Robert Greene Quotes

Do not leave your reputation to chance or gossip; it is your life's artwork, and you must craft it, hone it, and display it with the care of an artist.

You are facing death and danger and competition, but at any moment, you can decide to have a fearless mindset.

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

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.

I've always loved black culture; I don't know any other way to put it. Since I was a kid I loved music and early jazz, Sly and the Family Stone.

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

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

Actually, your past successes are your biggest obstacle: every battle, every war, is different, and you cannot assume that what worked before will work today.

You're not going to be persistent and tenacious enough if you don't love what you're doing. If it's not something that excites you, that appeals to you deep down inside.

No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you.

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.

The ideas get under your skin. I am honored and deeply excited by the thought that the next generation of writers, or whomever, are influenced by these books.

People go into things for the wrong reasons.

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

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

Many a serious thinker has been produced in prisons, where we have nothing to do but think.

Her lips are roses over-washed with dew, Or like the purple of Narcissus' flower; No frost their fair, no wind doth waste their power, But by her breath her beauties to renew.

Twere sin to stain fair Venus' courts with blood

When you understand the fear then you can begin to move past it. So when I hear the people say it's innate, you can't learn it, I just want to hit them in the head.

Thy breath is like the steame of apple-pyes.

Even if it's a "talking head documentary" about a social movement or something along those lines, I've always thought of editing the timing and the sense of the piece for the theatrical experience.

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

What's good for me is certainly not good for other people.

There's no more of an excuse for blaming other people or the world for at least not trying what you should be trying.

I find the training of the mind that Zen puts people through is by far to me, the most interesting, one of the most interesting disciplines.

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

Playing with appearances and mastering the arts of deception are among the aesthetic pleasures of life. They are also key components in the acquisition of power.

The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.

Sadness of any sort is also seductive, particularly if it seems deep-rooted, even spiritual, rather than needy or pathetic—it makes people come to you.

The problem is that we humans are deep conformists.

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

No greater mischief could be wrought Than love united to a jealous thought.

The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus.

Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head.

Be relentless in your pursuit for expansion.

The worst thing is to sit and whine and complain and obsess about money as if that were the only sign of your worth as a human.

Nothing is stable in the realm of power, and even closest of friends can be transformed into the worst of enemies.

Do not envy those who seem to be naturally gifted; it is often a curse, as such types rarely learn the value of diligence and focus, and they pay for this later in life.

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

For as one star another far exceeds, So souls in heaven are placed by their deeds.

It's okay to be lost in college.

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

I didn't like writing just articles and things. So then I wandered around. I tried my hand at film and television and that was a worse fit because I don't really have a mind for that.

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

A noble mind disdains to hide his head, And let his foes triumph in his overthrow.

One could draw up all different kinds of adversity depending on what your weakness is.

No one's really taking it seriously enough, being more kind of careful and cautious in planning your life out and trying to reach a goal. It takes a great deal of effort - and this cannot be taught.

When there are no other options, people fight harder. If the choice is life or death they have nothing to lose.

The music business is just the worst as far as Machiavellian, sharky, evil games going on, as far as manipulation.

Because of my two films - one was about my half-sister (Kati with an I) and the next one featured my cousin (Fake It So Real) - I was hesitant to start with someone so close.