The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (PDF-Online Reading-Download-Summary- Review)

The 48 Laws of Power is a nonfiction book by American author Robert Greene. The book is a New York Times bestseller, selling more than 1.2 million copies in the United States; it is popular with prisoners and celebrities.

The 48 Laws of Power Summary

In the book that People magazine proclaimed “seductive” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 essential laws drawing on the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz as well as of the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.

Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of the trust (“Law 28: Take Action Boldly”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). However, all law has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and eye-catching two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your goal is conquest. , self-defense or just understanding the rules of the game.

The 48 Laws of Power Review

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the ultimate primer for anyone interested in obtaining, observing, or defending against the ultimate control.

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What Are the 48 Laws of Power

For Greene, power is amoral. It’s a game. A social game. To master it, you must be able to study and understand people. However, you must always take the most indirect path to power. “The 48 Laws of Power” is a manual on the various arts of indirect management.

Spanning a span of more than 3,000 years, “The 48 Laws of Power” includes 48 wisdoms from men and women from a variety of international civilizations who share a common thread. Greene’s book is a distillation of this accumulated wisdom and a truly practical guide on how to become more powerful. It is an invaluable source of knowledge for those seeking to get ahead.

About The Author

Robert Greene, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, The 33 Strategies of War, The Art of Seduction, Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature, is an internationally renowned expert on power strategies. He lives in Los Angeles.

The 48 Laws of Power PDF

The 48 Laws of Power List

1. Never eclipse the Master

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. Hide the extent of your own talents, otherwise your teachers might feel insecure. The better you make your master appear, the higher the power level you will reach. Those at the top want to feel secure and superior in their positions. This may involve making a few harmless mistakes so you can ask your teacher for help. However, if you are naturally more charming than your master, it would be best to avoid working for him altogether.

2. Never trust friends too much, learn to use enemies

Friends are more likely to hastily betray you since they are more prone to envy. However, if you hire an old enemy, he will show that he is more trustworthy since he has more to prove. Consequently, you have more to fear from your friends than from your enemies.

You often think you know your friends better than you do. This is because honesty rarely strengthens bonds, so friends often hide their true feelings for each other. When people want to feel like they deserve the good fortune of hiring a friend, they can feel unworthy and ultimately resentful. Instead, it is better to hire an enemy, since your motives are clear and not clouded by personal feelings.

3. Hide your intentions

Always keep your intentions hidden. In this way, your opponents will not be able to defend themselves. Lead them astray, and by the time they realize your plans, it will be too late. Use humanity’s tendency to trust appearances to your advantage. By dangling a set of intentions as a decoy in front of your opponents, they won’t be able to see what you’re really up to.

By hiding your intentions, people will think you are friendly and honest. This will lead them further down the wrong path. Also, by being tasteless and unobtrusive, people are less likely to doubt your intentions, trusting the familiar.

4. Always say less than necessary

Powerful people know how to impress others by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to end up saying something stupid. Because people are constantly trying to figure out what others seem to be thinking, silence makes them uncomfortable. By controlling what you reveal, you can wield great power. After all, they are likely to fill the silences you leave, revealing more information about your own intentions and weaknesses.

5. Much depends on reputation: guard it with your life

Your reputation is the cornerstone of your power. You can use it to intimidate and win, but if it is tarnished, you leave yourself vulnerable to attacks. Make your reputation impenetrable and predict attacks before they happen. Help yourself in this effort by destroying your enemies by exploiting the holes in their reputations and letting the public destroy them.

A strong reputation can double your strength and distract your potential opponents from finding out what you’re really like. Increase your presence and your strengths without having to spend a lot of energy.

6. Judicial attention at all costs

Since everything is judged by appearance, you need to stand out. Make yourself appear bigger, more interesting, and more mysterious than the masses. One way to do this is to surround your name with sensation and scandal. Keep in mind that notoriety of any kind builds power. It is better to be slandered than ignored.

A solid counterbalance to this approach is to create an air of mystery around you. Keep your cards close to your chest. People are attracted to those who seem enigmatic. An air of mystery heightens your presence and builds anticipation—everyone will be glued to your next move.

