Robert Greene

Question 1

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.

Answer 1

Robert Greene

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Robert Greene

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Robert Greene

Question 4

“Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter”

Answer 4

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power
Matthew 26:31

Trouble in a group often starts with a single individual who stirs the pot. You need to stop them before others succumb to their influence. Neutralize their influence by isolating or exposing them. Their followers will scatter.

Question 5

But the human tongue is a beast that few can master. It strains constantly to break out of its cage, and if it is not tamed, it will tun wild and cause you grief.

Answer 5

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 6

“Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.

Answer 6

Voltaire
Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 7

Keep your friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.

Answer 7

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 8

Never rush into the waiting arms of the first person who seems to like you. That is not seduction but insecurity.

Answer 8

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 9

Giving too much can be a sign of desperation, as if you were trying to buy someone.

Answer 9

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 10

You must learn to stir people’s curiosity by letting them glimpse something in your private life.

Answer 10

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 11

Exhibit remarkable confidence and people will think your confidence comes from real knowledge. You will create a self-fulfilling prophecy: people’s belief in you will translate into actions that help realize your visions.

Answer 11

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 12

Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others—that is too high a price to pay.

Answer 12

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 13

For the future, the motto is, “No days unalert.

Answer 13

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 14

Despise The Free Lunch

Answer 14

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Use money and generosity strategically to achieve your goals. Remember that everything has a price, and don’t accept “free gifts.” But use the desire for a “free lunch” to deceive others. Use gifts to build a reputation of generosity, which creates an aura or power, and also to obligate people to you.

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 16

“Sweet are the thoughts that savour of content, The quiet mind is richer than a crown…”

Answer 16

Robert Greene, 16th Century Poet, Farewell to Folly

Question 17

A Prince asked the dying Spanish statesman, “Does your Excellency forgive all your enemies?” “I do not have to forgive all my enemies,” answered the stateman, “I have had them all shot.

Answer 17

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 18

Everyone has doubts and insecurities? about their body, their self-worth, their sexuality. If your seduction appeals exclusively to the physical, you will stir up these doubts and make your targets self-conscious. Instead, lure them out of their insecurities by making them focus on something sublime and spiritual: a religious experience, a lofty work of art, the occult. Lost in a spiritual mist, the target will feel light and uninhibited. Deepen the effect of your seduction by making its sexual culmination seem like the spiritual union of two souls.

Answer 18

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 19

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

Answer 19

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 20

Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated.

Answer 20

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 21

12–Lose Battles, But Win The War: Grand Strategy Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead. Focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it.

Answer 21

Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War

Question 22

The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.

Answer 22

Robert Greene, Mastery

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Robert Greene

Question 24

The key is that you must already have some deeply held values; that part cannot be faked, at least not without risking accusations of charlatanry that will destroy your charisma in the long run. The next step is to show, as simply and subtly as possible, that you live what you believe. Finally, the appearance of being mild and unassuming can eventually turn into charisma, as long as you seem completely comfortable with it.

Answer 24

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 25

Purpose. If people believe you have a plan, that you know where you are going, they will follow you instinctively The direction does not matter: pick a cause, an ideal, a vision and show that you will not sway from your goal. People will imagine that your confidence comes from something real.

Answer 25

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 26

Sexuality is extremely disruptive. The insecurities and emotions it stirs up can often cut short a relationship that would otherwise be deeper and longer lasting.

Answer 26

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 27

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

Answer 27

Robert Greene, Mastery

Question 28

Never whine, never complain, never try to justify yourself.

Answer 28

“Never whine, never complain, never try to justify yourself.”

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 29

Person who cannot control his words shows that he cannot control himself, and is unworthy of respect.

Answer 29

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 30

And no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from it, the taint of being easy always follows.

Answer 30

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

“

Question 31

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.

Answer 31

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 32

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.

Answer 32

Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War

Question 33

As Gracin said, “The truth is generally seen, rarely heard.

Answer 33

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 34

Never argue. In society nothing must be discussed; give only results. (Benjamin Disraeli, 1804–1881)

Answer 34

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 35

If you allow yourself to learn who you really are by paying attention to that voice and force within you, then you can become what you “were fated to become—an individual, a Master.”

Answer 35

Robert Greene, Mastery

Question 36

Power is a game, and in games you do not judge your opponents by their intentions but by the effects of their actions.

Answer 36

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 37

Religion is the great balm of existence because it takes us outside ourselves, connects us to something larger.

Answer 37

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 38

Remember: obvious flirting will reveal your intentions too clearly. Better to be ambiguous and even contradictory, frustrating at the same time that you stimulate.

Answer 38

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 39

Self-esteem is critical in seduction. (Your attitude toward yourself is read by the other person in subtle and unconscious ways.) Low self-esteem repels, confidence and self-sufficiency attract. The less you seem to need other people, the more likely others will be drawn to you.

Answer 39

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 40

Your greatest power in seduction is your ability to turn away, to make others come after you, delaying their satisfaction.

Answer 40

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 41

Remember: it is the form that matters, not the content. The less your targets focus on what you say, and the more on how it makes them feel, the more seductive your effect. Give your words a lofty, spiritual, literary flavor the better to insinuate desire in your unwitting victims.

Answer 41

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 42

Successful seductions begin with your character, your ability to radiate some quality that attracts people and stirs their emotions in a way that is beyond their control.

Answer 42

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 43

There is too little mystery in the world; too many people say exactly what they feel or want.

Answer 43

Robert Greene, quote from The Art of Seduction

Question 44

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.

Answer 44

Robert Greene, quote from The Art of Seduction

Question 45

The Shadow. It cannot be grasped. Chase your shadow and it will, flee; turn your back on it and it will follow you. It is also a person’s dark side, the thing that makes them mysterious. After they have given us pleasure, the shadow of their withdrawal makes us yearn for their return, much as clouds make us yearn for the sun.

Answer 45

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 46

Religion humanizes this universe, makes us feel important and loved. We are not animals governed by uncontrollable drives, animals that die for no apparent reason, but creatures made in the image of supreme being.

Answer 46

Robert Greene, quote from The Art of Seduction

Question 47

The key to such power is ambiguity. 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.

Answer 47

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 48

Religion is the great balm of existence because it takes us outside ourselves, connects us to something larger.

Answer 48

Robert Greene, quote from The Art of Seduction

Question 49

I give my mind the liberty to follow the first wise or foolish idea that presents itself.

Answer 49

Robert Greene, quote from The Art of Seduction

Question 50

I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

Answer 50

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 51

If no resistances or obstacles face you, you must create them. No seduction can proceed without them.

Answer 51

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 52

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.

Answer 52

Robert Greene, quote from The Art of Seduction

Question 53

Every seduction has two elements that you must analyze and understand: first, yourself and what is seductive about you; and second, your target and the actions that will penetrate their defenses and create surrender.

Answer 53

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 54

Seduction is a game of psychology, not beauty, and it is within the grasp of any person to become a master at the game. All that is required is that you look at the world differently, through the eyes of a seducer.

Answer 54

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 55

Our culture depends in many ways on the creation of standards and conventions that we all must adhere to. These conventions are often expressed in terms of opposites— good and evil, beautiful and ugly, painful and pleasurable, rational and irrational, intellectual and sensual. Believing in these opposites gives our world a sense of cohesion and comfort. To imagine that something can be intellectual & sensual, pleasurable & painful, real and unreal, good and bad, masculine and feminine is too chaotic and disturbing for us. Life, however, is more fluid and complex; our desires and experiences do not fit neatly into these tidy ccategories.

Answer 55

Robert Greene, Mastery

Question 56

Your attitude toward yourself is read by the other person in subtle and unconscious ways.

Answer 56

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 57

Her seductive power, however, did not lie in her looks […]. In reality, Cleopatra was physically unexceptional and had no political power, yet both Caesar and Antony, brave and clever men, saw none of this. What they saw was a woman who constantly transformed herself before their eyes, a one-woman spectacle.

Answer 57

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 58

Her dress and makeup changed from day to day, but always gave her a heightened, goddesslike appearance. Her words could be banal enough, but were spoken so sweetly that listeners would find themselves remembering not what she said but how she said it.

Answer 58

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 59

There is nothing more effective in seduction than making the seduced think that they are the ones doing the seducing.

