48 Laws of Power — Robert Greene

1. Never Outshine the Master.

Galileo was clever - he dedicated his discover of the moons of Jupiter to the Medicis, since the royal symbol of the Medici family was the planet Jupiter.

Wisdom in a nutshell:

• Present your ideas in such as manner that they may be ascribed to your master, or could be viewed as an echo of your master’s thoughts.
• If you are more intelligent than your master, act as if you are not.
• Never take your position for granted.
• Never let favors you receive go to your head.
• Discreet flattery is much more powerful. Make it seem like you want to seek his expertise and advise.

2. Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies.

Wisdom in a nutshell:

• Friends will never be totally honest with you. They will not openly disagree to avoid arguments.
• Enemies expect nothing so they will be surprised when you are generous.
• An enemy spared the guillotine will be more grateful to you than a friend.
• When you decide to hire a friend you will discover qualities she has kept hidden.
• Skill and competence are more important than friendly feelings.
• Hiring friends will limit your power.
• All working situations require a distance between people.
• You destroy an enemy when you make a friend of him.
• An enemy at your heels keeps you sharp, alert, and focused.

3. Conceal your Intentions.

After Marquis’ admission of love, the countess no longer found him interesting and avoided him.

Wisdom in a nutshell:

• Use decoyed objects of desire and red herrings to throw people off scent.
• Use smoke screens (a poker face) to disguise your actions.
• False sincerity is one powerful tool that will send your rivals on a wild goose chase.
• Blend in and people will be less suspicious.

4. Always say less than necessary.

The less Marcel Duchamp talked about his work, the more it was talked about in the art circles. When interviewed, Andy Warhol would give vague and ambiguous answers and let the interviewer find his own interpretation.

Wisdom in a nutshell:

• Saying less will keep you from saying something foolish or even dangerous.
• Keeping silent makes people reveal more about themselves.

5. So much depends on reputation — guard it with your life.

• Use humor or gentle mockery at your rival’s expense.
• A solid reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your strengths without your having to spend much energy.
• Never appear desperate in your self-defense against the slander of others.
• Be careful not to go too far in attacking another’s reputation.

6. Court attention at all cost.

• Surround your name with the sensational and the scandalous.
• Create an air of mystery.
• It is better to be attacked ans slandered than ignored.
• Make yourself appear larger than life.
• Any sort of notoriety will bring you power.

7. Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.

• Save time and energy by hiring others to do the work.
• You can only exploit others’ talents if your position is unshakeable.

8. Make other people come to you — use bait if necessary.

• For negotiations and meetings, it is wiser to lure others into your territory, or a territory of your choice.
• Once someone suspects you are manipulating him, it will be harder to control him. Making him come to you gives the illusion he is control.
• Most often the effective action is to stay back, keep calm, and let others be frustrated by the traps you set for them.

9. Win through your actions, never through argument.

By asking his patron to look at his sculpture’s nose through a different perspective, while pretending to correct the nose, the mayor was convinced the nose looked much better. Michelangelo succeeded in making Soderini think his comment had helped improve the work.

• Demonstrate, do not explicate.
• Arguing will only offend your superior.
• Learn to demonstrate the correctness of your ideas indirectly.
• Don’t bother demonstrating if time and experience will eventually teach the other person what you are trying to say. Save your energy and walk away.
• No one can argue with a demonstrated proof.

10. Infection: Avoid the unhappy and unlucky.

• In the game of power, the people you associate with are critical.
• An infector can be recognized by the misfortune they draw on themselves, broken relationships, unstable careers.
• Gravitate towards prosperous, cheerful, and gregarious people.
• Never associate with those who keep your defects.

11. Learn to keep people dependent on you.

Michelangelo knew he could always find another patron, but the pope knew he could not find another Michelangelo.

Machiavelli said it is better to be feared than loved. Fear can be controlled; love, never.

• Be the only one who can do what you do. Make the fate of those who hire you so entwined with yours they cannot possibly get rid of you.
• If you are ambitious, it is wiser to seek out weak masters with whom you can create a relationship of dependency.
• Possess a talent or creative skill that sets you apart from the crowd.
• By knowing other people’s secrets and holding information they wouldn’t want made public, you seal your fate with theirs.

12. Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim.

