Table of Contents

The Book in Three Sentences

In this book summary of The 48 Laws of Power, Greene turns three thousand years of history into a series of principles related to power. The author draws from some of history’s most important figures, including Machiavelli, Sun-Tzu, and Julius Caesar. The laws help you navigate a complex world and they aim at domination.

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The 48 Laws of Power Summary

Preface

Having no power over people makes us feel miserable. At the same time, showing our hunger for power is dangerous, so we must be subtle. To be successful in our pursuit of power, our moves must be indirect. For most people, playing power games seems evil and antiquated, but this is something you can’t escape. These supposed nonplayers use their strategies because they pursue status and strength in their unique way.

Practicing radical honesty appears to be the only way out, but this hurts people and they will try to hurt you back. In reality, honesty is also a power strategy of its own because it’s a form of persuasion. Nonplayers appear naive on purpose, but they do this to deceive you. Know that the more innocent certain people appear, the more effective they are at the game of power.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we all want power and everything we do is an attempt at getting more of it. We can’t abandon this game even if we want to, so our only option is to excel at it. This takes years, but if you persist, you’ll be able to use the laws more easily.

The most important skill is to master your emotions. Emotional responses take you away from a position of power because emotions don’t let you see situations as they are. The worst emotion is anger because it hurts you more than it hurts your enemies. Love is also destructive because it blinds you.

Experiencing emotions is part of human nature, so don’t try to suppress them. Just make sure they don’t influence your strategies. Also, make sure you can see the past and future at the same time. This means nothing will surprise you because you’re always thinking about potential obstacles and learning from those who lived before you.

Law 1: Never Outshine the Master

Make the people above you feel superior. Please and impress them, but don’t show your talents because doing so will backfire. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are. No master wants to be outdone by their disciple. Masters want to feel superior to everyone around them because they’re often insecure.

Your job, on the other hand, is to never be taken for granted. So discreetly flatter your master, let them appear more intelligent than you, and act as if you need them. Only outshine your master when they are weak or on their way down.

Law 2: Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies

Since friends are susceptible to envy, they can betray you. Former enemies can be more loyal than friends, so try to find a way to make enemies. No one wants to believe that a friend can betray them, but friendship (like love) blinds people. Having friends softens the harshness of the hostile world we live in, but they aren’t always honest. Friends hide their feelings about you, so find enemies you can exploit instead. Having enemies around keeps us alert.

Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions

Don’t reveal the purpose behind your actions because if you do, people will set up a defense. Send them to the wrong path and don’t announce your moves beforehand. Confuse your target because confusion leads to excitement. Most people say how they feel whenever they can because it’s easy and they want to attract others by being honest. Honesty makes you predictable and hard to respect. Feel free to talk about your desires and goals as long as they aren’t the real ones.

The best deceptions require that you distract people. The paranoid are the easiest to deceive once you win their trust. Give a seemingly open gesture or one that suggests that your victim is superior. The greatest deceivers appear to be familiar and their greatest weapon is their unreadable facial expression. Blending in with a group to then strike is another psychological tactic deceivers often use.

Law 4: Always Say Less than Necessary

Saying too much makes you appear common and not in control. Making vague remarks (regardless of how unoriginal) will seem unique if you’re vague or open-ended. Saying less is the best way to impress and intimidate.

When people don’t know much about you, they’ll think you’re grand, powerful, and mysterious. If you’re not careful and speak your mind, those qualities will vanish. The difference between the image people have in their mind and the real you will disappoint them. The more you speak, the less power you’ll have because this shows insecurity and recklessness.

Furthermore, your silence will make others uncomfortable and they’ll feel compelled to say something. When this happens, they’ll reveal their weaknesses and deepest secrets. Being careful with words is important because once said, you can’t take them back.

Law 5: So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard It with Your Life

To get power, you need a strong reputation. Your reputation is important because it precedes you. Additionally, your reputation lets you intimidate and win, but without it, you’re vulnerable. Learning to find weaknesses in your enemies’ reputations helps you destroy them.

In social contexts, we judge others based on their appearance. Our reputation gives us a sense of control over how others judge us. It distracts them so that they won’t be able to rely on our appearance to figure us out.

Establish a reputation for quality, generosity, or honesty. A good reputation does the heavy lifting for you: it exaggerates your strong qualities and instills respect. Ideally, you want to focus on a singular quality. Once established, protect your reputation at all costs, but don’t defend it from attacks or you’ll appear insecure.

