Robert Greene On Self-Belief

By Leo Gura - June 20, 2026

This is very true:

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Despite what my critics love to call me, no, I am not a narcissist. Not even close. I am less narcissistic than the average American adult, as measured by clinical assessment. I couldn’t do what I do if I was a narcissist. However, it does take a fair amount of ego to dare to deconstruct all of science, philosophy, academia, religion, and even stuff like nonduality and Buddhism. Yeah, the reason I’m able to do that is because I have insane self-belief. I genuinely believe that I can understand Reality better than any human who has ever lived. Is that narcissism? It is what’s required to achieve big things in life, whether it be business, art, or God-Realization. If you don’t believe you can, you’ve already failed. I’m not going to surrender before I even try. That would be foolish. You have to dare to think big. The people at the top have big enough egos to dare to think and dream big. This can overlap with narcissism but isn’t narcissism per se. You can dream big, think big, set big goals, and not be a narcissist. In fact, that’s what I recommend. But, beware, if you do that, people will definitely gaslight you about being a narcissist. Unambitious people can’t understand ambitious people.

Does it take a big ego for a non-scientist to lecture scientists on how badly they do science? Yeah! Lol. But it just so happens to be true. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Note: This is not a license for narcissism. Narcissism is a sick form of mind. You are not going to understand Reality through narcissism. That’s why I’m not a narcissist. If you think I’m a narcissist, you are deeply mistaken. Again, this word, like the word cult and the word gaslighting, is much misused these days by people with superficial understanding. Be ware of superficial pop-psychology words. They are oft misused by inexperienced people and internet trolls.

Note: Robert Greene has great practical wisdom. Perhaps a little too practical. He is the Stage Orange whisperer of our times.

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