The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

The 48 Laws of Power (1998) by American author Robert Greene, is a non-fiction book and a bestseller, it is very popular with prison inmates and celebrities. This classic book is about acquiring and keeping power.

Here are the 48 laws:

• Never outshine the master
• Never put too much trust in friends: learn to use enemies
• Conceal your intentions
• Always say less than is necessary
• So much depends on your reputation – guard it with your life
• Court attention at all costs
• Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit
• Make other people come to you -use bait if necessary
• Win through your actions, never through argument
• Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky
• Learn to keep people dependent on you
• Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim

• When asking for help, appeal to self – interest, never to mercy or gratitude
• Pose as a friend, never as a spy
• Crush your enemies totally
• Use absence to increase respect and honour
• Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability
• Do not build fortresses to protect yourself
• Know who you are dealing with – do not offend the wrong person
• Do not commit yourself to anyone
• Play a sucker to catch a sucker – seem dumber than your mark
• Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power
• Concentrate your forces
• Play the perfect courtier

• Recreate yourself
• Keep your hands clean
• Play on people’s need to create a cult – like following
• Enter action with boldness
• The ending is everything
• Make your accomplishments seem effortless
• Control the options: get others to play with the cards you deal
• Play to people’s fantasies
• Discover each man’s thumbscrew
• Be royal in your own fashion: act like a king to be treated like one
• Master the art of timing
• Disdain things you cannot have: ignoring them is the best revenge

• Create compelling spectacles
• Think as you like but behave like others
• Stir up waters to catch fish
• Despise the free lunch
• Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes
• Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
• Work on the hearts and minds of others
• Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect
• Preach the need for change but never reform too much at once
• Never appear too perfect
• Do not go past the mark you aimed for: in victory learn when to stop
• Assume formlessness

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