Law 35: Master the Art of Timing: Anticipate the ebb and flow of power. Recognize when the time is right, and align yourself with the right side. Be patient and wait for your moment. Bad timing ends careers and ambitions. Law 38: You cannot help people who do not feel comfortable around you. Lead from within. Don’t stand out for the wrong reasons. Law 33: Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew: Everyone has a weakness, a hole in his armor. Find it and it’s leverage that you can use to your advantage. Law 24: Play the Perfect Courtier: Learn the rules of the society you’re playing in, and follow them to avoid attracting unfavorable attention. This includes appearing like a team player and being careful about criticizing diplomatically.

What came first always seems more original than what follows. Don’t get lost in the shadows of those that came before you. You must establish your own name and identity by not following the same course of your predecessors. 42. Strike the Shepherd, and the Sheep Will Scatter Law 13: When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude: When you need help from someone in a position of power, appeal to their self-interest. They’ll be glad to help if they’ll get something in return, and you’ll get what you want without seeming desperate or irritating. By yielding, you gain the upper hand because you lull your opponent into believing they have defeated you, even as you plot their downfall. This confuses your opponents and means they are unlikely to act aggressively against you. Law 23. Concentrate Your Forces

The 48 Laws of Power

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. Hide the extent of your own talents, as your masters may otherwise feel insecure. The better you make your master appear, the greater the level of power you will attain. Those above you want to feel secure and superior in their positions. This may involve making a few harmless mistakes so that you can ask your master for help. Garner, Dwight. The Readers Behind Bars Put Books to Many Uses. The New York Times. October 19, 2010. The courtier wields power through discrete avenues. By flattering and yielding to their superiors and only enforcing their power through charm and grace, they gradually accumulate an ever-increasing amount of power. There are several steps one can take to become the perfect courtier, and they involve the following: If you do not keep an open mind about the contents of this book, it will come across as selfish, brutal and downright ruthless. But all said and done it is very pragmatic a book. In here I found 48 ways of looking at what the author thought are principles that made and kept people in power.

The 48 Laws of Power has sold over 1.2 million copies in the United States and has been translated into 24 languages. [5] Fast Company called the book a "mega cult classic", and The Los Angeles Times noted that The 48 Laws of Power turned Greene into a "cult hero with the hip-hop set, Hollywood elite and prison inmates alike". [5] [8] Law 7: Get Others to Do the Work for You, but Always Take the Credit: Get others to do your work for you. Use their skill, time, and energy to further your ambitions while taking full credit. You’ll be admired for your efficiency. Most people are too trapped by their emotions in the moment to see ahead, so this will give you the upper hand. Plan in detail before you act, and don’t succumb to making any vague plans. Your end goal must always be crystal clear. 30. Make Your Accomplishments Seem EffortlessA solid counterbalance to this approach is to create an air of mystery around yourself. Keep your cards close to your chest. People are drawn to those who seem enigmatic. An air of mystery increases your presence and creates anticipation – everyone will be glued to your next move. Law 7. Get Others to Do the Work for You, but Always Take the Credit Conserve your energies by focusing them all into a single source of power. When looking for such a source, identify a single spring that will sustain you for a long time to come. You gain more power by finding a singular rich source than by flitting between many more shallow sources of power. Law 34: Be Royal in Your Own Fashion: Act Like a King to Be Treated Like One: Act like royalty and people will treat you that way. Project dignity and supreme confidence that you’re destined for great things, and others will believe it. Power exists in concentrated form. In any organization, power will emanate from a small group of people who are holding all the strings. Consequently, power is like oil, you only need to strike it once to assure yourself a lifetime of wealth and power. 24. Play the Perfect Courtier