Robert Greene Quotes: Robert Greene is one of the few authors in the world who has delivered six international bestsellers. He belongs to the jew parents and attended the University of California and completed his degree from the University of Wisconsin. Before becoming a well-renowned author, he worked in more than 60 jobs which includes diverse designations like a magazine editor, writer, translator, construction worker, etc. His book ‘48 laws of Power’ is one of the most sought-after books and became a bible for anyone who seeks dominance and power. Robert’s other noteworthy works are Mastery, The 33 Strategies of War, The Art of Seduction, The 50th Law, etc. His work has been featured in some of the top-notch publication houses like The New York Times, Business Week, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Business Insider, etc. In this post, we have jotted down the most inspiring Robert Greene Quotes on Power and Mastery that will rekindle your courage, dominance, and power.
Robert Greene Quotes
Rationality is something to be acquired by individuals, not by mass movements or technological progress. Feeling superior and beyond it is a sure sign that the irrational is at work. » Robert Greene
When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity… you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others » Robert Greene
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Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you. » Robert Greene
Recognizing the prevailing winds does not necessarily mean running with them. » Robert Greene
We do not see people as they are, but as they appear to us. And these appearances are usually misleading. » Robert Greene
Keep your friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent » Robert Greene
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At all costs, you must embody something, even if it is roguery or evil. Anything to avoid the taint of familiarity and commonness. » Robert Greene
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. » Robert Greene
To not follow your passion in life is a recipe for failure and unhappiness. » Robert Greene
Do not leave your reputation to chance or gossip; it is your life’s artwork, and you must craft it, hone it, and display it with the care of an artist. » Robert Greene
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Sincerity is more important than goodness. » Robert Greene
LAW 46 – Never Appear Too Perfect:Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity. » Robert Greene
Remember: not only what you do matters, but how you do it. » Robert Greene
LAW 25 – Re-Create Yourself: Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life. » Robert Greene
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An elusive, enigmatic aura will make people want to know more, drawing them into your circle. Create such a power by hinting at something contradictory within you. » Robert Greene
Humans are immensely suggestible; their moods will easily spread to the people around them. » Robert Greene
The passive aggressive arguer comes armed with tricky tactics. They cannot take the risk that they might be wrong: their self-esteem is too intertwined with their opinions. It is more important to affirm their rightness, and sense of superiority, than to arrive at the truth. » Robert Greene
A hustler has to deal with danger and risk. It’s part of the game. You cannot control it all, nor would you want to. Chaos, unknown factors are not something to be anxious about. » Robert Greene
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…But the human tongue is a beast that few can master. It strains constantly to break out of its cage, and if it is not tamed, it will tun wild and cause you grief. » Robert Greene
Many a serious thinker has been produced in prisons, where we have nothing to do but think. » Robert Greene
Always remember that your calmness under fire is your best defense in any argument or discussion. » Robert Greene
Stupidity and human incompetence are the great evils, not ambition and glory. » Robert Greene
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Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others—that is too high a price to pay. » Robert Greene
Better to accept society’s occasional gibes with grace and insolence. After all, your charm is that you don’t care what people think of you. » Robert Greene
With colleagues in the work environment, we fail to see the source of their envy or the reason for their manipulations; our attempts at influencing them are based on the assumptions that they want the same things as ourselves. » Robert Greene
Whatever you say or do, keep a glint in your eye to show that you do not take anything seriously. » Robert Greene
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Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies. » Robert Greene
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. » Robert Greene
Wild independence has a provocative effect on us. » Robert Greene
