Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature.

In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from 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 confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Law 1: Never Outshine the Master

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

Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions

Law 4: Always Say Less Than Necessary

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

Law 6: Court Attention at All Cost

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

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

Law 9: Win Through Your Actions, Never Through Argument

Law 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

Law 11: Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

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

Law 13: When Asking for Help, Appeal to People's Self-Interest

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

Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally

Law 16: Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor

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

Law 18: Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself—Isolation is Dangerous

Law 19: Know Who You're Dealing With—Do Not Offend the Wrong Person

Law 20: Do Not Commit to Anyone

Law 21: Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker—Seem Dumber Than Your Mark

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

Law 23: Concentrate Your Forces

Law 24: Play the Perfect Courtier

Law 25: Re-Create Yourself

Law 26: Keep Your Hands Clean

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

Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness

Law 29: Plan All the Way to the End

Law 30: Make Your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

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

Law 32: Play to People's Fantasies

Law 33: Discover Each Man's Thumbscrew

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

Law 35: Master the Art of Timing

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

Law 37: Create Compelling Spectacles

Law 38: Think as You Like But Behave Like Others

Law 39: Stir Up Waters to Catch Fish

Law 40: Despise the Free Lunch

Law 41: Avoid Stepping Into a Great Man's Shoes

Law 42: Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep Will Scatter

Law 43: Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others

Law 44: Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect

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

Law 46: Never Appear Too Perfect

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

Law 48: Assume Formlessness

Selected Bibliography

Index

Introduction - The Law of Human Nature

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心理學 Psychology
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