100: If they talk a lot and say nothing, they are either hiding something (Politicians and Lawyers) or they are so dumb that they can’t articulate a clear point (masses).
In either case, don’t trust that they will take actions that advance your interests.
101: God cannot change the past. A decent lawyer can.
102: Laws are invented and enforced in an entirely arbitrary manner.
What laws exist, and what laws are enforced, depend entirely on the whims of whoever is currently in power.
103: Different people are held to different standards.
Double standards are the rule, not the exception.
104: The lower your status is, the more likely you are to be ostracized.
People’s aversion to being perceived as low status is tied to their fear of ostracism.
105: How someone responds to the realization that the future is hopeless tells you a lot about them.
Some become depressed and suicidal.
Some blindly work harder, as if more effort will somehow save them.
Some start executing every high risk high reward strategy available, with the logic that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
106: Quality of Life is Pareto distributed.
Most people have terrible lives, a tiny minority have spectacular lives.
Worldly wealth is Pareto distributed; a tiny minority are rich and high status, most are poor and low status.
Quality of Life and Worldly Wealth correlate very strongly.
107: A venture delayed is a venture foregone.
108: People who succeed overestimate the role of their own talent and underestimate the role of good luck.
People who fail overestimate the role of bad luck and underestimate the role of their own foolishness.
109: Secrets should go with you to the grave. Wisdom should not.
110: Narcissistic men judge you by your net worth.
If you want to win the respect of a narcissistic man, be rich and powerful.
111: Autistic men judge you by the wisdom you provide.
If you want to win the respect of a high IQ autistic man, express wisdom that he considers valuable.
112: If a society is strong militarily, a direct attack against it is hopeless. If you attempt to destroy it by military invasion from the outside you will lose.
However, destroying it from the inside out is still a viable method of attack.
Covert subversion can still work.
113: Very few powerful empires are brought down by invasions from the outside.
Usually, they are brought down from the inside out; by the foolishness of their own citizens and leaders.
114: The leaders of a society are a reflection of the people of the society.
If the leaders are crooked, chances are the people are crooked.
115: To be a great analyzer, and to be a great executer, are 2 separate abilities.
Robert Greene is the greatest machiavellian analyzer on the planet.
Is he the best executer? Certainly not.
That title belongs to Vladimir Putin, or perhaps Barrack Obama.
116: To be far richer than others is good, but to appear far richer than others is dangerous; it makes you a target for envy.
By all outward appearances, seem to be just one more middle class average Joe.
This way you can enjoy your wealth in peace without being a target for backstabbing…or lawsuits.
This sounds obvious, yet the world is full of narcissistic men who will go out of their way to flaunt their wealth.
117: There are people who will dislike you simply for being richer than them, but most will not
Most people will only dislike you for being richer than them if you display narcissism; if you go out of your way to display your superiority.
118: Generally speaking defense wins and offense loses.
Defense is easier than offense because it is easier to hold territory than it is to take territory.
In order for offense to win, speed and the element of surprise are critical.
An offensive strategy must be carried out so fast that the defender does not realize what is happening, until it’s already too late.
119: When you are on offense, you need things to move as fast as possible.
When you are on defense, you need things to move as slowly as possible; delay however possible.
120: Speed matters.
If you and your competitors are equally good at every task, but they are 1% faster than you, you will lose every single time.
A large part of the reason a high IQ is an advantage in life is this: almost everything in life is a race.
Almost every activity where money can be made is a race, either against time or against competitors.
Part of having a high IQ is that you are faster than other people.
121: The telltale sign a man is narcissistic is this: he is insolent, yet also thin skinned.
Narcissistic men are quick to offend others, yet they themselves are easily offended.
They are arrogant on the outside and neurotic on the inside.
Narcissists do not have calmness; they have insecurity masquerading as confidence.
122: The litmus test for whether a man is confident or narcissistic is this; insult him.
If he explodes in rage, this indicates narcissism.
If he remains perfectly calm, this indicates confidence.
123: Narcissistic men are unstable, yet also predictable.
To predict their behavior, simply ask yourself “What would the stereotypical high school bully do?”
124: If you find narcissistic men to be distasteful, know that you are an outlier.
Most people (the masses) find narcissistic men to be charismatic.
Donald Trump and Jordan Belfort show that there will always be a significant faction of the population that finds narcissistic men to be charming, no matter how clearly pathological their psyche may be.
125: Many narcissists make great salesmen, con men, and politicians
126: There is one narcissistic man, with many faces.
Once you know one narcissistic man well, you will notice that all the other narcissistic men you encounter have identical personalities to the first one you became well acquainted with.
