Robert Greene

Ethics and power are separate.

Your energy, your spirit are important considerations. Feeling petty and frustrated can have reverberating consequences for your ability to think strategically and reach your goals.

Smooth functioning of social life has always depended on the recognition of certain basic limits to behavior. We cannot simply say or do anything we wish, or offend people, without paying consequences - isolation, ostracism, etc.

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense.

Evil or manipulative people don't need a book, they just do it anyway.

We must create our own world or we will die from inaction

Always say less than necessary.

Be relentless in your pursuit for expansion.

The Crown. Place it upon your head and you assume a different post-tranquil yet radiating assurance. Never show doubt, never lose your dignity beneath the crown, or it will not fit. It will seem to be destined for one more worthy. Do not wait for a coronation; the greatest emporers crown themselves.

When you raise your opinion of yourself and what you are capable of it has a decided influence on what you do.

The need for certainty is the greatest disease the Mind faces

Any titles, money, or privilege you inherit are actually hindrances. They delude you into believing you are owed respect.

The moment people feel they know what to expect from you, your spell on them is broken.

Deception is a developed art of civilization and the most potent weapon in the game of power

When it comes to mastering a skill, time is the magic ingredient.

Our levels of desire, patience, persistence, and confidence end up playing a much larger role in success than sheer reasoning powers. Feel motivated and energized, we can overcome almost anything. Feeling bored and restless, our minds shut off and we become increasingly passive.

The human tongue is a beast that few can master.

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

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.

Desire is both imitative (we like what others like) and competitive (we want to take away from others what they have). As children, we wanted to monopolize the attention of a parent, to draw it away from other siblings. This sense of rivalry... makes people compete for the attention.

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.