Law 1
Never
Outshine the Master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior.
In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in
displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear
and insecurity. Make your masters
appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.
Law 2
Never put
too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly,
for they are easily aroused to envy. They
also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be
more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove.
In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies.
If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.
Law
3
Conceal
your Intentions
Keep people off-balance and
in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions.
If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense.
Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough
smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.
Law
4
Always
Say Less than Necessary
When you are trying to impress people with words, the
more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control.
Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you
make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.
Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less.
The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
Law
5
So Much
Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life
Reputation is the cornerstone of power.
Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip,
however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides.
Make your reputation unassailable.
Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they
happen. Meanwhile, learn to
destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations.
Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.
Law
6
Court
Attention at all Cost
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen
counts for nothing. Never let
yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion.
Stand out. Be conspicuous,
at all cost. Make yourself a
magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than
the bland and timid masses.
Law
7
Get others
to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people
to further your own cause. Not
only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you
a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In
the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered.
Never do yourself what others can do for you.
Law
8
Make other
People come to you – use Bait if Necessary
When you force the other person to act, you are the one
in control. It is always better
to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process.
Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack.
You hold the cards.
Law
9
Win through
your Actions, Never through Argument
Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument
is really a Pyrrhic victory: The
resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any
momentary change of opinion. It
is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions,
without saying a word. Demonstrate,
do not explicate.
Law
10
Infection:
Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional
states are as infectious as disease. You
may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your
own disaster. The unfortunate
sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you.
Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.
Law 11
Learn to
Keep People Dependent on You
To maintain your independence you must always be needed
and wanted. The more you are
relied on, the more freedom you have. Make
people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing
to fear. Never teach them enough
so that they can do without you.
Law
12
Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your
Victim
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of
dishonest ones. Open-hearted
gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most
suspicious people. Once your
selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate
them at will. A timely gift – a
Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.
Law
13
When Asking
for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest,
Never to
their Mercy or Gratitude
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother
to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds.
He will find a way to ignore you.
Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with
him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion.
He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained
for himself.
Law
14
Pose as a
Friend, Work as a Spy
Knowing about your rival is critical.
Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step
ahead. Better still: Play the spy
yourself. In polite social
encounters, learn to probe. Ask
indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions.
There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.
Law
15
Crush your
Enemy Totally
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared
enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes
they have learned this the hard way.) If
one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will
eventually break out. More is
lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation:
The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge.
Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.
Law
16
Use Absence
to Increase Respect and Honor
Too much circulation makes the price go down:
The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear.
If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it
will make you more talked about, even more admired.
You must learn when to leave. Create
value through scarcity.
Law
17
Keep Others
in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability
Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need
to see familiarity in other people’s actions.
Your predictability gives them a sense of control.
Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable.
Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them
off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves.
Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.
Law
18
Do
Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous
The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere –
everyone has to protect themselves. A
fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it
protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you
conspicuous and an easy target. Better
to circulate among people find allies, mingle.
You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.
Law
19
Know
Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
There are many different kinds of people in the world,
and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the
same way. Deceive or outmaneuver
some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge.
They are wolves in lambs’ clothing.
Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or
deceive the wrong person.
Law
20
Do
Not Commit to Anyone
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides.
Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself.
By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others –
playing people against one another, making them pursue you.
Law
21
Play
a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark
No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons.
The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart,
but smarter than you are. Once
convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.
Law
22
Use
the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power
When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake;
choose surrender instead. Surrender
gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time
to wait for his power to wane. Do
not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender
first. By turning the other check
you infuriate and unsettle him. Make
surrender a tool of power.
Law
23
Concentrate
Your Forces
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them
concentrated at their strongest point. You
gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from
one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time.
When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key
patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.
Law
24
Play
the Perfect Courtier
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where
everything revolves around power and political dexterity.
He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to
superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful
manner. Learn and apply the laws
of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the
court.
Law
25
Re-Create
Yourself
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you.
Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands
attention and never bores the audience. Be
the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you.
Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions –
your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.
Law
26
Keep
Your Hands Clean
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency:
Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds.
Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and
cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.
Law
27
Play
on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in
something. Become the focal point
of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow.
Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over
rationality and clear thinking. Give
your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your
behalf. In the absence of
organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you
untold power.
Law
28
Enter
Action with Boldness
If you are unsure of a course of action,
do not attempt it. Your doubts
and hesitations will infect your execution.
Timidity is dangerous: Better
to enter with boldness. Any
mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity.
Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.
Law
29
Plan
All the Way to the End
The ending is everything.
Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible
consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard
work and give the glory to others. By
planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will
know when to stop. Gently guide
fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.
Law
30
Make
your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease.
All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever
tricks, must be concealed. When
you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more.
Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises
questions. Teach no one your
tricks or they will be used against you.
Law
31
Control
the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the
other person a choice: Your
victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets.
Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they
choose. Force them to make
choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose.
Put them on the horns of a dilemma:
They are gored wherever they turn.
Law
32
Play
to People’s Fantasies
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and
unpleasant. Never appeal to truth
and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for
disenchantment. Life is so harsh
and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy
are like oases in the desert: Everyone
flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the
masses.
Law
33
Discover
Each Man’s Thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall.
That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or
need; it can also be a small secret pleasure.
Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your
advantage.
Law
34
Be
Royal in your Own Fashion: Act
like a King to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you
are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people
disrespect you. For a king
respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others.
By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem
destined to wear a crown.
Law
35
Master
the Art of Timing
Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack
of control over yourself, and over time.
Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you
eventually. Become a detective of
the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will
carry you to power. Learn to
stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has
reached fruition.
Law
36
Disdain
Things you cannot have: Ignoring
them is the best Revenge
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence
and credibility. The more
attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is
often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it.
It is sometimes best to leave things alone.
If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it.
The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.
Law
37
Create
Compelling Spectacles
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the
aura of power – everyone responds to them.
Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals
and radiant symbols that heighten your presence.
Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.
Law
38
Think
as you like but Behave like others
If you make a show of going against the times,
flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think
that you only want attention and that you look down upon them.
They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior.
It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your
originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate
your uniqueness.
Law
39
Stir
up Waters to Catch Fish
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive.
You must always stay calm and objective.
But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you
gain a decided advantage. Put
your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can
rattle them and you hold the strings.
Law
40
Despise
the Free Lunch
What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually
involves either a trick or a hidden obligation.
What has worth is worth paying for.
By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit.
It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting
corners with excellence. Be
lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a
magnet for power.
Law
41
Avoid
Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes
What happens first always appears better and more
original than what comes after. If
you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish
double their achievements to outshine them.
Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own
making: Establish your own name
and identity by changing course. Slay
the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in
your own way.
Law
42
Strike
the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong
individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill.
If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their
influence. Do not wait for the
troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they
are irredeemable. Neutralize
their influence by isolating or banishing them.
Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.
Law
43
Work
on the Hearts and Minds of Others
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work
against you. You must seduce
others into wanting to move in your direction.
A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn.
And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual
psychologies and weaknesses. Soften
up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear
and what they fear. Ignore the
hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.
Law
44
Disarm
and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect
tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do,
they cannot figure out your strategy. The
Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact.
By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the
illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions,
you teach them a lesson. Few can
resist the power of Mirror Effect.
Law
45
Preach
the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
Everyone understands the need for change in the
abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit.
Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt.
If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a
power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things.
If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the
past.
Law
46
Never
appear too Perfect
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but
most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses.
Envy creates silent enemies. It
is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in
order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable.
Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.
Law
47
Do
not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop
The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest
peril. In the heat of victory,
arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and
by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat.
Do not allow success to go to your head.
There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning.
Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.
Law
48
Assume
Formlessness
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open
yourself to attack. Instead of
taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the
move. Accept the fact that
nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The
best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never
bet on stability or lasting order. Everything
changes.