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

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

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

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

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

"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."

"Nothing is stable in the realm of power, and even closest of friends can be transformed into the worst of enemies."

"The human tongue is a beast that few can master."

"Friendship and love blind every man to their interests."

"Do not fight them. Instead think of them the way you think of children, or pets, not important enough to affect your mental balance"

"The passive ironic attitude is not cool or romantic, but pathetic and destructive."

"Your fears are a kind of prison that confines you within a limited range of action. The less you fear, the more power you will have and the more fully you will live."

"An emotional response to a situation is the single greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more than any temporary satisfaction you might gain by expressing your feelings."

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

"When you meet a swordsman, draw your sword: Do not recite poetry to one who is not a poet."

"All masters want to appear more brilliant than other people."

"It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures."

"Any titles, money, or privilege you inherit are actually hindrances. They delude you into believing you are owed respect."

"He who poses as a fool is not a fool."

"If, for example, you are miserly by nature, you will never go beyond a certain limit; only generous souls attain greatness."

"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."

"Become who you are by learning who you are."

"Our natural tendency is to project onto other people our own belief and value systems, in ways in which we are not even aware."

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

"Events in life mean nothing if you do not reflect on them in a deep way, and ideas from books are pointless if they have no application to life as you live it."

"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."

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

"The problem is that we humans are deep conformists."

"Who can you trust?"

"The truth is that creative activity is one that involves the entire self - our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds."

"Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others’ experience."

"Hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals-just not the real ones."

"You may think that what you’d like to recapture from your youth is your looks, your physical fitness, your simple pleasures, but what you really need is the fluidity of mind you once possessed."

"Real action and true helpfulness are perhaps the ultimate charm."

"The real poetry and beauty in life comes from an intense relationship with reality in all its aspects. Realism is in fact the ideal we must aspire to, the highest point of human rationality."

"When you turn your back on someone, they come running after you."

"You must understand the following: In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself and border on the religious."

"Sometimes any emotion is better than the boredom of security."

"Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good."

"If you lead the sucker down a familiar path, he won't catch on when you lead him into a trap."

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

"The mighty lion toys with the mouse that crosses his path—any other reaction would mar his fearsome reputation."

"It is your own bad strategies, not the unfair opponent, that are to blame for your failures. You are responsible for the good and bad in your life."

"Such is the fate, in some form or other, of all those who unbalance the master’s sense of self, poke holes in his vanity, or make him doubt his pre-eminence."

"Through continual exposure to people and by attempting to think inside of them we can gain an increasing sense of their perspective, but this requires effort on our part."

"When the snipe and the mussel struggle, the fisherman gets the benefit. Ancient Chinese saying"

"Our successes and failures in life can be traced to how well or how badly we deal with the inevitable conflicts that confront us in society."

"Everything that happens to you is a form of instruction if you pay attention."

"Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head."

"Fear creates its own self-fulfilling dynamic- as people give into it, they lose energy and momentum. Their lack of confidence translates into inaction that lowers confidence levels even further, on and on."