There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous. » Robert Greene
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I’m not who people expect me to be. I’m not Henry Kissinger. » Robert Greene
If a subject excites us, if it stirs our deepest curiosity, or if we have to learn because the stakes are high, we pay much more attention. What we absorb sinks in. » Robert Greene
You are like a hunter: your knowledge of every detail of the forest and ecosystem as a whole will give you many more options for survival. » Robert Greene
The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways. » Robert Greene
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Often people become our friend or follower with an undercurrent of resentment in our having more success than they have. They secretly desire the opportunity to take us down a notch; they have a nose for any misstep on our part they can exploit. » Robert Greene
I had noticed that many of these successful people, historical and contemporary, shared certain common traits. They had a way of thinking that was exceptionally fluid; they could adapt to almost any circumstance; when confronted with problems, they could look at them from novel perspectives and solve them. » Robert Greene
LAW 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim. » Robert Greene
Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter » Robert Greene
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Emotions are continually affecting our thought processes and decisions, below the level of our awareness. And the most common emotion of them all is the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. » Robert Greene
The pain and boredom we experience in the initial stage of learning a skill toughens our minds. » Robert Greene
Understand: people will constantly attack you in life. One of their main weapons will be to instill in you doubts about yourself – your worth, your abilities, your potential. They will often disguise this as their objective opinion, but invariably it has a political purpose – they want to keep you down. » Robert Greene
I don’t want to throw mud at anyone – I really admire Gandhi as a brilliant strategist – but Gandhi was pretty manipulative, you know. » Robert Greene
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Throughout your life you will encounter tedious situations, and you must cultivate the ability to handle them with discipline. » Robert Greene
When our emotions are engaged, we often have trouble seeing things as they are. » Robert Greene
If a person is successful, we imagine they are probably also ethical, conscientious and deserving of their good fortune. This obscures the fact that many people who get ahead have done so by doing less than moral actions, which they cleverly disguise from view. » Robert Greene
Real pleasure comes from overcoming challenges, feeling confidence in your abilities, and experiencing the power this brings. » Robert Greene
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No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you. » Robert Greene
Once people are aware of your presence, and perhaps vaguely intrigued, you need to stir their interest before it settles on someone else. » Robert Greene
Transforming yourself into a deep listener will not only prove more amusing as you open your mind to their mind, but you will gain the most invaluable lessons about human psychology. » Robert Greene
person who cannot control his words shows that he cannot control himself, and is unworthy of respect. » Robert Greene
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If we experience any failures or setbacks, we do not forget them because they offend our self-esteem. Instead we reflect on them deeply, trying to figure out what went wrong and discern whether there are any patterns to our mistakes. » Robert Greene
For the future, the motto is, “No days unalert. » Robert Greene
People around you, constantly under the pull of their emotions, change their ideas by the day or by the hour, depending on their mood. You must never assume that what people say or do in a particular moment is a statement of their permanent desires. » Robert Greene
Let me spell it out: with the psychotic boss, nothing you do is ever quite right. They set traps, asking you to do things, and no matter how hard you think of accomplishing it in their way, it is wrong and you are to blame. This tends to instill a lot of fear in you. » Robert Greene
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Ethics and power are separate. » Robert Greene
Mastery, I learned, was not something genetic, or for a lucky few. It is something we can all attain if get rid of some misconceptions and gain clarity as to the required path. » Robert Greene
Despise The Free Lunch » Robert Greene
Cleverly lead your victims into a crisis, a moment of danger, or indirectly put them in an uncomfortable position, and you can play the rescuer, the gallant knight. The powerful feelings and emotions this elicits can easily be redirected into love.”
