Quote

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

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Robert Greene
Age: 34 †
Born: 1558
Born: July 11
Died: 1592
Died: September 3
Playwright
Poet
Writer
Norwich
Norfolk
People
Sides
Independence
Causes
Commit
Making
Master
Others
Masters
Another
Fool
Become
Cause
Rushes
Take
Side
Maintaining
Always
Playing
Pursue

More quotes by Robert Greene

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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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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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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.
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To succeed in the game of power, you have to master your emotions. But even if you succeed in gaining such self-control, you can never control the temperamental dispositions of those around you. And this presents a great danger.
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You have the power to think differently about who you are. You have the ability to turn off the critical voice inside of you. That's not you. That's coming from the culture. That's coming from the outside of you. You've internalized the voice of your parents, your teachers, your friends.
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Deceiving world, that with alluring toysHast made my life the subject of thy scorn,And scornest now to lend thy fading joys,T'outlength my life, whom friends have left forlornHow well are they that die ere they be born,And never see thy sleights, which few men shunTill unawares they helpless are undone!
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If you're meant to do something like writing and you end up going into banking or finance, your going to be miserable. You're trying to fit something into a square peg and a round hole. It's just never going to work.
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If you're only ten feet above, then you're better than when you're on the ground.
Robert Greene
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I'm afraid I'm just too intense to have soft ideas, you know, about what to read when you're trying to pass the time.
Robert Greene
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Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
Robert Greene
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It looks like I had the most irrelevant education than anybody in the planet could have.
Robert Greene
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I have the point that everybody essentially have these unique set of DNA you have. There's something different about you genetically. You are unique is what I am trying to say - the combination of experiences and emotions you have felt are never repeated.
Robert Greene
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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.
Robert Greene
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Stop shallow water from running, it will rage tread on a worm and it will turn.
Robert Greene
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You can never get rid of all of your fears. Some are necessary and a part of life. But most of our fears are illusory, based on risks or threats that exist only in our minds. Such fears constrain and make you miserable. The feeling of moving past a particular fear is one of liberation and freedom.
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You want attention, you want to grab some of that airspace that exists out there in a world that's very difficult to get it because it's so competitive and to get it for more than a few seconds. Any attention is good and that can be what we would normally consider as bad attention so I wanted to make you aware of that dynamic.
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I am impressed when I go on the internet and see a lot of young people who've been influenced by the books, or I meet someone who tells me how it has changed their life. To me, that is much more real than sales figures.
Robert Greene
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One could draw up all different kinds of adversity depending on what your weakness is.
Robert Greene
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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
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I just do what I want to do without hurting other people and you know, I wish other people would do the same.
Robert Greene