ROBERT GREENE - THE 48 LAWS OF POWER (BOOK SUMMARY)
ROBERT GREENE - THE 48 LAWS OF POWER
(BOOK SUMMARY)
·
See: Niccolò Machiavelli (The Prince)
& Sun Tzu (The Art of War)
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 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.
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 defence. Guide them far enough
down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they
realize your intentions, it will be too late.
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. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem
original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinx-like. Powerful
people impress and intimidate by saying less. 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. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you
slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all
sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert
to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile,
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
Everything is judged by its appearance; what
is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the
crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be
conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by
appearing larger, more colourful, 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. Not only will such assistance save
you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and
speed. 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. It is always better to make your opponent
come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. 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 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 disease. You may feel you are
helping the drowning man, but you are only precipitating your own
disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves;
they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and
fortunate instead.
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. A timely gift – a Trojan
horse – will serve the same purpose.
Law 13: When asking for
help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do
not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He
will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your
request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it
out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees
something to be gained for himself.
Law 14: Pose
as a friend, work as a spy
Knowing about your rival is
critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep
you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In
polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to
get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no
occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.
Law 15: Crush your enemy
totally
All great leaders since Moses have known that
a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have
learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter
how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. 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
Too much circulation makes the price go
down: 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. You must learn when to leave. 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. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behaviour
that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and
they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to
an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.
Law 18: Do not
build fortresses to protect yourself – isolation is dangerous
The world is dangerous, and enemies are
everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems
the safest. But 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 allies,
mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.
Law 19: Know who you’re
dealing with – do not offend the wrong person
There are many kinds of people in the world,
and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the
same way. Deceive or outmanoeuvre some people and they will spend
the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’
clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never
offend or deceive the wrong person.
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. The trick, then, is to make your victims feel smart – and
not just smart, but smarter than you are. 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 honour’s
sake; choose to surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to
recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, 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. Make surrender a tool of power.
Law 23: Concentrate your
forces
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping
them concentrated at their strongest point. 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. When looking for
sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will
give you milk for a long time to come.
Law 24: Play the perfect
courtier
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where
everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has
mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts
power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and
apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can
rise in the court.
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. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and
actions – your power will be enhanced, and your character will seem larger than
life.
Law 26: Keep your hands
clean
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency:
Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain
such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to
disguise your involvement.
Law 27: Play
on people’s need to create a cultlike following
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in
something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a
cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of
promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give
your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your
behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your
new belief system will bring you untold power.
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. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with
boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily
corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honours
the timid.
Law 29: Plan all the way to
the end
The ending is everything. Plan all
the way to it, considering 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. Gently guide fortune
and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.
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 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. Teach no one your tricks
or they will be used against you.
Law 31: Control the options:
get others to play with the cards you deal
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give
the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control but
are your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favour
whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the
lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on
the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.
Law 32: Play to people’s
fantasies
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly
and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are
prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. 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. There
is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.
Law 33: Discover each man’s
thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle
wall. That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable
emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way,
once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.
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; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will
make people disrespect you. For 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. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the
spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn
to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has
reached fruition.
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 and 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
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures
create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage
spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant
symbols that heighten your presence. 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. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel
inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share
your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to
appreciate your uniqueness.
Law 39: Stir up waters to
catch fish
Anger and emotion are strategically
counterproductive. You must always stay calm and
objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm
yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies
off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them,
and you hold the strings.
Law 40: Despise the free
lunch
What is offered for 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. It is also often wise to pay the full
price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. 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
What happens first always appears better and
more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or
have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to
outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow or stuck in a past
not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by
changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy,
and gain power by shining in your own way.
Law 42: Strike the shepherd
and the sheep will scatter
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong
individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of
goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will
succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause
to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are
irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing
them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will
scatter.
Law 43: Work on the hearts
and minds of others
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually
work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in
your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And
the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and
weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions,
playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts
and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.
Law 44: Disarm and infuriate
with the mirror effect
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the
perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they
do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks
and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror
to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their
values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a
lesson. Few can resist the power of the Mirror Effect.
Law 45: Preach the need for
change, but never reform too much at once
Everyone understands the need for change in
the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of
habit. Too much innovation is traumatic and will lead to
revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying
to build a power base, 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
Appearing better than others is always dangerous,
but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or
weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to
occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, to deflect envy and
appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem
perfect with impunity.
Law 47: Do not go past the
mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop
The moment of victory is often the moment of
greatest peril. In the heat 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. There is no substitute for strategy and careful
planning. 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 and formless as water; never bet on stability or
lasting order. Everything changes.
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