already attracted interest.

To not follow your passion in life is a recipe for failure and unhappiness.

It was 1996 and I was at a crossroads in my career. I had been working in Hollywood as a writer and was very unhappy. I had pitched an idea for a book some six months earlier, and the book packager, Joost Elffers, wanted me to write up a treatment for it.

What matters in the Sun-tzu universe are not positions of strength and power, but situations in which you have options, full of potential force.

For as one star another far exceeds, So souls in heaven are placed by their deeds.

People who retain their childish attitudes will rarely be able to hold on to the success they may achieve through their talent.

People expect your behavior to conform to known patterns and conventions. Your task as a strategist is to upset their expectations.

Actually, your past successes are your biggest obstacle: every battle, every war, is different, and you cannot assume that what worked before will work today.

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.

Once people are aware of your presence, and perhaps vaguely intrigued, you need to stir their interest before it settles on someone else.

I've always loved black culture; I don't know any other way to put it. Since I was a kid I loved music and early jazz, Sly and the Family Stone. I'm older - I'm in my early 50s - so you'll have to excuse me. That was always very exciting to me to connect to the culture on that level.

In the normal flow of a conversation, our attention is divided. We hear parts of what other people are saying, in order to follow and keep the conversation going. At the same time, we're planning what we'll say next, some exciting story of our own.

Pool, it became clear to me, is all about angles. First, there are simple angles, as you must hit the cue ball to either side when you are not straight on.

We do not see people as they are, but as they appear to us. And these appearances are usually misleading.

We are a social animal, power only exists in a social sense, we have to work in groups.

Your ability to work with people directly affects your ability to get work done in the world.

The authority you establish must emerge naturally from your character, from the particular strengths you possess.

When you get angry, your options narrow.