Law 6: Court Attention at All Cost

People judge others by their appearance. What’s not shown can’t be judged. Most people look bland and get lost in the crowd, so do the opposite and attract attention by appearing larger and more colorful.

If you have a controversial image, you’ll be unforgettable. Being attacked is a sign that people are noticing you, so chase notoriety. No one is born knowing how to attract attention, so you must learn how to do it. Usually, this involves a style or personality trait. When you attract attention, you must renew it constantly or people will soon move on to someone else. Do anything (even if it seems ugly), as long as it’s not predictable.

Another way to attract attention involves being enigmatic. Never reveal what you do and this will heighten your presence. Mystery isn’t grand but subtle. Since most people are easy to read, mystery can fascinate and attract. Even if you’re average, an air of mystery can make you look more intelligent and profound. Just make sure you adapt and use new tactics. Also, if you seem desperate for attention, you’ll seem insecure and powerless.

Law 7: Get others to Do the Work for You, But Always Take the Credit

Let other people use wisdom or knowledge to advance your cause. This saves time and energy but gives you a reputation for efficiency and speed. While the people who helped you get there will be forgotten, you won’t. Taking credit is as important as the invention you’ve created. Hire people who are more talented than you and write your name above theirs.

Law 8: Make Other People Come to You – Use Bait if Necessary

To be in control, encourage others to come to you. As a consequence, you’ll lure them in and they’ll abandon their plans. This gives you the perfect moment to attack.

Throughout history, there have been several leaders who got to power by making bold moves. Soon, everyone banded together to try to defeat them and the leader eventually fell. Don’t forget that aggression is the opposite of being in control because when you’re aggressive, you can’t see the consequences of your risky moves. Quick victories are meaningless if you can’t play the long-term game. Instead, get others to react to your moves and your enemies will always be on the defensive. Control yourself and you’ll have the power. Master your emotions, especially anger.

Law 9: Win Through Your Actions. Never Through Argument

The victories you gain through arguments are momentary. Instead, gain people’s support and approval through your actions. Unlike explicating, demonstrating doesn’t require words and is much more effective. Words aren’t neutral and you can easily offend others when you challenge their beliefs or personalities. The best way to demonstrate your ideas is subtly and indirectly.

You can never be sure if people agree with your arguments or if they’re just being polite. On the other hand, when you show ideas, people are more open to them. When you’re able to demonstrate something clearly, arguments are not necessary. The most powerful form of persuasion is symbols (such as flags, monuments, or stories) because everyone understands them and they carry big emotional meaning.

Law 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

Emotions are as contagious as diseases and if you’re not careful, they can also kill you. Unfortunate people attract misfortunes to themselves. Hang around the happy and fortunate instead. Emotions leave you vulnerable, but you won’t notice this until it’s too late. Little by little, toxic people will infect you with their drama. The only solution is to cut off toxic people or you will collapse along with them.

Some people are misfortunate, but others draw unhappiness upon themselves. They have destructive impulses that affect not only themselves but those around them too. Some hope they can change these people, but if we’re not careful, infectors will change us. We humans are vulnerable to the moods and emotions of the people around us.

You’ll notice infectors because they see themselves as victims, but you’ll soon notice that their miseries are self-inflicted. Freeing yourself from infectors takes time and energy, so don’t associate with them in the first place. Like a virus, these people infect you silently and slowly. By the time you notice their sickness, the infection will be deep inside you.

Infectors will often talk about misfortune, a turbulent past, broken relationships, or an unstable career. Whatever you do, don’t pity them or try to help. Befriend the people whose positive traits you want for yourself and you’ll soon acquire them.

Law 11: Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

To be independent, you need to be wanted. As ironic as it sounds, being relied upon gives you freedom. Teach people, but never teach them enough that they don’t need you. If you’re replaceable, on the other hand, your days are numbered because there will always be someone younger, cheaper, or better around the corner. Don’t aim to be the best one; aim to be the only one.

To get people to do what you want without force is the best way to create dependence. The ultimate form of power isn’t independence because we all need others. One way to make others dependent on you is to know their secrets. Since they don’t want you to reveal the sensitive information you know, you’ll have the upper hand.

