Top 500 Robert Greene Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “I’m a big believer in being an entrepreneur. It’s easy for me to say because I work for myself and I am someone who likes that process. You have control over your destiny.”

— Robert Greene

102. “News makes things black and white. Documentary filmmaking should do the opposite.”

— Robert Greene

103. “A mind content is both crown and kingdom.”

— Robert Greene

104. “Hangs in the uncertain balance of proud time.”

— Robert Greene

105. “It takes great talent and skill to conceal one’s talent and skill. LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, 1613–1680 Halliwell.”

— Robert Greene

106. “The boredom will go away once you enter the cycle. The panic disappears after repeated exposure. The frustration is a sign of progress – a signal that your mind is processing complexity and requires more practice. The insecurities will transform into their opposites when you gain mastery.”

— Robert Greene

107. “Without enemies around us, we grow lazy. An enemy at our heels sharpens our wits, keeping us focused and alert. It is sometimes better, then, to use enemies as enemies rather than transforming them into friends or allies.”

— Robert Greene

108. “What offers immediate pleasure comes to seem like a distraction, an empty entertainment to help pass the time. Real pleasure comes from overcoming challenges, feeling confidence in your abilities, gaining fluency in skills, and experiencing the power this brings.”

— Robert Greene

109. “Never discriminate as to whom you study and whom you trust. Never trust anyone completely and study everyone, including friends and loved ones.”

— Robert Greene

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

— Robert Greene

111. “If you have millions and millions of dollars, you’re living in a totally different world. You don’t feel it anymore and you’ve got to feel it.”

— Robert Greene

112. “If deception is the most potent weapon in your arsenal, then patience in all things is your crucial shield.”

— Robert Greene

113. “Ah! what is love! It is a pretty thing, As sweet unto a shepherd as a king, And sweeter too; For kings have cares that wait upon a crown, And cares can make the sweetest love to frown.”

— Robert Greene

114. “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 run wild and cause you grief. Power cannot accrue to those who squander their treasure of words.”

— Robert Greene

115. “Stop shallow water from running, it will rage; tread on a worm and it will turn.”

— Robert Greene

116. “You must be the mirror, training your mind to try to see yourself as others see you.”

— Robert Greene

117. “A sense of urgency comes from a powerful connection to the present.”

— Robert Greene

118. “When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all.”

— Robert Greene

119. “Only your hearts be frolic, for the time Craves that we taste of naught but jouissance.”

— Robert Greene

120. “Life has more meaning in the face of Death.”

— Robert Greene

121. “I often daydream about the future, thinking of the world in 100, 200 years, imagining what it looks like, feels like. I hope that my books are like ghosts that will inhabit this future.”

— Robert Greene

122. “Set a beggar on horse backe, they saie, and hee will neuer alight.”

— Robert Greene

123. “In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it.”

— Robert Greene

124. “Your ability to work with people directly affects your ability to get work done in the world.”

— Robert Greene

125. “Napoleon advised: Place your iron hand inside a velvet glove.”

— Robert Greene

126. “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

127. “We are a social animal, power only exists in a social sense, we have to work in groups.”

— Robert Greene

128. “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. – ALBERT EINSTEIN.”

— Robert Greene

129. “The best way to neutralize our natural impatience is to cultivate a kind of pleasure in pain – like an athlete, you come to enjoy rigorous practice, pushing past your limits, and resisting the easy way out.”

— Robert Greene

130. “Your most creative years are generally in your late twenties and on into your forties. You can learn what you need through books, your own practice, and occasional advice from others, but the process is hit-and-miss.”

— Robert Greene

131. “Chance favors only the prepared mind.”

— Robert Greene

132. “The truth is that everything starts from the top. What determines your failure or success is your style of leadership and the chain of command that you design.”

— Robert Greene

133. “Love is a lock that linketh noble minds, Faith is the key that shuts the spring of love.”

— Robert Greene

134. “Man will only become better when you make him see what he is like. – Anton Chekhov.”

— Robert Greene

135. “Too much respect for other people’s wisdom will make you depreciate your own.”

— Robert Greene

136. “Concentrate on a single goal, a single task, and beat it into submission.”

— Robert Greene

137. “He who poses as a fool is not a fool.”

— Robert Greene

138. “The Laws of Human Nature, 1: Master Your Emotional Self – The Law of Irrationality.”

— Robert Greene

139. “Finally, you must see your career or vocational path more as a journey with twists and turns rather than a straight line.”

— Robert Greene

140. “The mind must not wander from goal to goal, or be distracted by success from its sense of purpose and proportion.”

— Robert Greene

141. “People want to feel united, they want to have that religious sense they want to feel like at a rave 10,000 people at the rave are feeling the same emotions, a very primal need that’s not being fulfilled in the world today.”

— Robert Greene

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

— Robert Greene

143. “Ah Franion, treason is loved of many, but the Traitor hated of all: unjust offences may for a time escape without danger, but never without revenge.”

— Robert Greene

144. “Animals behave in set patterns, which is why we are able to hunt and kill them. Only man has the capacity to consciously alter his behavior, to improvise and overcome the weight of routine and habit.”

— Robert Greene

145. “The key then to attaining this higher level of intelligence is to make our years of study qualitatively rich. We don’t simply absorb information – we internalize it and make it our own by finding some way to put this knowledge to practical use.”

— Robert Greene

146. “Be a flame of positive emotions and you will never be without a friend.”

— Robert Greene

147. “There is a tremendous problem in modern culture. We have become used to everything coming to us with tremendous speed and ease. It is a culture where discipline and patience is almost impossible to develop.”

— Robert Greene

148. “Results are important, but the way they are achieved, the process, is equally important.”

— Robert Greene

149. “What people lack in life is not more reality but illusion, fantasy, play.”

— Robert Greene

150. “In the end, the money and success that truly last come not to those who focus on such things as goals, but rather to those who focus on mastery and fulfilling their Life’s Task.”

— Robert Greene