The Nihilistic Troll might pretend to be acting in the service of some cause or leader, but don't be fooled. The cause and their supposedly strong convictions are simply a way to justify and provide cover for their abusive behavior.
Interpretation
This quote warns against those who hide behind causes to justify their harmful actions.
Robert Greene's quote highlights the danger of individuals who disguise their toxic behavior under the auspices of a larger cause or ideology. While they may appear committed to a conviction, their true motives lie in manipulating and abusing others. This commentary serves as a reminder to remain vigilant and discern the true intentions behind people's actions, emphasizing that not all who claim to fight for a cause do so in good faith.
In practice
In a discussion about political activism and morality.
In a society where the roles everyone plays are obvious, the refusal to conform to any standard will excite interest. Be both masculine and feminine, impudent and charming, subtle and outrageous. Let other people worry about being socially acceptable; those types are a dime a dozen, and you are after a power greater than they can imagine.
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.
The moment people feel they know what to expect from you, your spell on them is broken. More: You have ceded them power.
The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.
Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world.
Remember that the essence of authority is that people willingly follow your lead.
If we go back to the beginning, we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests. If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them.
Death, only death, can break the lasting chain; And here, ev'n then, shall my cold dust remain
Hatred is the vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all their littleness, and make it the pretext of base tyrannies.
The first law of history is to dread uttering a falsehood; the next is not to fear stating the truth; lastly, the historian's writings should be open to no suspicion of partiality or animosity.
I never understood why when you died, you didn't just vanish, everything could just keep going on the way it was only you just wouldn't be there. I always thought I'd like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I'd like it to say 'figment.'
A banker warned the British poet Robert Graves that one could not grow rich writing poetry. He replied that if there was no money in poetry, there was certainly no poetry in money, and so it was all even.
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