Law 12: Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm the Victim

One honest move hides several dishonest ones. Similarly, gestures of generosity disarm suspicious individuals. Selective honesty and timely gifts leave people vulnerable to deception and manipulation. To deceive, you must distract.

The most powerful forms of distraction are acts of kindness, generosity, or honesty because they disarm people and make them less suspicious. When you give something to someone, they don’t notice you’re also taking something from them. Appear to be honest when you first encounter someone because first impressions last a long time. Since a single act of honesty might not be enough, establish a reputation for honesty. A history of deceit, on the other hand, is hard to erase.

Law 13: When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to Their Mercy or Gratitude

When you need help, remind the other person of the benefits of your alliance. If there’s nothing in it for the other person, they will probably ignore you. Most people are too interested in themselves to worry about their needs. Understanding the other person gives you an advantage because once you identify their weakness, you can give them what they want.

Law 14: Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy

To know an enemy, play the spy and gather information that can help you. Indirect questions are a useful tactic to learn people’s weaknesses. Spying makes you feel like you’re one step ahead of everyone, but since no one knows where the source of your power comes from, they won’t be able to defend themselves. Always do the spying yourself because you have full control.

Also, pretend to be sincere and others will reveal their secrets to you. For this purpose, you can also irritate people because this often leads to emotional reactions where they reveal truths you can use against them. Since information leads to power, others will try to spy on you as well, so be prepared.

Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally

Crush enemies completely or they might rise to power again and seek revenge. Crushing means annihilating your enemy in spirit, not in body. Never ignore an enemy, regardless of how weak it appears or you might be sorry. In other words, show no mercy or your enemies will be more determined than ever to eliminate you. Don’t negotiate either because your enemies will never go away.

Law 16: Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor

The more you show yourself around, the less important you are. Don’t be seen and heard from and your price will go up. Remove yourself from an established group and people will talk about you and admire you.

Having a strong presence attracts power and attention. Soon though, your presence will create the opposite effect and people will respect you less. Remove yourself from the group before they push you away. Creating a pattern of presence and absence is intoxicating, especially when it comes to seduction. The ultimate form of absence is death, but you don’t have to die to withdraw.

Today, people are too present because there are images of them everywhere and this makes withdrawal more powerful. In the world of economy, removing something from the market adds to its value. Make sure you achieve a certain level of power or you will be forgotten.

Law 17: Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

We humans crave habit, but your predictability gives others a sense of control over you. By being unpredictable on purpose, you keep people on their toes. They will try to figure you out or put labels on you, but they won’t be able to.

Unpredictability is a tactic to intimidate. Unpredictable human behavior terrifies us because it’s sudden. Following a routine, on the other hand, gives us a sense of comfort and requires no effort. Apart from terrifying others, unpredictability stimulates interest.

Law 18: Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation Is Dangerous

Fortresses seem like the best way to protect yourself against enemies, but isolation makes you an easy target. To protect yourself from enemies, mingle with the crowd. Although fortresses are designed to protect people, they also cut them off from valuable knowledge. Also, a fortress can easily turn into a prison where you can’t socialize or interact with others. During moments of crisis, make yourself more accessible, even if this sounds counterproductive. Ironically, it’s accessibility that will protect you from enemies.

Law 19: Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person

Not everyone will react to your tactics in the same way, so make sure you choose your opponents carefully. If you offend the wrong person, they will seek revenge. Greene recognizes these people:

The Arrogant and Proud Man: he disguises it, but has an oversensitive pride that may lead to violence. He’ll overreact, even if you try to reason with him.
The Hopelessly Insecure Man: he has a fragile ego and he will fight back weakly. Stay around him for too long and he will kill you though, so the best way to deal with him is to disappear for a while.
Mr. Suspicion: he sees the worst in others and feels like a target. Due to this, he’s easy to deceive, so be careful when he suspects you.
The Serpent with a Long Memory: when hurt, this man will show a reaction. Eventually, he’ll take revenge in a cold-blooded manner. To deal with him, crush him, or leave.
The Plain, Unassuming, and Often Unintelligent Man: this man is blissfully unaware of what’s happening around him. As a consequence, he’ll waste your time if you’re trying to deceive him.