• The essence of deception is distraction. An act of kindness, generosity, or honesty will distract and disarm people and turn them into gullible children.
• Give before you take.
• Nothing in the realm of power is set in stone. Overt deceptiveness may sometimes cover your tracks. If you have a history of deceit behind you, then play the rogue, be consistent and this will be interpreted as you simply being yourself.

13. When asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude.

When Genghis Khan conquered China, his adviser Yelu Ch’u-Ts’ai persuaded him to reap the benefits of their new territory by taxing its people.

Most people are very pragmatic. Do not bring the need for gratitude for what you have done for others in the past. These appeals will be ignored. Pragmatic people look towards the future, so it is best to emphasize how they will benefit from an alliance with you.

• Understand the other person’s motivation.
• For others who want to feel superior and do not want to appear selfish, appeal to their need to display their charity in the public eye.

14. Pose as a friend, work as a spy.

Joseph Duveen monopolized the art-collecting market through his ingenious spying tactics. He would place the household employees of his potential clients on his own payroll to provide information. He would arrange accidental meetings in elevators to lead his wealthy patrons into his trap.

• Gather information at social events when people’s guards are down.
• Use other people to give you the information you need.
• Mislead others by giving out false information. Watch them react and base your next action on what you discover.

15. Crush your enemy totally.

• Show no mercy. Crush your rivals or else you give them time to regroup and plot their revenge.
• Banish enemies or plot for the est time to render them harmless.
• Leave your enemies no options.
• Sometimes enemies will destroy themselves.
• Thoughts of reconciliation will open you up to attack.

16. Use absence to increase respect and honor.

• Create value through scarcity. Make yourself less accessible, otherwise the aura you have created around yourself will wear away.

17. Keep others in suspended terror: Cultivate an air of unpredictability.

• A person of power instills fear by deliberately unsettling those around him to keep the initiative on his side.
• Only the terminally subordinate act in a predictable manner.

18. Do not build fortresses to protect yourself - isolation is dangerous.

King Louis XIV knew that if he were to isolate himself for one moment, conspiracies would rise behind his back.

• A fortress may be impregnable, but everyone knows you are there and it may turn into a prison.
• Power depends on social interaction and circulation.
• Isolation is deadly for the creative arts. Shakespeare constantly produced plays for the masses.
• Mobility and social contact protects you from plotters.

19. Know who you’re dealing with — do not offend the wrong person.

• Learn to distinguish from opponent, sucker, and victim. Five dangerous marks: arrogant/proud, hopelessly insecure, suspicious, serpent with long memory, and the plain, unassuming, unintelligent man.
• Measure up your opponent, but never rely on instinct. Do research on concrete facts about that person’s character and history.
• Never trust appearances.

20. Do not commit to anyone.

Queen Elizabeth I dangled the possibility of marriage to all those who courted her. She forged alliances with the countries her suitors came from.

• By refusing to commit, but allowing yourself to be courted, you become powerful because you are ungraspable.
• As your reputation for independence grows, more people will desire you and want to conquer you.
• Politely decline. You cannot allow yourself to feel obligated to anyone.
• Seek promises from both sides, so no matter what the outcome of a battle, your position is secure.
• Observe quarreling parties and stay neutral but supportive to both sides. Gain power as a mediator.
• You may commit to one to prove you are capable of attachment, but be emotionally uninvolved. Preserve the unspoken option of being able to leave anytime and reclaim your freedom.

21. Play a sucker to catch a sucker — seem dumber than your mark.

• Intelligence is an important part of people’s vanity. Subliminally reassure your opponent of his superiority.
• Playing naive lets you see opportunities to deceive others.

22. Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power.

• Do not fight aggression with aggression. Put your opponent off-guard by yielding, and in effect have more control over the situation.
• Surrender is a way of mocking your enemies.
• Surrender disguises your real motives and allows time to plan your next move.

23. Concentrate your forces.

The Rothschild banking family concentrated its wealth within a very tight-knit structure. Five brothers each controlled a part of the empire from Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, Naples, to London.

• Single-mindedness of purpose and total concentration on one goal will overwhelm the enemy every time.
• A single patron appreciates your loyalty and becomes dependent on your services.
• In the arts, being too single-minded can make you an intolerable bore.

24. Play the perfect courtier.

• Talk less about yourself. Modesty is generally preferable.
• Practice nonchalance. All your hard work must come off as effortless.
• Be frugal with flattery.
• Arrange to be noticed.
• Alter your style and language according to the person you are dealing with.
• Never be the bearer of bad news.
• Never affect friendliness and intimacy with your master.
• Never criticize those above you directly.
• Be frugal in asking those above you for favors.
• Never joke about appearances or taste.
• Do not be the court cynic.
• Be self-observant.
• Master your emotions.
• Fit the spirit of the times.
• Be a source of pleasure.

