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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