Robert Greene (American author) Quotes

87 Sourced Quotes

There is almost a touch of condescension in the act of hiring friends that secretly afflicts them. The injury will come out slowly: A little more honesty, flashes of resentment and envy here and there, and before you know it your friendship fades. The more favors and gifts you supply to revive the friendship, the less gratitude you receive.

Robert Greene
Sovereign of beauty, like the spray she grows;Compass'd she is with thorns and canker'd bower.Yet, were she willing to be pluck'd and worn,She would be gather'd, though she grew on thorn.

Robert Greene
Ah, were she pitiful as she is fair,Or but as mild as she is seeming so,Then were my hopes greater than my despair,Then all the world were heaven, nothing woe.

Robert Greene
In the future, the great division will be between those who have trained themselves to handle these complexities and those who are overwhelmed by them — those who can acquire skills and discipline their minds and those who are irrevocably distracted by all the media around them and can enver focus enough to learn.

Robert Greene
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause by yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others — playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Robert Greene
Then grew a wrinkle on fair Venus' brow, The amber sweet of love is turn'd to gall! Gloomy was Heaven; bright Phoebus did avow He would be coy, and would not love at all; Swearing no greater mischief could be wrought, Than love united to a jealous thought.

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

Robert Greene
Real action and true helpfulness are perhaps the ultimate charm.

Robert Greene
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.

Robert Greene
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.

Robert Greene
The real poetry and beauty in life comes from an intense relationship with reality in all its aspects. Realism is in fact the ideal we must aspire to, the highest point of human rationality.

Robert Greene
Never be put off by your target's anger; it is a sure sign of enslavement.

Robert Greene
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual — the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them — they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Robert Greene
No moment is wasted if you pay attention and learn the lessons contained in every experience.

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

Robert Greene
Only your hearts be frolic, for the time Craves that we taste of naught but jouissance.

Robert Greene
It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures.

Robert Greene
Our natural tendency is to project onto other people our own belief and value systems, in ways in which we are not even aware.

Robert Greene
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.

Robert Greene
Most people are perpetually locked in the present. Their decisions are overly influenced by the most immediate event; they easily become emotional and ascribe greater significance to a problem than it should have in reality.

Robert Greene
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.

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

Robert Greene
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.

Robert Greene
Though men determine, the gods doo dispose: and oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip.

Robert Greene
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.

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

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

Robert Greene
People around you, constantly under the pull of their emotions, change their ideas by the day or by the hour, depending on their mood. You must never assume that what people say or do in a particular moment is a statement of their permanent desires.

Robert Greene
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior.

Robert Greene
People are more complicated than the masks they wear in society.

Robert Greene