7. Get others to do the work for you, but always take credit

Never do for yourself what the efforts of others can do for you. Use your wisdom and knowledge to promote your own cause. By doing so, you will appear intimidatingly efficient and knowledgeable. Ultimately, those who worked for you will be forgotten and you will be remembered.

If you think it’s important that you do all the work yourself, you won’t get very far. Consequently, find those with the skills you lack and find a way to take their work as your own or hire them and put your name on their efforts. However, to do this effectively, your position must be secure, otherwise, people will accuse you of deception.

8. Make other people come to you – Use bait if necessary

It is always preferable to make your opponent come to you, as he will have to abandon his plans and strategies in the process. Lure them and then attack. This prevents him from reacting to his opponents; instead, they have to react to him. This means playing the long game, sitting back, and staying calm while others get caught in the traps you have carefully planned for them.

However, your traps are only as good as the perceived attractiveness of your bait. If your bait is sweet enough, your opponent will be blinded to reality by his emotions, allowing you to take advantage.

9. Win with your actions, never with arguments

Any success you achieve through discussion will be short-lived. Resentment will fester in your opponents rather than a genuine change of heart. Instead, let your actions speak for you. If people agree with you through your actions rather than your words, you are more likely to influence lasting opinions. Words abound and people will say anything to prove a point. Action is where you demonstrate your beliefs.

10. Infection: Avoid the unhappy and the unlucky

Emotional states can be as contagious as diseases. From time to time, some unlucky people bring their own misfortune on themselves and can knock you down too if you get too close. So, make sure you associate with the happy and the lucky.

The incurably unhappy tend to present themselves as victims, and before you realize that they are the cause of their own misfortune, they have infected you with their misery. Who you decide to partner with is critical. By associating with the miserable, you waste your valuable time and exhaust your potential power.

11. Learn to support people dependent on you

To maintain independence, you must make others need and want you. The more people trust you, the more freedom you will have. However, be careful to never teach those around you enough information so that they can start doing things for themselves. This method is the best way to get people to do what you want without forcing them or inflicting pain on them. Once you have dependents, they depend on you and you can subtly do whatever you want with them.

12. Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim

A single honest gesture can help cover the traces of dozens of dishonest acts. By being generous, you can disarm even the most suspicious people. Once disassembled, you can manipulate them at will. The key to successful deception is distraction. An act of generosity distracts those you wish to deceive and turns them into docile children, delighted with the affectionate gesture.

Learning to give before you receive is a skillful way to get what you want. Selective honesty also works as a means of disarming your opponents. However, it will not be enough to tell a single truth. You will have to build a facade of honesty based on a series of acts to gain trust, but these acts can be quite inconsequential.

13. When asking for help, appeal to the self-interest of others, never to their mercy or gratitude

If you must ask for help, make sure your request includes a benefit to your ally that you can exaggerate beyond all proportion. When your ally sees there’s something in it for him, he’s more likely to respond with enthusiasm. Self-interest is the greatest motivator for people. Once you master the art of discovering what others want and using it to further your own agenda, there are no limits to what you can achieve.

14. Pretend to be a friend, work as a spy

Knowledge about your rival is essential. By posing as a friend, you can ask indirect questions and slowly get your opponents to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. Once you know this information, you will be better able to predict how they will move next.

If you don’t want to pose as a friend, have others spy on you. However, while collecting information, you are exposing yourself to vulnerabilities by allowing other people to do the work for you. It is always better to spy and impersonate a friend.

15. Completely Crush Your Enemy

Partially crushing your enemy means that he will eventually recover and seek revenge. Ultimately, you can only gain peace and serenity if your enemies cease to exist. If you manage to eliminate all of your opponent’s options, then he will have no choice but to bend to your will. By giving them nothing to negotiate with or room to maneuver, you will have crushed them.

16. Use absence to increase respect and honor

The more present you are, the more ordinary you seem. Create an air of scarcity around you to increase your perceived value. If you currently exist within an established group, step away from time to time so that others will talk about you and admire you more.

