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The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

by Parker · 483 things on Twos

Law 1: Never outshine the master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior
In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite—inspire fear and insecurity
Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power
Law 2: Never put too must trust in friends, learn how to use enemies
Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical
Hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies
If you have no enemies, find a way to make them
Law 3: Conceal your intentions
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense
Law 4: Always say less than necessary
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control
The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish
Law 5: So much depends on reputation—guard it with your life
Reputation is the cornerstone of power
Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen
Learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them
Law 6: Court attention at all cost
Stand out
Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses
Law 7: Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause
In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered
Never do yourself what others can do for you
Law 8: Make other people come to you—use bait if necessary
When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control
Lure him with fabulous gains—then attack. You hold the cards
Law 9: Win through your actions, never through argument
Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: the resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion
It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word
Demonstrate, do not explicate
Law 10: Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky
You can die from someone else's misery—emotional states are as infectious as diseases
You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster
Law 11: Learn to keep people dependent on you
To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted
The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have
Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear
Never teach them enough so that they can do without you
Law 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones
Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people
Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will
Law 13: When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude
Uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion
Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy
Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions
Law 15: Crush your enemy totally
A feared enemy must be crushed completely
More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation. The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge
Crush him, not only in body but in spirit
Law 16: Use absence to increase respect and honor
The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear
If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired
Create value through scarcity
Law 17: Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability
Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people's actions
Your predictability gives them a sense of control
Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves
Law 18: Do not build fortresses to protect yourself—isolation is dangerous
Isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from—it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people, find alliies, mingle
You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd
Law 19: Know who you're dealing with—do not offend the wrong person
Choose your victims and opponents carefully
Law 20: Do not commit to anyone
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself
By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others—playing people against one another, making them pursue you
Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker—seem dumber than your mark
No one likes feeling stupider than the next person
Make your victims feel smart—and not just smart, but smarter than you. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives
Law 22: Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power
When you are weaker, never fight for honor's sake; choose surrender instead
Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conquror, time to wait for his power to wane
Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you—surrender first
By turning the other cheek you infuriate and unsettle him
Law 23: Concentrate your forces
You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another—intensity defeats extensity every time
Law 24: Play the perfect courtier
Law 25: Re-create yourself
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you
Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience
Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define it for you
Law 26: Keep your hands clean
Law 27: Play on people's need to believe to create a cultlike following
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something
Offer them a cause, a new faith to follow
Emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking
Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf
Law 28: Enter action with boldness
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution
Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid
Law 29: Plan all the way to the end
Plan all the way to the end, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others
By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop
Law 30: Make your accomplishments seem effortless
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease
All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed
When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work—it only raises questions
Law 31: Control the options: get others to play with the cards you deal
Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose
Law 32: Play to people's fantasies
Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: everyone flocks to them
Law 33: Discover each man's thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness. The weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a secret pleasure
Law 34: Be royal in your own fashion: act like a king to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated
A king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others
By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown
Law 35: Master the art of timing
Never seem to be in a hurry—hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time
Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually
Law 36: Disdain things you cannot have: ignoring them is the best revenge
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility
The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse the more visible when you try to fix it
It is sometimes best to leave things alone
If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem
Law 37: Create compelling spectacles
Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing
Law 38: Think as you like but behave like others
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them
Law 39: Stir up waters to catch fish
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective
If you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage
Law 40: Despise the free lunch
What is offered as free is dangerous—it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation
What has worth is worth paying for
By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit
Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power
Law 41: Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes
Establish your own name and identity by changing course
Law 42: Strick the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
Law 43: Work on the hearts and minds of others
The way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses
Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you
Law 44: Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect
When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as thy do, they cannot figure out your strategy
Law 45: Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once
People are creatures of habit
Too much innovation is traumatic and will lead to revolt
Make a show of respecting the old way of doing things
If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past
Law 46: Never appear too perfect
Most dangerous is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses
It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable
Law 47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop
In the heart of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat
Do not allow success to go to your head
Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop
Law 48: Assume formlessness
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move
Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed
The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes
When we feel helpless we feel miserable
We have to seem fair and decent
"Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good." - Niccolò Machiavellii
Those who make a show or display of innocence are the least innocent of all
If the game of power is inescapable, better to be an artist than a denier or a bungler
The most important skill is the ability to master your emotioins
An emotional response to a situation is the single greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more than any temporary satisfaction you might gain by expressing your feelings
Emotions cloud reason, and if you cannot see the situation clearly, you cannot prepare for and respond to it with any degree of control
Distance yourself from the present moment and think objectively about the past and future
Half of the game is learning how to forget those events in the past that eat away at you and cloud your reason
The real purpose of the backward glancing eye is to educate yourself constantly—you look at the past to learn from those who cam before you
Patience will protect you from making moronic blunders
Like mastering your emotions, patience is a skill—it does not come naturally
Patience is the supreme virtue of the gods, who have nothing but time
Everything good will happen if you give it time and see several steps into the future
Impatience only makes you look weak
Power is a game and in games you do not judge your opponents by their intentions but by the effect of their actions
It is only natural for people to cover up their actions with all kinds of justifications, always assuming that they have acted out of goodness
You must learn to inwardly laugh each time you hear this and never get caught up in gauging someone's intentions and actions through a set of moral judgments that are really an excuse for the accumulation of power
It is a game. Behave as a gentleman, observe the rules of the game and take nothing personally. You play with a strategy and you observe your opponent's moves with as much calmness as you can muster
Train your eye to follow the results of their moves, the outward circumstances, and do not be distracted by anything else
Half of your mastery of power comes from what you do not do, what you do not allow yourself to get dragged into. For this skill you must learn to judge all things by what they cost you
"The value of a thing sometimes lies not in what one attains with it, but in what one pays for it—what it costs us." - Nietzsche
Life is short, opportunities are few, and you have only so much energy to draw on. And in this sense time is as important a consideration as any other. Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others—that is too high a price to pay
Power is a social game. To learn and master it, you must develop the ability to study and understand people
You must recognize motivations and see through the cloud of dust with which people surround their actions. An understanding of people's hidden motives is the single greatest piece of knowledge you can have in acquiring powder. It opens up endless possibilities of deception, seduction, and manipulation
Never discriminate as to whom you study and whom you trust. Never trust anyone completely and study everyone, including friends and loved ones
You must learn always to take the indirect route to power
Law 1: Never outshine the master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite—inspire fear and insecurity. Make your master appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power
All masters want to appear more brilliant than other people
The producer of a great work wants to feel he is more than just the provider of the financing. He wants to appear creative and powerful, and also more important than the work produced in his name
Everyone has insecurities. When you show yourself in the world and display your talents, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity
You cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others
Never image that because the master loves you, you can do anything you want
Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head
Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies
Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them
You often do not know your friends as well as you imagine
When you decide to hire a friend, you gradually discover the qualities he or she has kept hidden. Strangely enough, it is your act of kindness that unbalances everything. People want to feel they deserve their good fortune
The problem with using or hiring friends is that it will inevitably limit your power. The friend is rarely the one who is most able to help you; and in the end, skill and competence are far more important than friendly feelings
All working situations require a kind of distance between people. You are trying to work, not make friends
The key to power is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations
Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent
"You destroy an enemy when you make a friend of him" - Abraham Lincoln
Without enemies around us, we grow lazy. An enemy at our heels sharpens our wits, keeping us focused and alert
Be certain that in the long run you will emerge victorious. Never pick a fight with someone you are not sure you can defeat
Never let the presence of enemies upset or distress you—you are far better off with a declared opponent or two than not knowing where your real enemies lie