The problem is that to win at a status game, you have to put somebody else down. That’s why you should avoid status games in your life because they make you into an angry combative person. You’re always fighting to put other people down, to put yourself and the people you like up.

The problem is that to win at a status game, you have to put somebody else down. That’s why you should avoid status games in your life because they make you into an angry combative person.

People creating wealth will always be attacked by people playing status games

The status game is a trap creative people see through so deeply they can’t unsee it. Once you see what the game actually is, you can’t pretend to want to win it anymore.

Their money buys approval.
Ours buys a life.

Wealth creation is an evolutionarily recent positive-sum game. Status is an old zero-sum game. Those attacking wealth creation are often just seeking status.

Wealth is a very positive sum game. We create things together. We’re starting this endeavor to create this piece of art that explains what we’re doing. At the end of it, something brand new will be created. It’s a positive sum game. Status is a very old game Status, on the other hand, is a zero-sum game. It’s a very old game. We’ve been playing it since monkey tribes. It’s hierarchical. Who’s number one? Who’s number two? Who’s number three? And for number three to move to number two, number two has to move out of that slot. So, status is a zero-sum game.

Status games are usually invisible to the people winning them and painfully obvious to the people losing them.

A reduction of the criteria of status allocation to one -- money under pure capitalism or power in a stalinist state -- embitters the game of status-seeking for another, though related, reason as well: namely because a plurality of criteria permits a segregation of the players into non-competitive groups. If one man prides himself on his descent, another on wealth, the third on knowledge, the fourth on convivial graces, they cannot directly challenge each other's claims; just as a mathematician cannot compete directly with an archaeologist in who is better at his job. Thus the sophistication of culture can contribute to social peace by multiplying the number of non-comparable goals.

Status seeking is a part of human nature and can be harnessed for good or ill. Learning to recognize status-motivated behavior — in yourself and in other people — will help you understand why people tend to act in certain predictable ways, help you avoid common pitfalls, and improve your ability make wise decisions.

Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy.

In the status game, then, the working-class child starts out with a handicap and, to the extent that he cares what the middle-class persons think of him or has internalised the dominant middle-class attitudes toward social class position, he may be expected to feel some 'shame'.

The two kinds of people - those who want money, and those who want status.

The game of discontent has its rules, and he who disregards them cheats. It is not permitted to you to wish to add another's advantages or possessions to your own; you are permitted only to wish to be another.

The overt pursuit of status signals low status, so we covertly pursue status, disguised as public virtue.