100+ Robert Greene Quotes To Master Your Own Mind

Life goes by very fast. And the worst thing in life that you can have is a job that you hate, and have no energy and creativity in.

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.

You must understand the following: In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself and border on the religious.

Everything that happens to you is a form of instruction if you pay attention.

Events in life mean nothing if you do not reflect on them in a deep way, and ideas from books are pointless if they have no application to life as you live it.

Friendship and love blind every man to their interests.

The passive ironic attitude is not cool or romantic, but pathetic and destructive.

Never whine, never complain, never try to justify yourself.

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.”

When our emotions are engaged, we often have trouble seeing things as they are.

There is a popular saying in Japan that goes “Tada yori takai mono wa nai,” meaning: “Nothing is more costly than something given free of charge.”

You must avoid at all cost the idea that you can manage learning several skills at a time. You need to develop your powers of concentration and understand that trying to multitask will be the death of the process.

Many serious thinkers have been produced in prisons, where we have nothing to do but think.

Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others—that is too high a price to pay.

Mastery is not a function of genius or talent, it is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge.

A person who cannot control his words shows that he cannot control himself, and is unworthy of respect.

You must engrave deeply in your mind and never forget: your emotional commitment to what you are doing will be translated into your work.

If you are doing something primarily for money and without a real emotional commitment, it will translate into something that lacks a soul and that has no connection to you.

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.

Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

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 turn wild and cause you grief.

The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.

There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing is more dangerous.

Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others.

Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.

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.

Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head.

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.

It is your own bad strategies, not the unfair opponent, that are to blame for your failures. You are responsible for the good and bad in your life.

There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous.

The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus.

Never be distracted by people’s glamorous portraits of themselves and their lives; search and dig for what really imprisons them.

Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.

Do not fight them. Instead think of them the way you think of children, or pets, not important enough to affect your mental balance.

Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead. Focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it.

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.

Seduction is a game of psychology, not beauty, and it is within the grasp of any person to become a master at the game. All that is required is that you look at the world.

There is too little mystery in the world; too many people say exactly what they feel or want.

The sadness of any sort is also seductive, particularly if it seems deep-rooted, even spiritual, rather than needy or pathetic—it makes people come to you.

If no resistances or obstacles face you, you must create them. No seduction can proceed without them.

Religion is the great balm of existence because it takes us outside ourselves, connects us to something larger.

Your greatest power in seduction is your ability to turn away, to make others come after you, delaying their satisfaction.

A man grows bored with a woman, no matter how beautiful she is; he yearns for different pleasures, and for adventure.

Men do not understand how women think, and vice versa; each tries to make the other act more like a member of their own s*x.

You will not seduce anyone by simply depending on your engaging personality, or by occasionally doing something noble or alluring. Seduction is a process that occurs over time—the longer you take and the slower you go, the deeper you will penetrate into the mind of your victim. It is an art that requires patience, focus, and strategic thinking.

Nothing is stable in the realm of power, and even the closest of friends can be transformed into the worst of enemies.

Never try to seduce someone who is of your own type. You will be like two puzzles missing the same parts.

If you see yourself as an object, then others will too. An ethereal, dreamlike air will heighten the effect.

The world is full of self-absorbed people. In their presence, we know that everything in our relationship with them is directed toward themselves—their insecurities, their neediness, their hunger for attention.