You never know how strong or important the people you deal with are, so don’t insult them or you’ll expose yourself to violence or anger. Also, measure people to see who you’re dealing with. Never forget that making mistakes in the social realm can have serious ramifications if you’re not careful. To judge people, don’t rely on your instincts. Instead, collect concrete facts as long as needed. Finally, don’t make the mistake of trusting their appearance because they’re often misleading.

Law 20: Do Not Commit to Anyone

If you take sides, you’ll probably regret it. The only side or cause you should commit to is yourself. Maintain your independence and you will master others.

Don’t let people feel as if they possess you or you will lose power. Refusing to commit improves your image and gives you the respect of others. This is the case because people see you as unreachable. Soon, people will desire you, but if you commit, you will become ordinary. That said, make it seem as if you’re capable of commitment, but never actually do it. If you seem distant, people will try to win your affection.

While mastering your emotions is important to get power, you can’t control the temperament of others. Don’t get sucked into their problems, just appear to be interested and supportive, but disengage from such conflicts.

Law 21: Play a Sucket to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than Your Mark

Make people feel smarter than you. The thing people are most proud of is their intelligence, so never suggest you’re superior to anyone in terms of intellect. When you appear to be dumb, no one will suspect that you have hidden motivations.

Knowing that someone is more intelligent than us is unbearable. When confronted with this idea, we try to rationalize it with different excuses. Therefore, insulting someone’s intelligence is the worst sin you can commit. By playing dumb, people will want you around to remind themselves of how much smarter they are.

Law 22: Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power

If you’re weaker, just surrender. Doing so lets you recover and gives you time to torment your enemy. On top of that, surrendering doesn’t give your opponent the satisfaction of defeating you and this infuriates them. Although we associate the act of surrendering with disgrace, when used properly, it can give you more power than you can imagine. When you’re weaker, fighting is meaningless.

Running away isn’t the solution either because your aggressor will eventually find you. The game of power is always in motion and while you might be weak today, you might rise again if you’re ambitious and patient.

Law 23: Concentrate Your Forces

Save your energy to use it when it matters most. You want to find something worth exploiting and focus on it intensely once you do. Similarly, you want to distinguish in a singular field rather than have a shallow understanding of several. The more you expand, the more vulnerable you are. The modern world seems to be more divided than ever as if we’re being pulled in countless directions. We must concentrate our thoughts and actions. This gives you an advantage over everyone else because they’re distracted and overwhelmed by the innumerable options available.

Law 24: Play the Perfect Courtier

The perfect courtier plays a game of indirection. He’s graceful and flattering and that’s what lets him rise in the court. In the past, there were many dangers to being a courtier, but by pleasing, obeying, and never distinguishing himself, he would acquire power. Courtiers are gracious and polite, saying only what’s necessary. This would grant them a favorable position, but they still had to follow a series of rules.

Avoid ostentation: don’t talk too much about yourself or you’ll raise suspicion.
Practice nonchalance: make it seem as if your talent comes naturally. Make everything you do appear effortless.
Be frugal with flattery: flatter your superiors but not too much or your words will lose their value.
Arrange to be notified: to rise in the hierarchy, you must be noticed. For this purpose, use your physical appearance, but in subtle ways.
Alter your style and language according to the person you’re dealing with: change your style depending on who you’re talking with. Your ability to adapt your style and language is an art.
Never be the bearer of bad news: the person who brings bad news will die, so only bring good news.
Never affect friendliness and intimacy with your master: be a subordinate, not a friend. Create distance between yourself and your master.
Never criticize those above you directly: when you have advice or criticism, give them indirectly and politely.
Be frugal in asking those above you for favors: rarely ask for favors and never ask for favors on someone else’s part.
Never joke about appearances or taste: avoid jokes about appearances or taste because you will irritate people and make enemies.
Do not be the court cynic: talk nicely about other people’s achievements. Your cynicism will irritate others and it’ll follow everywhere.
Be self-observant: look at your actions and you’ll avoid problems.
Master your emotions: behave in appropriate ways as needed.
Fit the spirit of the times: your spirit should stay current.
Be a source of pleasure: attract people with charm and delight. In a world full of unpleasantness, you’ll stand out.

Honesty, however accurate, can lead to conflict with your master. Effective criticism has to be subtle and indirect. For courtiers, social skills are more important than skill and talent. Feel free to study, but never ignore your social skills in the process. Never do more than you were assigned to do because otherwise, you’d be overstepping your boundaries. Let your master take all the credit for your talents.

