The Daily Laws: 366 Meditations on Power, Seduction, Mastery, Strategy, and Human Nature

by Robert Greene

To the ancient Greeks, far more harm is caused in this world by stupidity and incompetence than outright evil.

Daily Law: Never relinquish your ability to doubt, reflect, and consider other options—your rationality as an individual is your only protection against the madness that can overcome a group.

If you come across any special trait of meanness or stupidity . . . you must be careful not to let it annoy or distress you, but to look upon it merely as an addition to your knowledge—a new fact to be considered in studying the character of humanity. Your attitude towards it will be that of the mineralogist who stumbles upon a very characteristic specimen of a mineral. —Arthur Schopenhauer

Make understanding people a fun game, the solving of puzzles. It is all part of the human comedy.