Robert Greene Quotes

The feeling that we have endless time to complete our work has an insidious and debilitating effect on our minds.

Our attention and thoughts become diffused.

Our lack of intensity makes it hard for the brain to jolt into a higher gear.

The connections do not occur.

For this purpose you must always try to work with deadlines, whether real or manufactured.

Faced with the slenderest amount of time to reach the end, the mind rises to the level you require.

Ideas crowd upon one another.

You cannot make anything worthwhile in this world unless you have first developed and transformed yourself.

Understand: it is not only what you do that must have flow, but also how you do things. It is your strategies, your methods of attacking problems, that must constantly be adapted to circumstances.

In dealing with fools you must adopt the following philosophy: they are simply a part of life, like rocks or furniture.

All of us have foolish sides, moments in which we lose our heads and think more of our ego or short-term goals. It is human nature.

Seeing this foolishness within you, you can then accept it in others.

This will allow you to smile at their antics, to tolerate their presence as you would a silly child, and to avoid the madness of trying to change them.

It is the height of stupidity to believe that in the course of your short life, your few decades of consciousness, you can somehow rewire the configurations of your brain through technology and wishful thinking, overcoming the effect of six million years of development.

Do not be afraid to bring out the more sensitive or ambitious sides to your character. These repressed parts of you are yearning to be let out. In the theater of life, expand the roles that you play. Don’t worry about people’s reactions to any changes in you they sense. You are not so easy to categorize, which will fascinate them and give you the power to play with their perceptions of you, altering them at will.

You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe.

Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your job if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the advantage of others.

The moment that you rest, thinking that you have attained the level you desire, a part of your mind enters a phase of decay.

A strategist never hits strength against strength; instead he probes the enemy’s weaknesses.

Trust your instincts: if someone’s behavior seems suspicious, it probably is.

It may turn out to be benign, but in the meantime, it is best to be on your guard.

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense.

The world is ruled by necessity: People change their behavior only if they have to. They will feel urgency only if their lives depend on it.

Real pleasure comes from overcoming challenges, feeling confidence in your abilities, gaining fluency in skills, and experiencing the power this brings.

When choosing people to work and associate with, do not be mesmerized by their reputation or taken in by the surface image they try to project. Instead, train yourself to look deep within them, to their past actions, to see their character.

Always say less than necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control.

Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.

Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less.

The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.