Law 25: Re-create Yourself

Society will give you roles but don’t accept them. Forge your own identity, especially one that attracts others. Never let people define your image for you.

Organizing extravagant events will make your character seem larger than life. Similarly, exaggerating your image will fascinate people. Challenging society and creating your persona will make you seem audacious. To accomplish this, don’t be sincere. Instead, just play a part that’s based on self-control and plasticity. Not revealing your intentions increases their dramatic effect.

Law 26: Keep Your Hands Clean

Always appear to be civil and efficient. This involves keeping a clean appearance, so if you ever make a mistake or an unpleasant deed, hide your involvement in it or blame someone else. To be clear, everyone makes mistakes, but hiding them contributes to a spotless appearance.

Having someone around to take the blame is a convenient way of doing this. Don’t apologize or come up with excuses since this will make you seem weak. The figure of the scapegoat represents a ritual where you project your guilt on another person. When others see this, they’ll accept it immediately, especially if you present yourself as the victim.

Manipulating others to do your dirty work is another effective tactic. To pull this off, your manipulation has to be so subtle that people don’t even realize you’re using them. Working too hard is a sign of weakness and to achieve power, you must delegate and get others to work for you. Similarly, getting your hands dirty makes you look bad, so instead, you must keep your hands clean. In other words, never do unpleasant things when others can do them for you.

Law 27: Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following

People want to believe in something. If you give them a cause or faith, you’ll become the center of attention. For this purpose, your words should be vague but still promise something. Be enthusiastic, even if it’s at the expense of being rational. As you develop a large following, your disciples will defend you from enemies and your power will grow more and more.

Creating a cultlike following involves five steps”

Keep it vague; keep it simple: attract attention through your words. Promise something transformative while being vague. As a consequence, your followers will make connections you’ve never thought of.
Empathize the visual and sensual over the intellectual: as you attract people, there are two risks: boredom and skepticism. Avoid this through theater and visual spectacle.
Borrow the forms of organized religion to structure the group: as your followers grow, find a way to organize them. Use rituals, establish a hierarchy, give people titles, and ask for sacrifices.
Disguise your source of income: never appear to be too interested in money, especially your followers’.
Set up an us-versus-them dynamic: to keep a large group united for as long as possible, establish an us-versus-them dynamic. First, unify the group through common goals. Then, manufacture an enemy.

People don’t want to hear about the results of hard work or boredom. They chase easy, romantic, or otherworldly ideas. If you seek such ideas, you’ll acquire a cult-like following. Being part of a group also eliminates doubt.

Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness

If you are having doubts about something, don’t do it or your execution will be negatively impacted as a result. Never carry something out timidly. Instead, enter a situation with boldness and you can always correct mistakes with more boldness. Furthermore, everyone admires the bold yet no one admires the timid.

The art of audacity is important because it removes obstacles. On top of that, boldness hides our shortcomings and gives us authority. Showing weakness, on the other hand, leaves you vulnerable to those who are looking for an opportunity to attack you.

Most people are timid as a way to avoid conflict, but boldness makes people feel comfortable. This can often be seen in seduction. Flatter your target and they’ll surrender themselves to you. Soon, your attention will be more flattering than your compliments. Most aren’t born bold, so you must practice it often.

Law 29: Plan All the Way to the End

The ending is important, so consider all the consequences or problems that might occur along the way. Planning guides you without being overwhelmed by what happens. Think far ahead and your future will be bright. Vague plans and improvising when obstacles come up is a recipe for disaster. Act rationally rather than emotionally, something that involves thinking ahead.

To maintain power, you need to aim for a goal and don’t stop until you achieve it. Having a complete vision of the future is a superpower. Thinking further ahead patiently is a rare quality and that’s what makes it so special. Keep your ending clear and anticipate crises before they happen.

Law 30: Make Your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Make it look as if your actions are natural and without effort. Hide the practice they require. As tempting as it is, don’t reveal the fact that you’re working hard. Similarly, resist teaching someone your tricks or they will use them against you. The only way to master a discipline is by practicing endlessly. Since people are unaware of your hard work, they will assume you’re superhuman.

