Top 500 Robert Greene Quotes (2024 Update)
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451. “This mental habit offers excellent ground for deception, using a strategy that Machiavelli calls “acclimatization” – deliberately creating some pattern to make your enemies believe that your next action will follow true to form. Having lulled them into complacency, you now have room to work against their expectations, break the pattern, and take them by surprise.”

— Robert Greene

452. “In the realm of power, you must ask yourself, what is the point of chasing here and there, trying to solve problems and defeat my enemies, if I never feel in control?”

— Robert Greene

453. “We think we are judging the younger generation in an objective manner, but we are merely succumbing to an illusion of perspective. It is also true that we are probably experiencing some hidden envy of their youth and mourning the loss of our own.”

— Robert Greene

454. “You must never assume that what people say or do in a particular moment is a statement of their permanent desires.”

— Robert Greene

455. “If you work on yourself first, as Faraday did, developing a solid work ethic and organizational skills, eventually the right teacher will appear in your life.”

— Robert Greene

456. “Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt.”

— Robert Greene

457. “Everything we’ve got, or so we think, comes from natural talent and hard work. But with other people, we are quick to ascribe to them all kinds of Machiavellian tactics. This allows us to justify whatever we do, no matter the results.”

— Robert Greene

458. “The root cause of all passive aggression is the human fear of direct confrontation – the emotions that a conflict can churn up and the loss of control that ensues.”

— Robert Greene

459. “According to Freud, seduction begins early in life, in our relationship with our parents. They seduce us physically, both with bodily contact and by satisfying desires such as hunger, and we in turn try to seduce them into paying us attention. We are creatures by nature vulnerable to seduction throughout our lives.”

— Robert Greene

460. “One repays a teacher badly if one remains only a pupil. – FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE.”

— Robert Greene

461. “The voice in this case that is calling you is not necessarily coming from God, but from deep within. It emanates from your individuality. It tells you which activities suit your character. And at a certain point, it calls you to a particular form of work or career. Your work then is something connected deeply to who you are, not a separate compartment in your life. You develop then a sense of your vocation.”

— Robert Greene

462. “Being more careful is not what we need; that is just a screen for our fear of conflict and of making a mistake. What we need is double the resolve – an intensification of confidence. That will serve as a counterbalance.”

— Robert Greene

463. “What does it matter if another player, your friend or rival, intended good things and had only your interests at heart, if the effects of his action lead to so much ruin and confusion?”

— Robert Greene

464. “Making a show of one’s weakness is actually a very effective strategy, subtle and deceptive, in the game of power.”

— Robert Greene

465. “Persistence of little progress wins over brute force.”

— Robert Greene

466. “According to Machiavelli, human beings naturally tend to think in terms of patterns. They like to see events conforming to their expectations by fitting into a pattern or scheme, for schemes, whatever their actual content, comfort us by suggesting that the chaos of life is predictable.”

— Robert Greene

467. “Read more books than those who have a formal education, developing this into a lifelong habit.”

— Robert Greene

468. “What separates Masters from others is often something surprisingly simple. Whenever we learn a skill, we frequently reach a point of frustration – what we are learning seems beyond our capabilities. Giving in to these feelings, we unconsciously quit on ourselves before we actually give up.”

— Robert Greene

469. “Power rarely ends up in the hands of those who start a revolution, or even of those who further it; power sticks to those who bring it to a conclusion.”

— Robert Greene

470. “The great questions of the time will be decided, not by speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by iron and blood.”

— Robert Greene

471. “Self absorption is anti-seductive; it is a sign of insecurity.”

— Robert Greene

472. “Commit harmless mistakes that will not hurt you in the long run but will give you the chance to ask for his help. Masters adore such requests. A master who cannot bestow on you the gifts of his experience may direct rancor and ill will at you instead.”

— Robert Greene

473. “Instead of wasting time negotiating with every difficult person, work on spreading a spirit of camaraderie and efficiency that becomes self-policing. Streamline the organization, cutting out waste – in staff, in the irrelevant reports on your desk, in pointless meetings.”

— Robert Greene

474. “The key to staying unintimidated is to convince yourself that the person you’re facing is a mere mortal, no different from you – which is in fact the truth. See the person, not the myth. Imagine him or her as a child, as someone riddled with insecurities. Cutting the other person down to size will help your keep your mental balance.”

— Robert Greene

475. “Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love. – NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.”