127: Ruthlessness is being indifferent to the well being of others. Willingness to harm others, only if there is a practical reason to do so. This is typical of psychopathic men.
Anger, Hatred, or Sadism is having an active desire to harm others, even when there is nothing practical to be gained from doing so. Actively taking pleasure in seeing others suffer. This is typical of narcissistic men.
128: Ruthlessness is a tactical asset; it enables you to harm others for your own gain when there is an actual gain to be had.
Anger and Sadism are tactical liabilities; they motivate you to harm others even when there is no real gain from doing so, and even when you may experience a significant loss from doing so.
129: “To hate is to self induce torture and misery – things that as someone who competes for power are devices that you cannot allow to possess you as they will divorce you from your ambitions.” -Illimitable man, The Femenine Conundrum
Ruthlessness is psychologically healthy.
Anger, Hatred, and Sadism, are psychologically unhealthy. People filled with Hatred are tortured by it.
Harboring Anger in your heart is like drinking poison and hoping someone else will die. Buddha once said this.
130: Confidence is a tactical asset.
Ego is a tactical liability.
Ego drags you into doing things that are tactically counterproductive because they stroke your ego, and prevents you from doing things that would be tactically beneficial since they offend your ego.
131: Beware of those who try to manipulate you into doing something by appealing to your ego.
A man with an ego is easy to manipulate.
Simply imply he’s a ‘coward’ or ‘weakling’ or ‘not a real man’ for refusing to do something, and he’ll do it.
Whenever someone says “Real men do X”, what they mean is “I am trying to manipulate you into doing X, by appealing to your ego.”
132: Never let your ego get in the way of doing what is tactically in your best interest.
Your ego doesn’t matter. Only outcomes do.
Narcissists never realize this.
133: The course of action that strokes your ego will almost never be the course of action that is most tactically effective.
134: The difference between ‘Ego’ and ‘Honor’ is that narcissistic men have plenty of the former, and none of the latter.
135: Men, particularly young men, will do anything to attain high status.
They evolved to be this way because having high status is something that makes men sexually attractive to women.
Men who were indifferent about winning status never did so, they were thus unattractive to women, and they failed to reproduce.
136: You can manipulate men into doing just about anything by telling them “Do X, and it will give you status.”
137: You can convince young men to join your army and risk death in combat, fighting wars that benefit you and yield zero material benefit to them, by simply propagandizing them into seeing military membership as something that grants high status.
Slogans like ‘Support the Troops’ and ‘Thank You For Your Service’ have done this in America.
138: “When people who dislike you ask questions, it’s not because they care about the truth. It’s a trap. An attempt, to humiliate you. Legitimate questions are asked in order to understand a thing, illegitimate questions are fodder for reputation smearing and perception control.” –Illimitable Man
Beware of ADAAQs: Accusations Disguised As A Question
139: When someone accuses you of something, don’t lend legitimacy to the accusation by answering it directly.
Ignore the accusation against you, and launch counter accusations at your adversary.
140: Conditional loyalty is not loyalty. It is mercenarism.
141: In your entire life, there will be at most 5 people who are loyal to you in both good times and bad.
Be kind to these people; they are the most valuable asset you shall ever have.
142: Betrayal from a friend is far more dangerous than attack from an enemy. The closer someone is to you, the more quickly and extensively they can damage you.
Few powerful men are destroyed by their enemies.
Far more common are powerful men destroyed by their supposed allies.
143: It’s shocking how little people know about those closest to them.
Take a moment to appreciate all the things about you those closest to you are utterly unaware of.
Now realize; there’s probably just as many things about them that you are utterly unaware of.
144: If you can sense that someone resents you, or that they hold a grudge against you…get rid of them.
If you keep them around, you are doing nothing more than waiting for a knife to appear in your back.
They are a betrayal waiting to happen.
145: Resentment is usually revealed subtly, by small offhand comments or jokes that are played off as being insignificant.
146: Nobody has ever gone from the bottom of a hierarchy to the top by following the rules.
Why?
Because rules are made by the powerful, for the powerful.
In most hierarchies, the rules aren’t designed to facilitate upward mobility. They are designed to prevent upward mobility.
The powerful design rules that ensure the people who are already at the top (themselves) stay at the top, and that those beneath them cannot rise.
147: “A good end gilds all, no matter how unsavory the means.” –Baltasar Gracian
If you play fair and lose, nobody will care that you played fair; you will be punished for losing.
If you cheat and win, nobody will care that you cheated; all anyone will remember is that you won and you shall be rewarded as such.
148: Following the rules and doing the morally right thing is often the mask of winners, and the very real handicap of losers.