Answer 59

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 60

Creating a False Sense of Security, Approach Indirectly

Answer 60

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 61

Once you have chosen the right victim, you must get his or her attention and stir desire. To move from friendship to love can win success without calling attention to itself as a maneuver.

Answer 61

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 62

The first move to master is simple: once you have chosen the right person, you must make the target come to you.

Answer 62

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 63

First, your friendly conversations with your targets will bring you valuable information about their characters, their tastes, their weaknesses, the childhood yearnings that govern their adult behavior.

Answer 63

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 64

Second, by spending time with your targets you can make them comfortable with you.

Answer 64

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 65

Then, surprise their expectations with an errant touch or suggestion, make them now interested.

Answer 65

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 66

Too much attention early on will actually just suggest insecurity, and raise doubts as to your motives. Worst of all, it gives your targets no room for imagination. Take a step back; let the thoughts you are provoking come to them as if they were their own.

Answer 66

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 67

In all arenas of life, you should never give the impression that you are angling for something— that will raise a resistance that you will never lower. Learn to approach people from the side.

Answer 67

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 68

The right victims are those for whom you can fill a void, who see in you something exotic.

Answer 68

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 69

To leave people who are inaccessible to you alone is a wise path; you cannot seduce everyone.

Answer 69

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 70

Never rush into the waiting arms of the first person who seems to like you. That is not seduction but insecurity.

Answer 70

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 71

Never be distracted by people’s glamorous portraits of themselves and their lives; search and dig for what really imprisons them.

Answer 71

”
— Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

Question 72

Your task as a seducer is to bring some flesh and blood into someone’s fantasy life by embodying a fantasy figure, or creating a scenario resembling that person’s dreams.

Answer 72

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 73

Separate them from their environment physically, emotionally, and mentally, so they can become further engrossed with you.

Answer 73

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 74

Behave in a way that leaves them wondering, What are you up to? Doing something they do not expect from you will give them a delightful sense of spontaneity— they will not be able to foresee what comes next.

Answer 74

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 75

There are all kinds of calculated surprises you can spring on your victims— sending a letter from out of the blue, showing up unexpectedly, taking them to a place they have never been. But best of all are surprises that reveal something new about your character.

Answer 75

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 76

Reliability is fine for drawing people in, but stay reliable and you stay a bore. Dogs are reliable, a seducer is not.

Answer 76

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 77

Use the Demonic Power of Words to Sow Confusion

Answer 77

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 78

Inflame people’s emotions with loaded phrases, flatter them, comfort their insecurities, envelop them in fantasies, sweet words, and promises, and not only will they listen to you, they will lose their Will to resist you.

Answer 78

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 79

A woman was beautiful, yet lacked confidence in her own wit and intelligence? He made sure to say that he was bewitched not by her beauty but by her mind.

Answer 79

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 80

Pay Attention to Detail

Answer 80

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 81

Poeticize Your Presence

Answer 81

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 82

You can be dangerous, naughty, even somewhat vulgar, depending on the tastes of your victim. But never be ordinary or limited. In poetry (as opposed to reality), anything is possible.

Answer 82

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 83

The only thing that cannot be idealized is mediocrity, but there is nothing seductive about mediocrity. There is no possible way to seduce without creating some kind of fantasy and poeticization.

Answer 83

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 84

Disarm Through Strategic Weakness and Vulnerability

Answer 84

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 85

The best way to cover your tracks is to make the other person feel superior and stronger. If you seem to be weak, vulnerable, enthralled by the other person, and unable to control yourself, you will make your actions look more natural, less calculated.

Answer 85

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 86

Remember: what is natural to your character is inherently seductive. A person’s vulnerability, what they seem to be unable to control, is often what is most seductive about them.

Answer 86

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 87

A woman, for instance, may be attracted by a man’s strength and self-confidence, but too much of it can create fear, seeming unnatural, even ugly.

Answer 87

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 88

Confuse Desire and Reality— The Perfect Illusion

Answer 88

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 89

Find that childhood insecurity, that lack in their life, and you hold the key to tempting them. Their weakness may be greed, vanity, boredom, some deeply repressed desire, a hunger for forbidden fruit. They signal it in little details that elude their conscious control: their style of clothing, an offhand comment.

