by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers
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 defense. 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 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. 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. 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. 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 different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume
that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or
outmaneuver 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 persons. The trick 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 honor’s sake; choose 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 check 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 if 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 Believe 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 honors the timid.
Law 29
Plan All the Way to the End
The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, 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. 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 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. 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 actually your puppets. Give people
options that come out in your favor 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 usual y 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 are 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 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, in order 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.