Neil Strauss famous quotes

In life, people tend to wait for good things to come to them. And by waiting, they miss out. Usually, what you wish for doesn't fall in your lap; it falls somewhere nearby, and you have to recognize it, stand up, and put in the time and work it takes to get to it. This isn't because the universe is cruel. It's because the universe is smart. It has its own cat-string theory and knows we don't appreciate things that fall into our laps.
-- Neil Strauss

#Smart #Fall #Cat

A couple of kind words can not only make a person's day, but earn you a friend and supporter for life. For the rest of the week, whenever you see someone you want to judge negatively, pay them a compliment instead. See what happens.
-- Neil Strauss

#Couple #Judging #Want

You have to build systems to protect against your lesser self.
-- Neil Strauss

#Self #Protect

To get a woman, you have to be willing to risk losing her.
-- Neil Strauss

#Risk #Losing #Willing

Without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything, whether it's a relationship, a business or a hobby.
-- Neil Strauss

#Inspirational #Commitment #Depth

A lot of guys are very intimidated by an attractive woman, and they dehumanise her because our culture perceives beautiful women as commodities. But I think if you're able walk up to a person and get to know them, and you see their flaws and their impurities, and realise that they're like you, then you can humanise them again.
-- Neil Strauss

#Beautiful #Thinking #Guy

One of the things I'd learned ... was how to take a compliment. Just say, "Thank you." It's the only response a confident person can make.
-- Neil Strauss

#Compliment #Saying Thank You #Response

there are only so many ways to get rejected or ignored. It doesn't hurt at all anymore because why should someone who's a complete stranger have any control over your sense of selfworth?
-- Neil Strauss

#Hurt #Way #Ignored

We have this idea that love is supposed to last forever. But love isn't like that. It's a free-flowing energy that comes and goes when it pleases. Sometimes, it stays for life; other times it stays for a second, a day, a month or a year. So don't fear love when it comes simply because it makes you vulnerable. But don't be surprised when it leaves either. Just be glad you had the opportunity to experience it.
-- Neil Strauss

#Love #Life #Opportunity

In life, people tend to wait for good things to come to them. And by waiting, they miss out.
-- Neil Strauss

#People #Waiting #Missing

We're just fragile machines programmed with a false sense of our own importance. And every now and then the universe sends a reminder that we don't really matter to it...
-- Neil Strauss

#Matter #Machines #Now And Then

While I am impulsive in many areas of my life, marriage is not one of them.
-- Neil Strauss

#Impulsive

It’s not lying, it’s flirting.
-- Neil Strauss

#Lying #Flirting

Attraction is not an option.
-- Neil Strauss

#Romance #Attraction

When the Internet first came into public use, it was hailed as a liberation from conformity, a floating world ruled by passion, creativity, innovation and freedom of information. When it was hijacked first by advertising and then by commerce, it seemed like it had been fully co-opted and brought into line with human greed and ambition.
-- Neil Strauss

#Creativity #Ambition #Passion

When it comes to meeting and attracting women, many men are resigned and complacent. We figure some guys were born with that particular power and other guys weren't. I wasn't.
-- Neil Strauss

#Men #Guy #Born

I've begun to look at the world through apocalypse eyes. Our society, which seems so sturdily built out of concrete and custom, is just a temporary resting place, a hotel our civilization checked into a couple hundred years ago and must one day check out of.
-- Neil Strauss

#Couple #Eye #Years

A pick-up artist gave me a good piece of advice: the three most important things in a relationship are honesty, trust and respect, and if you don't have those, you don't have love.
-- Neil Strauss

#Honesty #Artist #Advice

You need to be careful with a Bluetooth headset. Because some guys look crazy with them.
-- Neil Strauss

#Crazy #Guy #Looks

Men are not dogs. We merely think we are and, on occasion, act as if we are. But, by believing in our nobler nature, women have the amazing power to inspire us to live up to it.
-- Neil Strauss

#Dog #Believe #Men

Because it's so easy to medicate our need for self-worth by pandering to win followers, 'likes' and view counts, social media have become the metier of choice for many people who might otherwise channel that energy into books, music or art - or even into their own Web ventures.
-- Neil Strauss

#Art #Book #Winning

A good organizer is key to anyone with a busy social life.
-- Neil Strauss

#Keys #Busy #Social

The good thing is that women have such high expectations of men that it inspires us to live up to them. That's what I learned about male-female relationships.
-- Neil Strauss

#Men #Expectations #Inspire

A lot of women - not all of them, a lot of them - feel insecure about men being men.
-- Neil Strauss

#Insecure #Men #Being Me

Your intention for a book is never the same as the reception.
-- Neil Strauss

#Book #Intention #Reception

Anyone who hates something feels threatened by it. A guy who says he hates feminism (a) doesn't understand or know feminism, and (b) is scared of powerful women. Most attacks come from fear.
-- Neil Strauss

#Powerful #Hate #Guy

Growing up, I was watched by my parents and strongly critiqued. Instead of saying they loved me or showing physical attention, they would joke that I had a Roman nose - that it was roamin' all over my face. Teasing was their way of showing love, but then you are young, sometimes you can't tell the difference.
-- Neil Strauss

