Waste brings woe, and sorrow hates despair.
A hustler has to deal with danger and risk. It's part of the game. You cannot control it all, nor would you want to. Chaos, unknown factors are not something to be anxious about.
Weak character will neutralize all of the other possible good qualities a person might possess.
I know My God commands, whose power no power resists.
Evil or manipulative people don't need a book, they just do it anyway.
Be extra careful in the work environment with those who like to maintain their position through charm and being political, rather than getting things done. They are very prone to envying and hating those who work hard and get results. They will slander and sabotage you without any warning.
Everyone assumes I practise all of my own laws but I don't. I think anybody who did would be a horrible ugly person to be around.
The wisest hustler can suddenly fall for the worst tramp and lose all of his money on her. The hustler is aware of his own weaknesses and openings to con. This awareness is his edge.
Every couple of years when your book comes out then you have to go into these fights with the publisher and the publicist and then maybe I bring sort of my knowledge of power into play.
I'm not who people expect me to be. I'm not Henry Kissinger.
An elusive, enigmatic aura will make people want to know more, drawing them into your circle. Create such a power by hinting at something contradictory within you.
Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.
Power works best when it is indirect - never coercing people; instead, getting them to voluntarily align with your interests.
Ethics and power are separate.
Understand: as children and young adults, we are taught to conform to certain codes of behavior and ways of doing things. We learn that being different comes with a social price.
I find with most of my readers are kind of like me, sort of people who were a little bit naive in life and then learned the hard way that this is what's going on, the political games and most of my readers write to me telling me that the book helped them open their eyes to what other people are doing to them.
When you get angry, your options narrow.
We are often attracted to the wrong things, whether it be money, fame, or approval.
I'd done a lot of research in Hollywood and in academia. I love research and so I wanted to kind of ground the book in history, in things that I read that were universal and timeless and then kind of let my own experiences sort of filter through all of this history.
I was a little worried that young people would think the only game was being political and manipulative when really the bigger game is being so good at what you do that nobody can argue with your results.
