To be emperor of China was to be alone, surrounded by a pack of enemies – it was the least powerful, least secure position in the realm.
Act before it becomes impossible to disentangle one strand of misery from another, or to see how the whole thing started.
Through our work and through getting what we need on our own, without depending on others, we can stand tall and realize our potential as humans.
Work at what connects to you emotionally and ideas will come to you.
Being attacked is a sign that you are important enough to be a target.
Challenge is pleasure.
In life you must be a warrior, and war requires realism. While others may find beauty in endless dreams, warriors find it in reality, in awareness of limits, in making the most of what they have.
You may have brilliant ideas, the kind that could revolutionize the world, but unless you can express them effectively, they will have no force, no power to enter people’s minds in a deep and lasting way.
Rationality is not a power you are born with but one you acquire through training and practice.
Results are important, but the way they are achieved, the process, is equally important.
If you are trying to destroy an enemy who has hurt you, far better to keep him off-guard by feigning friendliness than showing your anger.
Some people, too, are inveterately passive: they are waiting for you to make the bold move, and if you don’t, they will think you are weak.
You are your own worst enemy. You waste precious time dreaming of the future instead of engaging in the present. Since nothing seems urgent to you, you are only half involved in what you do. The only way to change is through action and outside pressure.
Instead of internalizing a bad situation, externalize it and face your enemy. It is the only way out.
Never Be the Bearer of Bad News. The king kills the messenger who brings bad news: This is a cliche but there is truth to it. You must struggle and if necessary lie and cheat to be sure that the lot of the bearer of bad news falls on a colleague, never on you. Bring only good news and your approach will gladden your master.
In your thinking, learn to blend the analytical with the intuitive in order to become more creative.
Let a Sense of Purpose Guide You Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings blessed death. – Leonardo da Vinci.
Since you are on your own, it is up to you to foresee the changes going on right now in your profession. You must adapt your Life’s Task to these circumstances. You do not hold on to past ways of doing things, because that will ensure you will fall behind and suffer for it. You are flexible and always looking to adapt. If change is forced upon you, you must resist the temptation to overreact or feel sorry for yourself.
The single greatest action you can take for acquiring creative power is to reverse this natural impatience. Daily Law: Imagine yourself years in the future looking back at the work you have done.
And the most dangerous of their weapons was insinuation – the means by which Madame cast her spell on the young man, making him seem the aggressor, giving her the night of pleasure she desired, and safeguarding her guiltless reputation, all in one stroke.
Whatever is done from love always occurs beyond good and evil.