Thread by @recapjar

The 48 Laws of Power
By Robert Greene
#Threads #books
1: Never outshine the master
2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies

3: Conceal Your Intentions
As Kierkegaard wrote, “The world wants to be deceived.”

4:Always say less than necessary
Once the words are out, you cannot take them back.
Be particularly careful with sarcasm
5: So much depends on reputation, guard it with your life
6: Court attention at all costs
Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored

7: Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit
8: Make other people come to you, use bait if necessary
9: Win through your actions, never through argument
10: Infection: Avoid the unhappy or the unlucky
11: Learn to keep people dependent on you

12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim
13: When asking for help, appeal to people’s self interest, never their mercy or gratitude
14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy
15: Crush your enemy totally
16: Use absence to increase strength and honor

17: Keep others in suspended terror, cultivate an air of unpredictability
18: Do not build a fortress to protect yourself, isolation is dangerous
19: Know who you’re dealing with, do not offend the wrong person
20: Do not commit to anyone

21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker, seem dumber than your mark
22: Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power
23: Concentrate your forces
24: Play the perfect courtier
25: Re-Create Yourself
26: Keep your hands clean
Conceal your mistakes, have a scapegoat to blame

27: Play on people’s need to believe to create a cult like following
28: Enter action with boldness
29: Plan all the way to the end
30: Make your accomplishments seem effortless
31: Control the options, get others to play with the cards you deal
32: Play to people’s fantasies

33: Discover each man’s thumbscrew
34: Be royal in your own fashion. Act like a king to be treated like one
35: Master the art of timing
36: Disdain things you cannot have, ignoring them is the best revenge
37: Create compelling spectacles

38: Think as you like but behave like others
39: Stir up waters to catch fish
40: Despise the free lunch
41: Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes
42: Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
43: Work on the hearts and minds of others

44: Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect
45: Preach the need to change, but never reform too much at once
46: Never appear too perfect
47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for. In victory, know when to stop
48: Assume formlessness