Mark Manson Quotes

Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods.

Rare indeed, is the relationship in which the other is not cultivated for what one can get for oneself.

I felt like they only cared about what I could do for them, not what they could do for me.

It may be a cold, clammy thing to say, but those that treat friendship the same as any other selfishness seem to get the most out of it.

The vulgar crowd values friends according to their usefulness.

Promise everything to anyone, unless clear obligation prevents it. Only live up to those promises which are of advantage to you.

If you cash in on people, then they aren't your friends.

Everybody's out to get something from somebody. 'Gold diggers' doesn't just mean money, it can mean time, it can mean feelings. It can mean anything when you're taking and not giving. When people don't know how to reciprocate.

The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.

There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.

If you're doing well, you're a target, nobody's interested in you except how you can be of use to them.

There is nothing wrong in using people. The success never uses people except to their advantage.

If you're nice to me I'll never write anything bad about you.

All flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.

I hope I use them more than they use me.

It would be a most despicable thing to suggest I would exploit the poor for my own personal gain.

Takers are self-serving in their interactions. It's all about what can you do for me.

I don't work with anyone out of a sense of charity. I use people as long as they are useful to me.

If you want to find out if someone's a taker, it's not actually that useful to know what they've accomplished. What you want to want to know is how they explain them.

Take whatever you can from others, and when there is nothing left, forget about them.

Generosity with strings is not generosity: it is a deal.

Instead of respecting things, we want to use them for ourselves and if it is difficult to use them, we want to conquer them.

Every relationship is a gift exchange.

I don’t know what world you live in, but in mine, people only do things for you for one of two reasons. The first is if they want something in return. And the second is if they feel like they owe you something.

Friendship is a give and take. You have to have a strong relationship with your friend and I think you have to offer them something and they have to offer you something and that’s to always learn from it.