The need for certainty is the greatest disease the Mind faces
Interpretation
The quest for absolute certainty can hinder our ability to think critically and embrace uncertainty.
Robert Greene's quote highlights the detrimental effects of an excessively strong desire for certainty in our thoughts and decisions. This need can lead to inflexible thinking, stifling creativity, and preventing us from adapting to new information or changing circumstances. Embracing uncertainty allows for greater cognitive flexibility and opens the door to new possibilities.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech to encourage individuals to embrace the unknown.
In a society where the roles everyone plays are obvious, the refusal to conform to any standard will excite interest. Be both masculine and feminine, impudent and charming, subtle and outrageous. Let other people worry about being socially acceptable; those types are a dime a dozen, and you are after a power greater than they can imagine.
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.
The moment people feel they know what to expect from you, your spell on them is broken. More: You have ceded them power.
The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.
The Nihilistic Troll might pretend to be acting in the service of some cause or leader, but don't be fooled. The cause and their supposedly strong convictions are simply a way to justify and provide cover for their abusive behavior.
Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world.
Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will. But I love it just the same.
The possession of wealth leads almost inevitably to its abuse. It is the chief, if not the only, cause of evils which desolate this world below. The thirst for gold is responsible for the most regrettable lapses into sin.
He that falls into sin is a man; that grieves at it, is a saint; that boasteth of it, is a devil.
Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
Whether wine is a nourishment, medicine or poison is a matter of dosage
Eternity is said not to be an extension of time but an absence of time, and sometimes it seemed to me that her abandonment touched that strange mathematical point of endlessness, a point with no width, occupying no space.
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