25. Re-create yourself.

Julius Caesar always incorporated drama and theatrics in his speeches and daily appearances. He was a great public showman, timing his entrances and exits, sponsoring extravagant spectacles, gladiator shows and theatrical events. The masses loved him, but his rivals feared him.

Aurore Dupin Dudevant assumed the pseudonym George Sand. She dressed in men’s breeches, smoked cigars, and expressed herself in conversation like a man. She even carried on affairs with the most famous artists of Europe.

• Control your appearances and emotions. Play sincere, but not necessarily be sincere.
• Create a memorable character. Do not limit yourself to the role society assigns you.

26. Keep your hands clean.

Cleopatra was always able to get people to do her bidding without them realizing she was manipulating them.

• Conceal your mistakes. Your good name and reputation depends more on what you conceal than on what you reveal.
• Always have a convenient scapegoat.
• Never do the dirty work yourself.

27. Play on people’s need to believe to create a cult-like following.

• Keep it simple, keep it vague. Create new words for vague concepts.
• Emphasize the visual and sensual over the intellectual.
• Borrow the forms of organized religion to structure the group. Create rituals. Use names and ranks and titles. Ask them to make sacrifices and give alms. Act like a guru or a prophet.
• Disguise your source of income.
• Set up an us-versus-them dynamic. Keep followers united by identifying outsiders as a devious enemy.
• The tendency to doubt and reason is broken down when we join a group.

28. Enter action with boldness.

• Boldness strikes fear; fear creates authority.
• Going halfway digs the deeper grave. Do not negotiate if your opponent will more likely take the opportunity to destroy you.
• Hesitation creates gaps. Boldness obliterates them. Move swiftly and surely.
• Audacity separates you from the herd.

29. Plan all the way to the end.

• Take into account all possible obstacles and circumstances that may prevent you from achieving your goal, and plan how you will overcome them.
• When you see several steps ahead, you will no longer need to improvise along the way, and risk deviating from your plan.
• Prepare alternatives and be open to adapt new routes to your goal.

30. Make your accomplishments seem effortless.

Sen no Rikyu was an important tea master and adviser on aesthetic and political matters to the emperor Hideyoshi. He despised hosts who looked like they were trying too hard. Cha-no-yu is an art form and the whole process must look natural and easy.

• What imitates nature by appearing effortless and natural approximates nature’s power.
• Never show work until it is finished. When people see the effort and time it takes to make it, and if they witness a work-in-progress, the magic of the final piece is spoiled.

31. Control the options: Get others to play with the cards you deal.

• Make people your puppets and give them options to let them feel they have control. Force them to choose between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose.
• Present options but color the one you prefer as the best solution.
• Force the resister into “choosing” to do what you want by appearing to advocate the opposite.
• Alter the playing field so the only options available are the ones you offer.
• Shrinking options force people to buy in now or else the goods won’t be available tomorrow.
• The weak man must be propelled into action through fear and terror.
• Involving your victim in your scheme with the threat of their exposure later will keep them tied to you. They cannot expose you because you will be found out as well.
• Use the horns of a dilemma: whichever way they choose, there is no escape.

32. Play to people’s fantasies.

Abraham Lincoln created an image of himself as the homespun country lawyer with a beard. He played to the fantasy of the common man’s president.

• People need a fantasy to escape from the humdrum of everyday life. The more vague and exciting, the more captivating.
• Promise a pot of gold and instant gratification, rather than a gradual improvement through hard work.
• Keep your distance so the fantasy remains intact.

33. Discover each man’s thumbscrew.

• Every person has a weakness or insecurity you can use to your advantage.
• Train yourself to probe for weaknesses in everyday conversation.
• Find the childhood need that went unfulfilled, supply it, and your victim will be unable to resist you.
• People’s weaknesses are the opposite of the qualities they reveal to you. Shy people are actually dying for attention, a prude may be hiding a lascivious soul.

34. Be royal in your own fashion: Act like a king to be treated like one.

• How you carry yourself reflects what you think of yourself. Exude confidence and the feeling you were destined for greatness.
• Do not confuse regal bearing with arrogance.
• Dignity is the mask you assume under difficult circumstances. Act like nothing can affect you and you have all the time in the world to respond.
• Set your price high and do not waver.
• Deal with the highest person in the building.
• A gift is an equalizer. You do not be but ask for help in a dignified way.

