Todd Rtd > Todd's Quotes

“LAW 46
Never Appear Too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“Keep your friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“Many a serious thinker has been produced in prisons, where we have nothing to do but think.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“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.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“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.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“A heckler once interrupted Nikita Khrushchev in the middle of a speech in which he was denouncing the crimes of Stalin. “You were a colleague of Stalin’s,” the heckler yelled, “why didn’t you stop him then?” Khrushschev apparently could not see the heckler and barked out, “Who said that?” No hand went up. No one moved a muscle. After a few seconds of tense silence, Khrushchev finally said in a quiet voice, “Now you know why I didn’t stop him.” Instead of just arguing that anyone facing Stalin was afraid, knowing that the slightest sign of rebellion would mean certain death, he had made them feel what it was like to face Stalin—had made them feel the paranoia, the fear of speaking up, the terror of confronting the leader, in this case Khrushchev. The demonstration was visceral and no more argument was necessary.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“In battle, if you you make your opponent flinch, you have already won.”
― Miyamoto Musashi

“If you wish to control others you must first control yourself”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“from one thing, know ten thousand things”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi

“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“You can only fight the way you practice”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

“Do not regret what you have done”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi

“If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast….Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“To know ten thousand things, know one well”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Know your enemy, know his sword.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

“Do nothing that is of no use”
― Musashi Miyamoto, Book of Five Rings