To do this effectively, you must know when is the right time to walk away. In doing so, he forces their respect by inadvertently threatening his absence forever. Once you return from your absence, it will seem as if you have been resurrected and people will be relieved to see you again.

17. Keep others in a state of suspended terror: Cultivate an air of unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit who look for familiar patterns in the behavior of others. By acting unpredictably, your opponents will get tired of trying to predict and analyze your moves. This means attacking occasionally without warning. When you act predictably, you give others power over you. If you act surprisingly, they will feel misunderstood and intimidated.

Similarly, if you are the loser, using an unpredictable movement strategy can confuse your enemies and cause them to make a tactical error.

18. Do not build fortresses to protect yourself: isolation is dangerous

If you decide to isolate yourself from your enemies and the world in general, you will deprive yourself of valuable information. This makes you vulnerable to attack. It is always better to blend in with the crowd as you are better protected in the crowd. Since humans are social creatures, power comes with social interaction.

Therefore, to become powerful, you must place yourself at the center of things. The activity should revolve around you. Resist the temptation to walk away when things feel uncertain. Instead of turning inward, focus on finding old allies and forcing yourself into new social circles.

19. Know who you are dealing with: Do not offend the wrong person

Choose your opponents wisely. There are some people who once defeated will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. Accordingly, it is worth not to offend the wrong person. The ability to correctly measure people is the most important in gaining and maintaining power. Make sure you know everything about a person before you work with them.

However, don’t trust your instincts to understand a person, and never trust appearances. Observe your target for a long period of time to get a truer picture of their nature.

20. Don’t commit to anyone

Make sure the only cause you commit to is yourself. Maintain your independence at all costs. This allows you to pit people against each other. When you avoid joining a cause, you create a feeling of respect because you seem untouchable. You gain a reputation for independence.

Also, don’t commit to anyone. Stay away from petty fights and quarrels. Feign interest, but let others do the fighting while you watch and wait. Often it can be a good tactic to provoke disputes between two parties and then gain power by acting as a go-between.

21. Play dumb to catch a fool: look dumber than your mark

Nobody likes to feel stupid. Consequently, a great trick is to make your opponents feel smarter than you. Once they think they are smarter, they will never suspect that you have ulterior motives.

22. Use the tactic of surrender: transform weakness into power

Surrender before you are about to be defeated. This will give you more time to plan your revenge and torment your conqueror. By surrendering, you deny them the satisfaction of destroying you. By doing so, you turn the act of giving into a tool of power.

By giving in, you gain the advantage because you lull your opponent into believing that he has defeated you, even as you plan his downfall. This confuses your opponents and means they are unlikely to act aggressively against you.

23. Concentrate your forces

Conserve your energies by focusing them all on a single source of power. When searching for such a source, identify a single spring that will sustain you for a long time. More power is gained by finding one rich, singular source than by flitting among many more superficial sources of power.

Power exists in concentrated form. In any organization, power will emanate from a small group of people who control all the strings. Consequently, power is like oil: it only needs to be exploited once to ensure a lifetime of wealth and power.

24. Play the perfect courtier

The courtier exercises power by discreet means. By flattering and giving in to his superiors and only imposing his power through charm and grace, they gradually accumulate an increasing amount of power. There are several steps that one can follow to become the perfect courtier and they involve the following:

– Practice indifference

– Be frugal with praise

– Adapt your style and language according to your audience

– Avoid being the bearer of bad news

– Never criticize your superiors

– Be self-observant

• Control your emotions

– Be a source of pleasure

25. Recreate

Don’t accept the role that society has assigned you. Forge your own identity, one that attracts attention. Master your image instead of letting others dictate it for you. Become a figure of power as if you were molded in clay.

To do this, you must first be aware of yourself and you must learn to master your emotions. Next, you need to create a memorable character. From here you can learn to play many roles to adapt to what any situation requires of you. However, remember that overreacting can backfire.

26. Keep your hands clean

You must maintain an impeccable appearance. You should never associate yourself with unpleasant acts. To do this, use scapegoats to disguise your participation. Your reputation depends more on what you hide than what you reveal. You should always have a convenient scapegoat on hand for when you need to hide your more dubious activities from him.