Answer 89

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 90

As the serpent tempted Eve with the promise of forbidden knowledge, you must awaken a desire in your targets that they cannot control. Find that weakness of theirs, that fantasy that has yet to be realized, and hint that you can lead them toward it.

Answer 90

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 91

Create Temptation

Answer 91

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 92

Play by their rules, enjoy what they enjoy, adapt yourself to their moods. In doing so you will stroke their deep-rooted narcissism and lower their defenses

Answer 92

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 93

Enter Their Spirit

Answer 93

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 94

There is no known defense, however, against insinuation— the art of planting ideas in people’s minds by dropping elusive hints that take root days later, even appearing to them as their own idea. Make everything suggestive.

Answer 94

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 95

Master the Art of Insinuation

Answer 95

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 96

Make people anxious about the future, make them depressed, make them question their identity, make them sense the boredom that gnaws at their life. The ground is prepared. The seeds of seduction can be sown.

Answer 96

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 97

People are always susceptible to being seduced, because in fact everyone lacks a sense of completeness, feels something missing deep inside. Bring their doubts and anxieties to the surface and they can be led and lured to follow you.

Answer 97

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 98

Create a need, stir anxiety and discontent

Answer 98

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 99

Men who believe that a rakish reputation will make women fear or distrust them, and should be played down, are quite wrong. On the contrary, it makes them more attractive.

Answer 99

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 100

When people’s vanity is at risk, you can make them do whatever you want. According to Stendhal, if there is a woman you are interested in, pay attention to her sister. That will stir a triangular desire.

Answer 100

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 101

What is obvious and striking may attract their attention at first, but that attention is often short-lived; in the long run, ambiguity is much more potent. Most of us are much too obvious —instead, be hard to figure out.

Answer 101

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 102

To deepen their interest, you must hint at a complexity that cannot be grasped in a week or two.

Answer 102

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 103

People who are outwardly distant or shy are often better targets than extroverts. They are dying to be drawn out, and still waters run deep.

Answer 103

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 104

On the other hand, you should generally avoid people who are preoccupied with business or work— seduction demands attention, and busy people have too little space in their minds for you to occupy.

Answer 104

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 105

Appear to Be an Object of Desire: Create Triangles

Answer 105

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 106

Successful seduction starts with who you are and the type of seductive energy you express. It requires creating yourself, or refining yourself, in one of the seducer categories.

Answer 106

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 107

Remember: seduction is a game of attention, of slowly filling the other person’s mind with your presence. Distance and inattention will create the opposite effect, and can be used as a tactic when the need arises.

Answer 107

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 108

Experienced hunters do not choose their prey by how easily it is caught; they want the thrill of the chase, a life-and-death struggle—the fiercer the better.

Answer 108

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 109

People with a lot of time on their hands are extremely susceptible to seduction. They have mental space for you to fill.

Answer 109

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 110

The spider has no need to chase for food, or even to move. It quietly sits in the corner, waiting for its victims to come to it on their own, and ensnare themselves in the web.

Answer 110

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 111

What will seduce a person is the effort we expend on their behalf, showing how much we care, how much they are worth. Leaving things to chance is a recipe for disaster, and reveals that we do not take love and romance very seriously.

Answer 111

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 112

“Seducers take pleasure in performing and are not weighed down by their identity, or by some need to be themselves, or to be natural.”

Answer 112

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 113

Every seduction has two elements that you must analyze and understand: first, yourself and what is seductive about you; and second, your target and the actions that will penetrate their defenses and create surrender.

Answer 113

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 114

I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

Answer 114

Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

Question 115

When you meet a swordsman, draw your sword. Do not recite poetry to one who is not a poet.
When you meet a master swordsman, show him your sword. When you meet a man who is not a poet, do not show him your poem.

Answer 115

Robert Greene,
Lin-Chi

Question 116

Displaying anger and emotion are signs of weakness; you cannot control yourself, so how can you control anything.

Answer 116

Robert Greene

Question 117

Always say less than necessary.

Answer 117

Robert Greene

Question 118

What will see you through is not passion, but the sense of deep connection to what you are meant to accomplish, to a sense of destiny in life.

Answer 118

Robert Greene

Question 119

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.

Answer 119

Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power