#Growing Up #Differences #Parent

But who are we, really? Just a bundle of good genes and bad genes mixed with good habits and bad habits. And since there's no gene for coolness or confidence, then being uncool and unconfident are just bad habits, which can be changed with enough guidance and will power.
-- Neil Strauss

#Guidance #Enough #Habit

He was telling the students about the hypnotic technique of using quotes in a conversation. An idea is more palatable ... if it comes from someone else. The unconscious thinks in terms of content and structure. If you introduce a pattern with the words, 'My friend was telling me,' the critical part of her mind shuts off.
-- Neil Strauss

#Thinking #Ideas #Mind

If there was anything I'd learned, it's that the man never chooses the woman. All he can do is give her an opportunity to choose him.
-- Neil Strauss

#Men #Opportunity #Giving

One of the reasons I became a writer is that, unlike starting a band, directing movies, or acting in a theatrical production, you can do it alone. Your success and failure depend entirely on yourself.
-- Neil Strauss

#Acting #Band #Directing Movies

After all, everyone's favorite subject is themselves.
-- Neil Strauss

#Subjects

In fact, every woman I met seemed disposable and replaceable. I was experiencing seducer's paradox: The better a seducer I became, the less I loved women. Success was no longer defined by getting laid or finding a girlfriend, but by how well I performed.
-- Neil Strauss

#Girlfriend #Facts #Paradox

I've never trusted collaborations, because most people in this world are not closers. They don't finish what they start; they don't live what they dream; they sabotage their own progress because they're afraid they won't find what they seek.
-- Neil Strauss

#Dream #People #Progress

The strong live off the weak and the clever live off the strong.
-- Neil Strauss

#Strong #Clever #Weak

There are certain bad habits we've groomed our whole life -- from personality flaws to fashion faux pas. And it has been the role of parents and friends, outside of some minor tweaking, to reinforce the belief that we're okay just as we are. But it's not enough to just be yourself. You have to be your best self. And that's a tall order if you haven't found your best self yet.
-- Neil Strauss

#Fashion #Being Yourself #Order

I want to learn martial arts," he said docilely, "so when I want to kill someone, I can do something about it.
-- Neil Strauss

#Art #Want #Martial Arts

God is on the side of the winner.
-- Neil Strauss

#Sides #Winner

That's how hatred is created: two different groups, each insisting they're on the moral high ground
-- Neil Strauss

#Two #Hatred #Groups

It's not enough to just be yourself. You must be your best self
-- Neil Strauss

#Being Yourself #Self #Just Be Yourself

Almost everyone who reaches a plateau where he or she is happy and comfortable says its because of finding balance between work, relaxation, exercise, socialising and family - plus some alone time to do something contemplative, creative, or educational.
-- Neil Strauss

#Educational #Exercise #Creative

We make fun of those we're most scared of becoming.
-- Neil Strauss

#Fun #Becoming #Scared

We get stuck in old thought and behavior patterns that may have been effective when we were twelve months or twelve years old, but now only serve to hold us back. And, while those around us may have no problem correcting our minor flaws, they let the big ones slide, because it would mean attacking who we are.
-- Neil Strauss

#Mean #Years #May

STRAUSS:Have you ever thought about putting those experiences into a book? RICHIE:I did decide to write about what i experienced in climbing to the top. And finally when I got there, I discovered what was at the top.You know what was there? STRAUSS: No, I don't. RICHIE: Nothing. Not one thing. What was at the top was all the experiences that you had to get there.
-- Neil Strauss

#Book #Writing #Climbing

I always wanted to interview Michael Jackson, because I just wanted to humanize him.
-- Neil Strauss

#Interviews #Wanted

I feel like rock stars feel a sense of entitlement, whereas I just feel a sense of good fortune.
-- Neil Strauss

#Stars #Rocks #Entitlement

Fame won't make you feel any better about yourself.
-- Neil Strauss

#Fame #About Yourself #Feels

I know that I need honesty from the people I interview. I also know that the truth is more interesting than made up stuff, and also, people don't connect with you if you're not honest.
-- Neil Strauss

#Honesty #Interesting #People

I think my love is storytelling. No matter what it is, it's storytelling. And so whatever the medium is, what's right for the story, I enjoy doing it.
-- Neil Strauss

#Love Is #Thinking #Stories

When I look down at my pale, skinny body, I wonder why any woman would want to sleep next to it, let alone embrace it.
-- Neil Strauss

#Sleep #Body #Want

Men are a hundred times worse than you can imagine. We are thinking the worst, shallowest thoughts, all the time.
-- Neil Strauss

#Men #Thinking #Imagine

I've seen rock stars agonize over the fact that another artist has far more Facebook 'likes' and Twitter followers than they do.
-- Neil Strauss

#Stars #Artist #Rocks

People don't come out for book events. They want to feel an emotion and be entertained.
-- Neil Strauss

#Book #People #Want

Never ask a woman if you may kiss her. Instead, learn to read body language.
-- Neil Strauss

#Kissing #May #Body

I've noticed a pattern in stars that start acting out in public. Every one of them felt like they grew up without love.
-- Neil Strauss

#Stars #Acting #Patterns

I think there are just a million interviews in anthologies with famous musicians that are about the music, and they're really boring to read.
-- Neil Strauss

#Thinking #Interviews #Musician