35. Master the art of timing.

Time is a human-made concept. Long time: years-long period of waiting for the right opportunity while creating a strong foundation to work on. Forced time: upsetting the timing of others and setting their deadlines for them (easier to make mistakes). End time: execute a plan for speed and absolutely no hesitation.

• Never look as though you are in a hurry. It betrays a lack of control.
• Learn to stand back and be patient. Strike only when the time is right.
• Recognizing the prevailing winds does not necessarily mean running with them.

36. Disdain things you cannot have: ignoring them is the best revenge.

• The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him. The less interest you show, the more superior you seem.
• You choose to let things bother you. You can just as easily choose to consider the matter trivial and unworthy of interest. That is the powerful move.
• If it is impossible to ignore, then secretly get rid of it. Sometimes, threats just go away by themselves.

37. Create compelling spectacles.

• Never neglect the way you arrange things visually.
• Associate yourself with colors, images, and symbols that communicate strong messages.
• People are always impressed by the superficial appearance of things, the grand, the spectacular, what is larger than life.

38. Think as you are but behave like others.

• Wise and clever peopel learn early on that they can display conventional behavior and mouth conventional ideas without having to believe in them.
• Put on the mask appropriate to the group you are joining.

39. Stir up waters to catch fish.

• Anger and emotion are strategically unproductive. Make your enemies angry but stay calm yourself.
• Angry people usually end up looking ridiculous.
• Nothing in the game of power is personal.
• An occasional outburst may be powerful, but use anger too often and it loses its power.

40. Despise the free lunch.

• By paying your own way, you stay free of gratitude. What is offered for free normally has a hidden obligation.
• Generosity is a sign of power. Most people spend freely and are not misers.
• Use money as a way to give pleasure to others and win them over.

41. Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes.

• Choose a different path and personal style if you are the daughter or son of a great person. You will forever be in your predecessor’s shadow unless you find a way to shine on your own.
• Only after the father figure has been done away with will there be space to establish a new order.
• Do not become complacent once you reach success and security. Prosperity makes us lazy.

42. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.

• Recognize troublemakers by their complaining nature. Separate him from the group.
• In every group, power is concentrated in the hands of one or two people. Human nature shows people will orbit around a single strong personality.

43. Work on the hearts and minds of others.

• Aim at the primary emotions: love, hate, jealousy. Be alert to people’s individual psychologies and their basic emotional responses.
• Maintain a stable of artists, writers, and intellectuals who are very good at appealing to people’s hearts and minds.

44. Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect.

• Do what your enemies do, follow their actions and they will not see what you are up to. When you mirror them, it mocks and humiliates them. Mimicry infuriates.
• The Shadow effect: Shadow your opponents’ every move, gather information, and gain insight to their routines and habits without them seeing you.
• The Mirror effect: Show you understand by reflecting their innermost feelings.
• The Moral effect: Teach others a lesson by giving them a taste of their own medicine.
• The Hallucinatory effect: Offer a perfect copy of an object, place or person and see how people take the bait.

45. Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once.

• Make change and reform seem like such as gentle improvement on the past. People are creatures of habit and the sudden change will cause some to rebel.
• Disguise change by dressing it in tradition.

46. Never appear too perfect.

• Never underestimate the power of envy. Occasionally reveal a weakness, defect, anxiety, or find new friends. It is in your own circle of peers who will be the first to envy your success.
• Envy is often a problem for people who have great natural talent. You think you charm other people when in fact they hate you for it.
• To deflect envy, employ a display of weakness, or a harmless vice.
• Envy is disguised sometimes as excessive praise, or slander and criticism. Win your revenge by ignoring the envious.
• Reversal: Display the utmost disdain for those who envy you. Instead of hiding your perfection, make it obvious. Make every triumph an opportunity to make the envious squirm.

47. Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn where to stop.

• The powerful know that the essence of strategy is controlling what comes next.
• There is no better time to stop and walk away than after a victory.

48. Assume formlessness.

• Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. Be as fluid and formless as water, adapting and moving with change naturally.
• The powerful are creative in expressing something new.
• Play the chameleon but break your enemy from the inside.
• Morph and adapt but keep your long-term strategy in mind at all times.