Neil Strauss Quotes

“Attraction is not an option.”

“What was at the top was all the experiences that you had to get there.”

“True endurance, I think, comes from the inside. It comes from motivation and belief in what you're doing.”

“We make fun of those we're most scared of becoming.”

“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.”

“A rich man doesn't need to tell you he's rich.”

“After all, everyone's favorite subject is themselves.”

“If a woman has been married three years or more, you come to learn that she's usually easier to sleep with than a single woman.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The sins of the parents are the destinies of their children. Unless the children wake up and do something about it.”

“The strong live off the weak and the clever live off the strong.”

“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.”

“Where there's a problem, there's an opportunity.”

“Why should someone who's a complete stranger have any control over your sense of self-worth?”

“Without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything, whether it's a relationship, a business or a hobby.”

“All too often, the things that we're the most resistant to are precisely what we need. And the things we're most scared to let go of are exactly the ones we most need to relinquish.”

“Each woman is a wonderful world unto herself.”

“Every woman wants the same thing in a relationship: to be adored.”

“Every word, every step, every action is irreversible. If we step in front of a moving car, if we sign a contract we haven’t read, if we betray the person we love, the best we can do is try to clean up the mess. But no matter how hard we scrub, the stain on reality will never come out. The word you just read can never be unread.”

“In fairy tales, love strikes like lightning. In real life, lightning burns. It can even kill you.”

“In the dance of infatuation, we see others not as they are, but as projections of who we want them to be. And we impose on them all the imaginary criteria we think will fill the void in our hearts.”

“Intimacy is sharing your reality with someone else and knowing you’re safe, and them being able to share their reality with you and also be safe.”

“Is it possible to live your authentic life if you have inauthentic people around you?”

“Loneliness is holding in a joke because you have no one to share it with.”

“Lying is about controlling someone else’s reality, hoping that what they don’t know won’t hurt you.”

“Monogamy is like choosing to live in a single town and never traveling to experience the beauty, history, and enchantment of all the other unique, wonderful places in the world.”

“Most people seem to believe that if a relationship doesn't last until death, it's a failure. But the only relationship that's truly a failure is one that lasts longer than it should. The success of a relationship should be measured by it's depth, not by its length.”