48 Laws of Power (By Robert Greene & Joost Elffers)

For those who want POWER to be a TRUE LEADER

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 in your boss’s mind. So never try to outshine your boss.

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. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. Believe me, I am not joking, if you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

CONCEAL YOUR INTENTIONS. Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If your adversaries have no clue about what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, and by the time they realize your true intentions, it will be too late for them.

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 say something common or ordinary, it will seem original if you make it vague and open-ended. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish. Powerful people impress and intimidate opponents by saying less.

GUARD YOUR REPUTATION WITH YOUR LIFE. Reputation is cornerstone of power. Once it slips, you become vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Also, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST. Everything is judged by appearance. Stand out; make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colourful than the timid masses.

GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU, BUT ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT. Use the wisdom, knowledge of other people to further your own cause – it will save you valuable time and energy. In the end you will be remembered for the work done and your helpers will be forgotten. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

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.

WIN THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS, NEVER THROUGH ARGUMENT. Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a victory gained at a great cost. The resentment and ill-will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word.

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. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

LEARN TO KEEP PEOPLE DEPENDENT ON YOU. To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. 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.

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 armour, you can deceive and manipulate them at will.

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 that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportions. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

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 reveal their weaknesses and intentions.

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.

USE ABSENCE TO INCREASE RESPECT AND HONOUR. 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.

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. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorise.

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.

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. There are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

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.

SEEM DUMBER THAN WHAT YOU REALLY ARE. 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.

USE SURRENDER TACTIC: TRANSFORM WEAKNESS INTO POWER. Remember, when you are weaker, never fight for honour’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover; time to wait for your conqueror’s power to wane. Make surrender a tool of power.

CONCENTRATE YOUR FORCES. Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron.

PLAY THE PERFECT COURTIER. The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

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. Dramatise your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAN. Ensure your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats to disguise your involvement.

PLAY ON PEOPLE’S NEED TO BELIEVE TO CREATE A CULT LIKE FOLLOWING. People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become a 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. Your new belief system will bring you untold power.

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. Everyone admires the bold; no one honours the timid.

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 that might reverse your hard work. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop.

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. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

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 favour whichever one they choose.

PLAY TO PEOPLE’S FANTASIES. The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless your are prepared for the anger that comes from disenchantment. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

DISCOVER EACH MAN’S WEAKNESS. Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. The weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need. Once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

ACT LIKE A KING TO BE TREATED LIKE ONE. The way you carry yourself will often determine how your are treated. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others.

MASTER THE ART OF TIMING. Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

DISDAIN THINGS YOU CANNOT HAVE: IGNORING THEM IS THE BEST REVENGE. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem. By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make them.

CREATE COMPLELLING SPECTACLES. Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence.

THINK AS YOU LIKE BUT BEHAVE LIKE OTHERS. If you make a show of going against 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. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

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 a weak-link in their armour through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

DESPISE THE FREE LUNCH. What is offered 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.

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, you will have to accomplish double his achievement to outshine him. Do not get lost in his shadow. Establish your own name and identity by changing course.

STRIKE THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP WILL SCATTER. Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the arrogant stirrer, the poisoner 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. Neutralise their influence by isolating them.

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. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, individual psychologies, weaknesses, what they hold dear and what they fear.

DISARM AND INFURIATE WITH 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 to overreact. By holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson.

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, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gently improvement on the past.

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.

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. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

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.