Law 31: Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards You Deal

To deceive someone effectively, you must make it seem as if the other person is in control. Give people options, but those options should always be favorable to you. The illusion of choice will tempt the most stubborn person. Having options evokes a sense of possibility, but most options are limited. Since we don’t want to think too much about our lack of freedom, we often accept those options without questioning them. Having too many options, on the other hand, paralyzes us. Most people don’t know they’re being manipulated when having to choose between a few alternatives.

The most common ways of controlling the options include:

Color the choices: offer different choices but present the one you want as the best one.
Force the resister: when someone stubbornly refuses to accept your advice, advocate the opposite.
Alter the playing field: when someone resists at all costs, alter a situation so that they can only accept the alternative you’re providing.
The shrinking options: this technique involves taking something away so that the person deciding willingly accept. You can achieve this by raising the price often.
The weak man on the precipice: to manipulate the weak more easily, and control their options. This often involves working on their emotions so that they act.
Brothers in crime: deceive your victim by creating a strong bond.
The horns of a dilemma: this involves phishing people to take one of two paths, but both of them hurt the victim. For this technique to be effective, strike quickly and decisively.

Law 32: Play to People’s Fantasies

Most people avoid the truth because they find it discomforting. As a consequence, they’re constantly looking for romance or fantasy. This makes them forget the distress and harshness of everyday life. They find reality antiseductive and if you force them to confront that truth, be prepared for their anger. Fantasy is attractive because it’s easy to understand.

People don’t want to take responsibility for their mistakes, they want to be deceived by fantasies. Don’t sell gradual improvements that require patience and hard work. Instead, offer a solution that’s too good to be true and bypasses effort. Your fantasy should be vague and seemingly attainable.

Law 33: Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew

Everyone has an insecurity, secret pleasure, or emotion they can’t control. Once you find that weakness, it’s like a thumbscrew you can turn to take advantage of them. People don’t always go through life showing their weaknesses, so it’s your job to find them. With this in mind, consider the following:

Pay attention to gestures and unconscious signals: look for people’s secrets in small gestures or seemingly unimportant words. Pay attention to everyday conversations by appearing interested and sharing secrets of your own.
Find the helpless child: figure out what happened in that person’s childhood to find their weakness. When you mention that weakness, the person will behave like a child.
Look for contrasts: exaggerated traits often hide their opposite.
Find the weak link: when you’re dealing with a group, find the person who can easily influence the target you’re after.
Fill the void: the two most common emotional voids are insecurity and unhappiness. While unhappiness may come from different sources, insecure people need validation from others.
Feed on uncontrollable emotions: uncontrollable emotions are disproportionate fear, lust, greed, vanity, or hatred. When you see someone under the influence of said emotions, they can’t control themselves, so you can manipulate them more easily.

Law 34: Be Royal in Your Own Fashion: Act Like a King to Be Treated Like One

How you carry yourself determines how others treat you. If you appear common or vulgar, all you’re going to get is disrespect. If, on the other hand, you command respect, you’ll get it. Act with confidence and self-respect and you’ll win the right to be treated like a king. Be severe with yourself, but ignore external judgments. In a way, your behavior reflects your character. With that in mind, radiate confidence and optimism, and any limits and boundaries will disappear.

Law 35: Master the Art of Timing

Don’t be in a hurry because this gives the impression that you lack self-control. Always appear patient and learn when to wait and when to attack. Similarly, identify the spirit of the times and adapt to it. This will help you recognize twists and turns before they happen.

For time to move slowly, control your emotions. Greene recognizes three kinds of time: Long time requires patience, so never react impulsively to long time or you’ll create problems for yourself. Forced time is short-term and we cause it to damage our opponents by distorting their perception of time. Finally, end time takes place after waiting. This is when we find the right moment to attack and seize an opportunity.

Law 36: Disdain Things You Cannot Have: Ignoring Them Is the Best Revenge

When you welcome small problems into your life, you give them credibility. Don’t pay attention to problems, mistakes, or enemies because you’ll make them stronger and more visible. When you run into any of these things, leave them alone. Show contempt for all the things you can’t have. This will make you seem superior. Letting something bother you is a choice and one that makes you look weak. Ignore trivial matters and they’ll go away. Focus too much on them and they’ll waste your time and energy.

Likewise, when you acknowledge someone else, you let them influence you. When you ignore them, you cancel them out and they won’t have power over you. This will infuriate them, but they won’t be able to do anything.

