Quotes from Neil Strauss

I think I'm annoying her. It's the questions. The fucking questions. They don't like them here. It's because questions are powerful: The right question can expose the flaws in the system.

Every problem had a solution; every dispute had a compromise; every ego had a way to be stroked.

I discovered this when Cruise had his personal Scientology liaison bring a heavy red book to the table. He opened it to the Scientology code of honor, and we discussed it point by point—set a good example, fulfill your obligations, never need praise or approval or sympathy, don't compromise your own reality. When

That's when I realized that Tyler Durden wasn't in the community to get laid. He wasn't motivated by sex. He was motivated by power. Papa's

We talked for a half hour, and they supplicated to me the whole time.

If I want true freedom, I need to accept that the path leading there is going to be one of discomfort and vulnerability.

Dog Training by Lew Burke

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.

What are borders, after all, but checkpoints letting you know that you've reached a new stage in your adventure? Well

The first person we saw when we entered the building was Muhammad Ali, perhaps a perfect symbol for the decade to come - a former powerhouse battling a degenerative disease.

If you're not being criticized, you're probably not doing anything exceptional.

My brain pupated into a butterfly." I

That moment was the first time I heard the phrase Project Hollywood. I didn't think much about it at the time. I figured it would end up like Project Bliss: another stillborn scheme consigned to the trashcan of mental masturbation. "I

The highlight of the seminar was an appearance by two people who would give me my much-coveted inner game and more: Steve P. and Rasputin.

They'd leave open loops (or unfinished metaphors and stories) in my mind that they'd close a week later. They'd play music designed to elicit specific psychological reactions. They'd put me into trances so deep that hours went by in the blink of an eye.

It's not society that holds us back, it's ourselves. We just blame society because not only is it easier but it's a nearly impossible weight to move. This way, we don't actually have to change.

La inteligencia verdadera se da cuando la mente y el corazón se conectan. Entonces es cuando ves la verdad de una forma tan nítida e inequívoca que no tienes ni que pensar en ella.

women tend to respond to status and social proof.

He wanted to "sarge" with me, as he put it. Sarging is pickup artist jargon for going out to meet women; the term evidently has its origin in the name of one of Ross Jeffries's cats, Sargy. An

Project Hollywood had reached a new nadir. MYSTERY:

There's nothing a man with low self-esteem loves more than a beautiful woman who doesn't know she's beautiful.

Then their conversation turned to work and movies. I tried to contribute, but I had trouble focusing on the words. They just floated into my ear and accumulated there like wax.

Part of being a PUA is learning to control your own state, so you don't need alcohol or drugs

For the rest of the night, the Amazon and I talked. Every now and then, she'd drag me to the bathroom, where I'd watch her inhale cocaine like a human Dustbuster. "Do