In addition to the scapegoat, you will also need a cat’s paw. This is someone doing your dirty work for you while hiding their involvement. This means letting someone else be the bearer of the bad news while you choose to associate yourself exclusively with the good news.

27. Build a cult by tapping into people’s need to believe.

People want to believe in something. By inventing yourself as this cult-like entity, they will follow you and give you untold amounts of power. To become such a figure, you must follow these steps:

– Keep your words vague and simple but full of promise.

– Highlight enthusiasm more than the intellectual and rational.

– Structure your group according to the forms of organized religion.

– Disguise your sources of income

– Create an us versus them dynamic

28. Act boldly

Everyone admires the bold. The timid are frowned upon. Consequently, you should not choose a half-hearted course of action. Your doubts will become apparent and tarnish your reputation. It is always better to act boldly. Mistakes made are easily compensated for by acting more boldly.

Few are born bold. It is a habit that must be cultivated. You have to practice it. Likewise, shyness is also a learned trait. If you find yourself acting timid, you must eradicate it and replace it with acts of boldness.

29. Plan until the end

Always plan until the end. This means thinking about all the possibilities that could prevent you from reaching your ultimate goal. This way you can adapt to the surprises that arise along the way and ensure your future.

Most people are too caught up in their emotions in the moment to see the future, so this will give you an advantage. Plan in detail before you act and don’t succumb to making vague plans. Your final goal should always be very clear.

30. Make your achievements look easy

Make your success look easy. Hide all the work and tricks you used to achieve it, otherwise, it will arouse too much curiosity in others. Never reveal to anyone how you reached your position of power, or they could use it against you. Remaining silent has great advantages. The more mysterious your actions seem, the greater your power appears to be. It will make it seem like you have an exclusive gift that no one can replicate and that knows no limits.

31. Control the options: Have others play with the cards you deal

By giving your opponents a choice, they will feel like they are controlling their destiny. What they won’t realize is that you are using them as puppets to choose between two scenarios, both of which work for you.

When given a choice between two possibilities, people rarely consider all the other potential options that could be on the table. Instead, they blindly choose to believe that they have autonomy in making decisions; too much freedom creates anxiety. By setting up a limited range of options, you can guide your opponent to play directly into your hands.

32. Play with people’s fantasies

Since the truth is often ugly, if one appeals to it, one risks being bombarded with the wrath of disenchantment. Instead, by tapping into the fantasies of the masses, people will flock to you because you offer an alternative to the disappointment of reality. By observing which aspects of everyday life are most loathed, you can conjure up fantasies that promise the opposite of people’s current realities and therefore wield phenomenal power.

33. Discover the screw in every man

Find your opponent’s weakness. It is often an insecurity, an untamed emotion or desire, or sometimes a secret pleasure. To do so, look for the following:

– Cases in which they behave like children, which indicates some unresolved trauma in childhood.

– Contrasts, as one overt trait often hides its opposite (i.e. arrogance often hides insecurity)

– The weak link, which is often someone behind the scenes controlling your behavior.

– Ways to fill the void of your insecurity or unhappiness to exercise significant power.

– How to encourage their uncontrollable emotions, since they will not be able to control themselves and you can control them for them.

34. Be royal in your own way: act like a king to be treated like one

The way you present yourself to the world will reflect how others see and treat you. Conduct yourself with self-respect, confidence, and dignity to make it seem like you are destined for power. We must force ourselves to demand and expect as much as a small child. Believe that you are destined for greatness and this belief will radiate outward and others will believe it too. Ask for less and that’s exactly what you’ll get.

35. Master the art of timing

Never appear to be in a hurry: patience is a virtue. Learn to bide your time and attack only when the time is right. Because time is a perception, by mastering your emotions, you can make time seem to slow down and lengthen your perception of the future. This will allow you to be more patient and see the bigger picture.