Showing interest repels people. This is the paradox of desire. When you can’t control desire, you seem weak and pathetic. When dealing with enemies, ignore them and you’ll drive them crazy. What you pay attention to becomes your reality and what you ignore doesn’t exist. Show people you don’t need them and you’ll become the object of their desire.

Law 37: Create Compelling Spectacles

Unusual imagery creates power because it elicits a response. Striking visuals elevate your presence. People will be so focused on your appearance that they will ignore anything else you’re doing.

Simple spectacles can be more appealing to people than rational explanations. Images are often shortcuts to power because they stir people’s emotions. Similarly, using symbols sets you apart and gives you instant power. Images are important because they’re immediate and leave no room for doubt. This is how modern advertisers manipulate the masses. A powerful symbol gives untold power.

Law 38: Think as You Like But Behave Like Others

Going against the times with unconventional ideas makes people think you’re looking for attention and that you feel superior to them. As a consequence, they’ll look for ways to punish you. Only share original ideas with close friends.

Disguise the external appearance of your beliefs without renouncing them. Complete free expression is impossible, so we must hide our true beliefs. Arguments won’t work because people’s values are often emotional instead of rational. Challenging their beliefs becomes an offense.

Law 39: Stir Up Waters to Catch Fish

Emotions hurt more than they help in social environments. To have an advantage, make enemies angry, but stay calm. By keeping your composure and dignity, you’ll let the other person humiliate him or herself. An angry response might cause fear at first, but soon, it’ll lead to embarrassment and resentment. Showing how you feel shows a lack of self-control and a sense of helplessness. Tantrums reveal your weaknesses.

Instead of reacting emotionally, get your enemies to act. By doing so, they won’t have time to plan schemes against you and they’ll lose control of a situation and themselves. Anger blinds people and makes them vulnerable.

Law 40: Despise the Free Lunch

There’s usually a trick or an obligation behind things that appear to be free. Everything has a price, so pay for things and you’ll stay away from gratitude, guilt, and deceit. Don’t try to take shortcuts when it comes to excellence. Pay full price and the fact that you’re using money regularly is a sign of power.

By paying full price, you’ll protect your independence and give you room to maneuver. In other words, you’ll be getting two of the values that take you closer to power. Put simply, money gives you freedom. All masters of power who have lived have spent freely. Being unwilling to spend is antiseductive because money isn’t a simple object, but a weapon.

These are the people who refuse to use money to their advantage:

The greedy fish: they pursue wealth fearlessly and ignore people. This makes them easy to deceive.
The bargain demon: they waste time looking for bargains and constantly second-guess their decisions. The items they end up getting need repairs or have to be replaced. These pursuits are expensive, not just in money, but in time and peace of mind. The attitudes of these people are contagious.
The sadist: sadists play games with their money to show power. They make people wait for payments, interfere in their jobs, and haggle. To deal with them, don’t get involved with them in the first place, and if you do, accept your losses and move on.
The indiscriminate giver: these people give things to get love and attention. Since their generosity is so random, the recipient doesn’t feel special and they don’t care about the giver.

Nothing is completely free and believing that’s the case is a delusion. To get power, you need self-control. If you’re not careful, wealth can be a distraction and your way to acquiring power.

For money to give you power, it has to circulate. Money doesn’t just buy you objects but power as well. Using money to buy gifts implies that you and the recipient are the same. Also, they’ll feel indebted to you. How much money you have isn’t as important as how you use it. When in doubt, don’t buy things but influence.

Law 41: Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes

Doing something for the first time appears to be better than something that comes after. Succeeding someone famous or successful means you’ll have to double their accomplishments to outshine them. Carve your own path and you’ll soon establish your identity.

In a way, everyone needs a father figure to compete with. Once the father is no longer in power, the successor can establish a new order. The young must resent the legacy of their fathers to create their own. Never follow your predecessor’s path. Everything you do should set you apart because you can never recreate the success of your father. Doing so is easy, lazy, and uncreative.

React to things as they happen and don’t rely on precedents established by those before you. Rebel against your father and never become him. Even if the easy way out seems prosperous, don’t take it if it means letting ghosts of the past take over. Don’t let your father, habit, or history choose your path.

Law 42: Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep Will Scatter

Your job is to not allow problematic people to function or else others will be influenced by him. If you make the mistake of waiting, problems will multiply. Neutralize or banish the person in question and his followers will scatter. Behind any group, trouble can be traced back to a single person. Troublemakers are arrogant, unpleasant, and constantly complain.

