“The mind and the body are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate out their effects on us. Feeling energized influences our mood, which influences our work in very direct ways. And feeling confused or disorganized in our work can have a terrible effect on us physically as well.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 97)
“When a machine malfunctions, you do not take it personally or grow despondent. It is in fact a blessing in disguise. Such malfunctions generally show you inherent flaws and means of improvement. You simply keep tinkering until you get it right.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 96)
“Knowledge is always progressing. Don’t let your ego fool you. You are always knowledge’s inferior.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 94)
“The greatest impediment to creativity is your impatience, the almost inevitable desire to hurry up the process, express something, and make a splash.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 93)
“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
Franz Kafka, The Daily Laws (Page 92)
“We all possess an inborn creative force that wants to become active. This is the gift of our Original Mind, which reveals such potential. The human mind is naturally creative, constantly looking to make associations and connections between things and ideas. It wants to explore, to discover new aspects of the world, and to invent. To express this creative force is our greatest desire, and the stifling of it the source of our misery.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 90)
“When I’m asked how I define mastery or what phrase guides me in my own life or in writing a book, I say, ‘It’s getting to the inside.’ I’m always trying to move to the inside of things. On the outside, things look a certain way—kind of dead, because you’re just seeing the appearances. When you get to the inside, you see the heart beating, you understand it, you get the reality.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 86)
“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
Leonardo Da Vinci, The Daily Laws (Page 85)
“Anything that is alive is in a continual state of change and movement. The moment that you rest, thinking that you have attained the level you desire, a part of your mind enters a phase of decay. You lose your hard-earned creativity and others begin to sense it. This is a power and intelligence that much be continually renewed or it will die.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 81)
“The people in your field, in your immediate circle, are like worlds unto themselves—their stories and viewpoints will naturally expand your horizons and build up your social skills. Mingle with as many different types of people as possible. Those circles will slowly widen.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 68)
“Choosing the right mentor is like being able to choose your own parents; the wrong choice is fatal.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 57)
“Practical knowledge is the ultimate commodity and is what will pay you dividends for decades to come—far more than the paltry increase in pay you might receive at some seemingly lucrative position that offers fewer learning opportunities.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 53)
“We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.”
Baron De Montesquieu, The Daily Laws (Page 51)
“Over the centuries, people have placed a wall around mastery. They have called it genius and have thought of it as inaccessible. they have seen it as the product of privilege, inborn talent, or just the right alignment of the stars. They have made it seem as if it were as elusive as magic. But that wall is imaginary. This is the real secret: the brain that we possess is the work of six million years of development, and more than anything else, this evolution of the brain was designed to lead us to mastery, the latent power within us all.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 39)
“We see the visible signs of opportunity and success in our own lives but we are grasping at an illusion. What really allows for such dramatic changes are the things that occur inside a person. That slow accumulation of knowledge and skills, the incremental improvements in work habits, and the ability to withstand criticism. Any change in people’s fortunes is merely the visible manifestation of all of that deep preparation over time.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 37)
“Most people, consciously or unconsciously, seek to avoid tedium, pain, and any form of adversity. They try to put themselves in places where they will face less criticism and minimize their chances of failure. You must choose to move in the opposite direction. You want to embrace negative experiences, limitations, and even pain as the perfect means of building up your skill levels and sharpening your sense of purpose.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 34)
“You are here not merely to gratify your impulses and consume what others have made but to make and contribute as well, to serve a higher purpose. To serve this higher purpose, you must cultivate what is unique about you. Stop listening so much to the words and opinions of others, telling you who you are and what you should like and dislike. Judge things and people for yourself.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 31)
“Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”
Carl Jung, via The Daily Laws (Page 30)
“The truth is that creative activity is one that involves the entire self—our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds. To make a discovery, to invent something that connects with the public, to fashion a work of art that is meaningful, inevitably requires time and effort. This often entails years of experimentation, various setbacks and failures, and the need to maintain a high level of focus. You must have patience and faith that what you are doing will yield something important.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 29)
“No calling is superior to another. What matters is that it be tied to a personal need and inclination, and that your energy moves you toward improvement and continuous learning from experience.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 28)