36. Despise the things you can’t have: ignoring them is the best revenge

The less interest you put in the things that irritate you, the more superior you seem. By acknowledging your enemy, you give credibility to his existence and, therefore, power. Paradoxically, the more you want something, the more it eludes you because your interest is too strong, making others uncomfortable and fearful. Sometimes it’s better to leave things as they are. By turning your back on what you want, you will drive your opponents crazy.

37. Create attractive shows

By generating grand and spectacular gestures, you will increase your presence and your power. People will be too dazzled by appearances to figure out what you’re really doing. Unlike the use of words, visual gestures contain an emotive power and immediacy that leave no room for doubt. Where words divide, images unite. Use this to your advantage.

38. Think as you want, but behave like others

By constantly going against the grain in public, people will start to resent you for making them feel inferior. Practice blending in and hiding your true feelings to encourage common contact. By doing so, you will be able to express your true beliefs in specific ways. Once a power base is established, you can gradually begin to spread your beliefs, and they are more likely to be adopted.

39. Stir the water to fish

If you can stay calm while enraging your opponents, you can gain an advantage. By finding their weaknesses, you will be able to annoy them and play with them at will. The angrier they are, the more

40. Despises free lunch

Never trust anything that is free. Anything worth paying for is worth paying for. Most things that come for free carry a heavy psychological price. By paying you avoid falling into the trap of having to be grateful, guilty, or deceitful. Also, being generous with money is a sign of power. Generosity softens up your opponents so that they are fooled.

41. Avoid putting yourself in the shoes of a great man

What came first always seems more original than what follows. Don’t get lost in the shadows of those who came before you. You must establish your own name and identity by not following the same path as your predecessors.

42. Hit the shepherd and the sheep will scatter

Usually, all the problems can be traced back to a single individual. By eradicating this individual and preventing him from operating, you will stop his influence. Don’t waste time or his influence will multiply. In each group, power is concentrated around one or two people. Consequently, understanding who controls the group is critical. This is even more difficult, as rioters prefer to disguise their actions. However, if their power is isolated, they become redundant.

43. Work on the hearts and minds of others

If people feel compelled to act in a specific way, they will resent you. Instead, you must seduce others into acting the way you want without having to ask them to. By understanding their psychology and weaknesses, you will be able to play on their emotions and win their hearts and minds to be loyal to you. By softening them, you can slowly bend people to your will without them realizing it.

44. Disarm and enrage with the mirror effect

By imitating your opponents and doing exactly what they do, you humiliate them and cause them to overreact. By making them believe that you share their values, they find it difficult to strategize as they are blinded by your mirror. You’ll also be able to teach your opponents a lesson by giving them a taste of their own medicine.

45. Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once

If you have recently assumed a position of power or are an outsider trying to claim it, respect the way people have been living up to that point. Too much change will breed a revolt. To introduce change, make it seem like a gentle, gradual improvement over the past.

46. Never look too perfect

Although appearing superior to others is dangerous, appearing flawless and without weaknesses is even more dangerous. By showing harmless vices, you prevent envy from developing and make yourself seem more approachable. By letting envy fester, it can manifest itself in many problematic ways that will ultimately try to rob you of your power. Stop him in his tracks by making yourself look powerful but not flawless.

47. Don’t go beyond the mark you were looking for in victory, learn when to stop

Don’t let success go to your head. The moment you achieve victory is usually when you are most vulnerable. Don’t get ahead of yourself with your overconfidence or go beyond your initial goal. This could create more enemies than you are capable of defeating. There can be no substitute for meticulous strategic planning. Once you reach your goal, stop.

48. Assume a lack of form

By being tangible, you open yourself up to attack. Being malleable, adaptable, and in motion makes you ungraspable. Accept that everything, everywhere, changes and embody this truth. By being as fluid as water, you protect yourself from the ever-changing nature of reality. By refusing to adapt and change, you will fail to evolve and your power will be usurped. The powerful constantly adapt and their power comes from the speed with which they can change.

Books Like The 48 Laws of Power

1. The Prince by Machiavelli
2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
3. Art of War by Sun Tzu
4. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
5. 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene
6. The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
7. The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene
8. How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes
9. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
10. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
11. 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson