Quote

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.

Robert Greene

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Robert Greene
Age: 34 †
Born: 1558
Born: July 11
Died: 1592
Died: September 3
Playwright
Poet
Writer
Norwich
Norfolk
People
Worry
Acceptable
Refusal
Imagine
Standard
Outrageous
Greater
Subtle
Masculine
Interest
Plays
Conform
Impudent
Society
Obvious
Charming
Dime
Everyone
Standards
Types
Dimes
Power
Type
Dozen
Excite
Play
Roles
Feminine
Socially

More quotes by Robert Greene

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For the future, the motto is, No days unalert.
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In the opening stage of most careers any attention is what you want, any attention is good attention, even if it's bad attention.
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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.
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The problem is that we humans are deep conformists.
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If you're just letting the time pass at your job, it's just dead time and you'll never get it back. If at that job you're learning and you're observing and you're seeing about people and connections, it's suddenly alive time.
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Any titles, money, or privilege you inherit are actually hindrances. They delude you into believing you are owed respect.
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The passive ironic attitude is not cool or romantic, but pathetic and destructive.
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I'm okay for things like theater and stuff but for film, I just didn't think in the right way and I didn't like the business. So I was unhappy. So I was in something that was moderately related to my, what I call my calling or my life's path, which is writing, but it wasn't like the right fit.
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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.
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If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold no one honors the timid.
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Your ability to work with people directly affects your ability to get work done in the world.
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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.
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The wrong way to look at your university life is to say it's like job training, unless you're going into something very specific.
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If you're in your early twenties, don't put so much importance on the money, on the raise. Getting an extra thousand dollars a year is okay, but the real thing is the responsibility and the power and the experience that you're learning.
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I have examples of people who find their way back later on in life, in their 30's, 40's, it can happen in your 50's, I'm sure it can. It's not really a science. It's maybe more of an art.
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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.
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I think what happened with Brandy [Burre]is what happens with a lot of people. You make these decisions for comfort and stability, and then eventually those same things that are comforting and stable end up putting walls around you that you didn't expect.
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What's good for me is certainly not good for other people.
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I hate the way war is seen as something inherently brutal and ugly. Yes, much of war brings out the worst part of our [people's] nature. But in war, all kinds of noble human traits have been developed, such as discipline, cohesion, pride.
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You are facing death and danger and competition, but at any moment, you can decide to have a fearless mindset.
Robert Greene