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61 " Creating this feeling of validation is the golden key that will unlock people’s defenses. And we cannot survive and thrive in this highly competitive world without possessing such a power. We must discover the power that we can possess by giving people the validation they crave and lowering their defenses. And the key to making this happen in a realistic and strategic manner is to fully understand a fundamental law of human nature. "
― Robert Greene , The Laws of Human Nature
62 " be aware of these illusions and façades and to train ourselves to look through them. We must scrutinize everybody for signs of their character, no matter the appearance they present or the position they occupy. "
63 " وقد قال أنطون تشيخوف ذات مرة: «لا توحد المحبة الناس، ولا الصداقة، ولا الاحترام، بقدر ما توحدهم ضغينة مشتركة لشيء ما». "
64 " She used the closeness of death to teach her what really matters and to help her steer clear of the petty squabbles and concerns that plagued others. She used it to anchor herself in the present, to make her appreciate every moment and every encounter. "
65 " Fo each weakness there is a corresponding strength. "
66 " Dealing with authority figures in the court tends to regress us to our childhood and the family dynamic. The way we adapted to our parents’ power and the presence of our siblings will play itself out again in adult form in the court. If we felt the deep need to please our parents in every way in order to feel more secure, we will become the pleaser type in the court. If we resented our siblings for the parental attention they drew away from us, and tried to dominate these siblings, we will be the envious type and resort to passive aggression. We may want to monopolize the leaders’ attention as we once tried to do with our mother or father. "
67 " we continually consult our smartphones as a kind of substitute pair of eyes upon us. "
68 " feeling angry and sorry for ourselves, or we opt for distractions and quick ways to dull the pain. This becomes a habit we cannot shake, and we tend to feel the generalized anxiety and emptiness that come from all this avoidance. "
69 " We must stop postponing our awareness. We need to stop feeling superior and special, seeing that death is a fate shared by us all and something that should bind us in a deeply empathetic way. We are all a part of the brotherhood and sisterhood of death. "
70 " فجميعنا نرجسيون، وبعضنا موغل في النرجسية أكثر من غيره. ومهمتنا في هذه الحياة أن ننسجم مع حب النفس هذا، ونتعلم كيف نحوِّل حساسيتنا إلى خارج أنفسنا؛ إلى الآخرين؛ بدلًا من تركها داخلنا، وعلينا في الوقت نفسه أن نكتشف أصحاب النرجسية السامة بيننا قبل أن نؤخذ بمسرحياتهم، ونتسمم بحسدهم. "
71 " and even if we live for another eighty years, it is but a drop in the ocean of the vastness of time, and it passes always more quickly than we imagine. "
72 " Feeling superior and beyond it is a sure sign that the irrational is at work. "
73 " They understand the power of persistence, and so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy—knowing its value, they are able to summon up the energy and self-belief to solve the problem. They are adopting Hannibal’s motto: “I will either find a way, or make a way.” You must do the same. The trick is to want something badly enough that nothing will stop you or dull your energy. Fill yourself with the requisite desire to reach a goal. Train yourself to not give up as easily as you did in the past. Keep attacking from new angles, in new ways. Drop the background doubts and continue striking with full force, knowing that you can break through anything if you don’t let up. Once you sense the power in this form of attack, you will keep returning to it. "
74 " We don’t say what we feel even when it would be appropriate, and we fail to set boundaries to people’s harmful behavior. We find it hard to ask for a raise or a promotion or the respect due to us. Losing our bold spirit, a positive form of aggression, is losing a deep part of our self, and it is inevitably painful. "
75 " For those with the feminine style, it is easy to beat yourself up after failures or mistakes. The introspection can go too far. The same can be said of ascribing success to others. Women more than men will suffer from low self-esteem, which is not natural but acquired. They often have internalized critical voices from others. Jung called these animus voices: all the men over the years who have judged women for their looks and intelligence. You want to catch these voices as they occur and rid yourself of them. Because failures or criticisms might affect you too deeply, you can become afraid to try something again, which narrows your learning possibilities. You need to adopt more of the masculine self-confidence, without the attendant stupidity. In your daily encounters, try to drop or minimize your emotional responses to events and see them from a greater distance. You are training yourself to not take things so personally. "
76 " We are all so careful and correct that when we feel the carefully channeled anger in a film or a book or wherever it is, it is like a fresh wind. It attracts all of our own frustrations and resentments and lets them out. We recognize that it is something real and authentic. In your expressive work, never shy away from anger but capture and channel it, letting it breathe into the work a sense of life and movement. In giving expression to such anger, you will always find an audience. "
77 " What if, however, we could dive below the surface and see deep within, getting closer to the actual roots of what causes human behavior? "
78 " As children our minds were remarkably flexible. We could learn at a rate that far surpasses our adult capacities. We can attribute much of the source of this power to our feelings of weakness and vulnerability. Sensing our inferiority in relation to those older than us, we felt highly motivated to learn. We were also genuinely curious and hungry for new information. We were open to the influence of parents, peers, and teachers. "
79 " Understand: The social force is neither positive nor negative. It is simply a physiological part of our nature. Many aspects of this force that developed long ago are quite dangerous in the modern world. For instance, the deep suspicion we tend to feel towards outsiders to our group, and our need to demonize them, evolved among our earliest ancestors because of the tremendous dangers of infectious diseases and the aggressive intentions of rival hunter gatherers. But such group reactions are no longer relevant in the 21st-century. In fact, with our technological prowess, they can be the source of our most violent and genocidal behavior. In general, to the the degree that the social force tends to degrade our ability to think independently and a rationally, we can say it exerts a downward pull into more primitive ways of behaving, unsuited to modern conditions. "
80 " People with consummate acting skills can better navigate our complex social environments and get ahead. "