The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus. » Robert Greene
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Waste brings woe, and sorrow hates despair. » Robert Greene
Weak character will neutralize all of the other possible good qualities a person might possess. » Robert Greene
Make creativity rather than comfort your goal and you will ensure far more success for the future. » Robert Greene
The quality of the information you gather on your enemies is more important than the quantity. A single but crucial nugget can be the key to their destruction. » Robert Greene
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Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated » Robert Greene
People are more complicated than the masks they wear in society. » Robert Greene
When you get angry, your options narrow. » Robert Greene
The great thing about America is that you can come from the worst circumstances and become something remarkable. » Robert Greene
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Evil or manipulative people don’t need a book, they just do it anyway. » Robert Greene
I know My God commands, whose power no power resists. » Robert Greene
Female psychotic bosses can be particularly devilish. They will tend to mix in a lot of passive aggression, making you feel guilty for all kinds of things. » Robert Greene
To succeed in the game of power, you have to master your emotions. But even if you succeed in gaining such self-control, you can never control the temperamental dispositions of those around you. And this presents a great danger. » Robert Greene
If you change and adapt your persona, you are seen as inauthentic; if you stay the angry young man, you fade from attention or seem tiresome. » Robert Greene
Your life must be a progression towards ownership – first mentally of your independence, and then physically of your work, owning what you produce. » Robert Greene
In your games of power, you always look several steps ahead and plan accordingly. And you exploit the fact that other people are more emotional and incapable of such foresight. » Robert Greene
The most pleasurable things in life occur as a result of something not directly intended and expected. When we try to manufacture happy moments, they tend to disappoint us. » Robert Greene
A Prince asked the dying spanish statesman, “Does your Excellency forgive all your enemies?” “I do not have to forgive all my enemies,” answered the stateman, “I have had them all shot. » Robert Greene
Remember: The best deceivers do everything they can to cloak their roguish qualities. They cultivate an air of honesty in one area to disguise their dishonesty in others. Honesty is merely another decoy in their arsenal of weapons. » Robert Greene
I went to an extreme for literary purposes because I felt all the self-help books out there were so gooey and Pollyanna-ish and nauseating. It was making me angry. » Robert Greene
Though men determine, the gods doo dispose: and oft times many things fall out between the cup and the lip. » Robert Greene
When I say ‘Crush your enemy’, I don’t literally mean it. » Robert Greene
Everyone assumes I practise all of my own laws but I don’t. I think anybody who did would be a horrible ugly person to be around. » Robert Greene
I’d done a lot of research in Hollywood and in academia. I love research and so I wanted to kind of ground the book in history, in things that I read that were universal and timeless and then kind of let my own experiences sort of filter through all of this history. » Robert Greene
Sweet are the thoughts that savour of content, The quiet mind is richer than a crown… » Robert Greene
do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? » Robert Greene
Never take it for granted that your past successes will continue into the future. 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. » Robert Greene
For as one star another far exceeds, So souls in heaven are placed by their deeds. » Robert Greene
A child wants things to be a certain way. When you get to be an adult, you just understand that some people are good, some are not, and you can’t be naive. » Robert Greene
An emotional response to a situation is the single greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more than any temporary satisfaction you might gain by expressing your feelings. » Robert Greene
You cannot control a large group on your own. You will turn into a micromanager or dictator , making yourself exhausted and hated. You need to develop a team of lieutenants who are infused with your ideas, your spirit, and your values. » Robert Greene
friendship and love blind every man to their interests. » Robert Greene
If you’re in business or politics, you need to have an intense understanding of what’s going on around you. » Robert Greene
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. » Robert Greene
Everybody, to some extent, manipulates. Even children learn to cry when they want something. There are all kinds of subtle things we do to get others to follow our lead, not bother us, and so on. » Robert Greene
If you want to be a good strategist, you can never just go off a principle you read in a book. You need to adapt what you do to the situation; no rule of thumb is true all the time. » Robert Greene
Even as a child, Muhammad Ali got perverse pleasure out of being different. He liked the attention it got him, but most of all he just liked being himself: odd and independent. » Robert Greene
People expect your behavior to conform to known patterns and conventions. Your task as a strategist is to upset their expectations. » Robert Greene
While still working for others, your goal at some point must be to carve out little areas that you can operate on your own, cultivating entrepreneurial skills. » Robert Greene
Understand: as children and young adults, we are taught to conform to certain codes of behavior and ways of doing things. We learn that being different comes with a social price. » Robert Greene
He who poses as a fool is not a fool. » Robert Greene
Never be distracted by people’s glamorous portraits of themselves and their lives; search and dig for what really imprisons them. » Robert Greene
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. » Robert Greene
Become who you are by learning who you are. » Robert Greene
Your fears are a kind of prison that confines you within a limited range of action. The less you fear, the more power you will have and the more fully you will live. » Robert Greene