— Robert Greene

476. “If you are observing someone you naturally dislike, or who reminds you of someone unpleasant in your past, you will tend to see almost any cue as unfriendly or hostile. You will do the opposite for people you like. In these exercises you must strive to subtract your personal preferences and prejudices about people.”

— Robert Greene

477. “Cultures have norms that reflect centuries of shared beliefs and ideals. Do not expect to scoff at such things with impunity. You will be punished somehow, even if just through isolation – a position of real powerlessness.”

— Robert Greene

478. “The character you seem to have been born with is not necessarily who you are; beyond the characteristics you have inherited, your parents, your friends, and your peers have helped to shape your personality.”

— Robert Greene

479. “We live in a world that seems increasingly beyond our control. Our livelihoods are at the whim of globalized forces. The problems that we face – economic, environmental, and so on – cannot be solved by our individual actions.”

— Robert Greene

480. “The more we lose ourselves in predigested theories and past experiences, the more inappropriate and delusional our response.”

— Robert Greene

481. “As Xenophon said, your obstacles are not rivers or mountains or other people; your obstacle is yourself. If you feel lost and confused, if you lose your sense of direction, if you cannot tell the difference between friend and foe, you have only.”

— Robert Greene

482. “What you want in warfare is room to maneuver. Tight corners spell death. Having enemies gives you options. You can play them off against each other, make one a friend as a way of attacking the other, on and on.”

— Robert Greene

483. “Do not be afraid to exaggerate the role of willpower. It is an exaggeration with a purpose. It leads to a positive self-fulfilling dynamic, and that is all you care about. See this shaping of your attitude as your most important creation in life, and never leave it to chance.”

— Robert Greene

484. “And at the core of this intensity of effort is in fact a quality that is genetic and inborn – not talent or brilliance, which is something that must be developed, but rather a deep and powerful inclination toward a particular subject.”

— Robert Greene

485. “In fact, the better you are at dealing with power, the better friend, lover, husband, wife, and person you become.”

— Robert Greene

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

— Robert Greene

487. “Our continual connection to social media makes us prone to new forms of viral emotional effects. These are not media designed for calm reflection.”

— Robert Greene

488. “Anger is the most destructive of emotional responses, for.”

— Robert Greene

489. “We often notice a similar sensation of confusion and helplessness when it comes to ourselves and our own behavior. For instance, we suddenly say something that offends our boss or colleague or friend – we are not quite sure where it came from, but we are frustrated to find that some anger and tension from within has leaked out in a way that we regret.”

— Robert Greene

490. “Worship Athena, not Ares.”

— Robert Greene

491. “Van Gogh didn’t paint for money either. He only sold two paintings in his whole lifetime. Robert:.”

— Robert Greene

492. “To help yourself to cultivate serendipity, you should keep a notebook with you at all times. The moment any idea or observation comes, you note it down. You keep the notebook by your bed, careful to record ideas that come in those moments of fringe awareness – just before falling asleep, or just upon waking.”

— Robert Greene

493. “I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it – and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.”

— Robert Greene

494. “As the great physicist Max Planck put it, scientists “must have a vivid intuitive imagination, for new ideas are not generated by deduction, but by an artistically creative imagination.”

— Robert Greene

495. “A false path in life is generally something we are attracted to for the wrong reasons – money, fame, attention, and so on. If it is attention we need, we often experience a kind of emptiness inside that we are hoping to fill with the false love of public approval.”

— Robert Greene

496. “We force ourselves to step outside our inner chamber of habitual thoughts and connect to the world, to other people, to reality.”

— Robert Greene

497. “The more you are in contact with others, the more graceful and at ease you become. Isolation, on the other hand, engenders an awkwardness in your gestures, and leads to further isolation, as people start avoiding you.”

— Robert Greene

498. “What if we could find out what causes us to lie about who we are, or to inadvertently push people away?”

— Robert Greene

499. “The fetish is an object that commands an emotional response and that makes us breathe life into it. Because it is an object we can imagine whatever we want to about it.”

— Robert Greene

500. “At your birth a seed is planted. That seed is your uniqueness. It wants to grow, transform itself, and flower to its full potential. It has a natural, assertive energy to it. Your Life’s Task is to bring that seed to flower, to express your uniqueness through your work. You have a destiny to fulfill. The stronger you feel and maintain it – as a force, a voice or in whatever form – the greater your chance of fulfilling this Life’s Task and achieving mastery.”

— Robert Greene