Law 43: Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others

Forcing people to do something never works in the long run. Your job is to seduce people to help you. They’ll resist you at first, but if you work on their emotions, they’ll give in eventually. Never believe that attention is owed to you, regardless of the circumstances. Your arrogance will be the end of you if you’re not careful. To acquire power, you must charm, seduce, or persuade. As the author puts it, “Persuasion is more effective than force.”

Law 44: Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect

You can mirror someone’s behavior to deceive. The Mirror Effect mocks enemies and makes them overreact. At first, they believe you have the same values as them, but this is a mere illusion. Mirrors have narcissistic powers. They also anger and entrance and when that happens, you can manipulate or seduce.

The author recognizes four mirror effects:

The Neutralizing Effect: mirrors are both a weapon and a shield. You can copy everything an enemy does and they won’t be able to guess what’s behind those actions. Your strategy will blind them. The opposite of the Neutralizing Effect is the Shadow. This is when you copy an opponent, but they’re never aware of it. You can use the Shadow to get valuable information.
The Narcissus Effect: most people, like Narcissus, are in love with themselves and this makes us eternally unfulfilled. By looking inside other people and reflecting their desires, values, or spirit back to them, you turn into the very thing they want.
The Moral Effect: arguing verbally accomplishes nothing. With this in mind, the Moral Effect helps us illustrate ideas through action. This means doing what people have done to you so that they experience the same feelings.
The Hallucinatory Effect: mirrors reverse images. Similarly, the hallucinatory effect creates a perfect copy of an image that looks like the real thing but is actually a dummy.

Law 45: Preach the Need for Change, But Never Reform Too Much at Once

Everyone wants change, but we are creatures of habit. Changing too much is problematic both to ourselves, as well as those around us. When you reach a position of power, respect how things were before then. Change should improve the past, but it should come slowly and subtly.

Speedy reforms can be the end of you and your cause. The reactions of taking quick action will be hard to control and you’ll become the source of dissatisfaction. Change upsets humans because we crave habit. To avoid a rebellion, disguise change by turning the past to your advantage. The past holds power because it seems better than the present, so reinterpret it. Respect tradition, even if you want to start a revolution.

Law 46: Never Appear Too Perfect

Appearing perfect is problematic because people will envy you. With this in mind, show defects and admit to having inoffensive vices. This will make you approachable and human.

When you seem perfect, people around you will act bitterly. Downplay your success by showing faults or attributing it to luck and you’ll soon disarm people’s envy. Whatever you do, don’t ignore envy. We humans have trouble dealing with an inferiority complex. Finding someone talented or powerful disturbs our self-image. We deal with the situation with envy, but that doesn’t solve anything.

To get rid of envy, use it to surpass that person one day. When people envy you, they’ll find a way to attack you. So act humbly and emphasize the role of luck in your success. People who envy you either praise you too much or they are overcritical of you.

Law 47: Do Not Go Past the Mark You Aimed for; In Victory, Learn When to Stop

Moments of victory leave you vulnerable because you might act with arrogance or overconfidence. As a consequence, you might go too far and make too many enemies. You can’t bypass strategy and planning. When you put your eyes on a goal and you achieve it, that’s when you should stop.

Victory is intoxicating which blinds us. On the road to power, you must act rationally instead of emotionally. So pursue success, but once you achieve it, stop. Otherwise, you’ll continue to do things in the same way and you’ll become predictable and easy to deal with. Don’t let success delude you and lose everything you fought for.

Law 48: Assume Formlessness

Taking shapes makes you vulnerable. Move constantly and adjust to new conditions. To protect yourself, be fluid and shapeless. Stability rarely lasts. Hide your form, act unexpectedly and nobody will be able to prepare to deal with you. Effective strategists fight indirectly and their plans are abstract.

We humans communicate our emotions through a form. These forms change constantly to reflect our mood. When our form doesn’t change, that rigidity is the same as death. This explains why young people wear different masks all the time. Society often rewards new forms, but inevitably, everyone tends to adopt a form at some point to never change it again. This makes you predictable and boring, so we look for someone younger to entertain us. For power to thrive, the form we choose has to be flexible. To become formless, never take something personally. Showing defensiveness forces you to reveal a specific form.