The need for certainty is the greatest disease the Mind faces

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. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Be brutal with the past, especially your own, and have no respect for the philosophies that are foisted on you from outside.

True genius, in strategy or anywhere, lies in self-control, self-mastery, presence of mind, fluidity of thought.

To a large extent, the political walls are crumbling.

The human tongue is a beast that few can master.

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.