48 Laws of Power Cheat Sheet

Law 1: Never outshine the master
· Make those above you feel superior. Do not show your talents too much, it’ll make them insecure.
· Make the master appear more brilliant than they are.

Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn to use enemies
· Friends will quickly betray you.
· Hire former enemies, they’ll be loyal.

Law 3: Conceal your intentions
· Keep people off-balance. They cannot prepare if they don’t know. Guide them down the wrong path.

Law 4: Always say less than necessary
· When trying to impress, the more you say the more common you look and less in control.
· Be vague.
· Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less.

Law 5: So much depends on reputation-guard it with your life
· Reputation is the cornerstone of power.
· Reputation alone will make you win.
· Destroy enemies by attacking their reputation. Then stand aside and let the public hang them.

Law 6: Court attention at all cost
· Everything is judge by appearance, what is unseen counts for nothing.
· Never get lost in a crowd.
· Be mysterious, appear colorful than the masses.

Law 7: Let others to do the work for you, but always take credit
· Use the skills of others to do the work for you, never do yourself what others can do for you.
· Your efficiency will appear god-like.

Law 8: Make other people come to you-use bait if necessary
· When you force others to act, you’re in control.
· Make opponents come to you.
· Lure with gains, then attack.

Law 9: Win through your actions, never through argument
· You never win through argument.
· The resentment last long.
· Its more powerful to agree with actions.
· Demonstrate, do not explain.


Law 10: Infection: Avoid the unhappy and the unlucky
· You’ll die from other’s misery-emotional states are as infectious as diseases.
· The unfortunate draw misfortune on themselves and will draw it on you.
· Associate with the happy and fortunate.

Law 11: Learn to keep people dependent on you
· To maintain independence you must be needed and wanted.
· The more you’re relied on, the more freedom you have.
· Make people depend on you for happiness.
· Never teach them enough so they can do without you.

Law 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim
· One sincere move will cover over a dozen dishonest ones.
· Honesty can bring down the guard of suspicious people.
· Open their shield with honesty, then deceive.

Law 13: When asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy
· Do not remind people of past deeds.
· Find something that will benefit them and emphasize it out of proportion.

Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy
· Learn to probe and find valuable information.
· Ask indirect questions.
· Every occasion is a chance to spy.

Law 15: Crush your enemy totally.
· More is lost through stopping halfway.
· Crush your enemy in body and spirit

Law 16: Use absence to increase respect and honor
· Too much circulation makes the price go down.
· IF you’re already established in a group, temporary withdraw to make people talk
· Create value through scarcity

Law 17: Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability
· Being predictable gives control to others
· Behavior that isn’t consistent will wear people out and they’ll stop trying to explain things.
· When used to the extreme, you’ll intimidate and terrorize

Law 18: Do not build fortresses to protect yourself- isolation is dangerous
· Isolation cuts you off from valuable information
· Its better to mingle
· You are shielded from your enemy in a crowd

Law 19: Know who you’re dealing with- do not offend the wrong person
· Never assume everyone will react the same way
· Choose your victims carefully
· Never offend the wrong person

Law 20: Do not commit to anyone
· Fools rush to pick a side.
· Do not commit to a cause but yourself
· Maintain independence
· Make people chase you and play people against one another

Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker- seem dumber than your mark
· Don’t be stupid, but make your mark appear smarter than you
· Making them appear smarter hides your motives

Law 22: Use the surrender tactic: transformer weakness into power
· When you’re weaker, never fight just for honor but surrender
· Do not give them the satisfaction to win, surrender
· Turn the other cheek to infuriate them

Law 23: Concentrate your forces
· Intensity defeats extensity every time
· Find a fat cow that’ll give you milk for a long time

Law 24: Play the perfect courtier
· Master the art of indirection
· Assert power gracefully

Law 25: Re-create yourself
· Create an identity that commands attention and never bores
· Be the master of your own image
· Use large gestures and actions-your character will seem huge and you’ll gain power

Law 26: Keep your hands clean
· Never appear soiled by mistakes
· Use others as scapegoats to disguise your involvement

Law 27: Play on people’s need to believe to create a cultlike following
· People want to believe in something
· Become the focal point of this and offer them a cause, a new faith
· Keep your words vague but full of promise
· Emphasize enthusiasm over rationality
· Give your new disciples rituals to perform and ask them to make sacrifices

Law 28: Enter action with boldness
· If you’re unsure then don’t do it
· Timidity is dangerous
· Any mistakes your commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity
· Everyone admires boldness, no one honors the timid

Law 29: Plan all the way to the end
· The ending is everything
· Take into account of scenario
· If you plan, you won’t be overwhelmed
· Guide fortune by thinking far ahead

Law 30: Make your accomplishments seem effortless
· Conceal the clever tricks
· Make your success seem natural
· Do not reveal how hard you work
· Teach no one your tricks

Law 31: Control the opinions: get others to play with the cards you deal
· The best deceptions seem to give the other person a choice
· Give options so no matter their choice, you win

Law 32: Play to people’s fantasies
· The truth is unpleasant, avoid it
· People that manufacture romance are like oases in the desert
· There’s great power in tapping into people’s fantasies

Law 33: Discover each man’s thumbscrew
· Find other’s weaknesses
· Its usually insecurity, uncontrollable emotions, secret pressures

Law 34: Be royal in your own fashion: act like a king to be treated like one
· The way you carry yourself determines how you’re treated
· Appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you
· Kings respect themselves and inspire the same in others
· By acting confident you make yourself destined to wear a crown

Law 35: Master the art of timing
· Never seem in a hurry, always seem patient
· Sniff out the spirit of the times, find the trends that’ll give you power
· Learn to stand back when not ready, and then strike

Law 36: Disdain things you cannot have: ignoring them if the best revenge
· Acknowledging petty problems gives them existence
· When you acknowledge an enemy you make them stronger
· The more you a mistake visible, the worse it gets
· If you want something but can’t have it, disdain it
· The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem

Law 37: Create compelling spectacles
· Striking imagery and symbolic gestures create the auro of power and people respond
· Stage spectacles for those around you and heighten your presence
· Dazzle by appearance

Law 38: Think as you like but behave like others
· By flaunting your unconventional ways people will only think you want attention
· They’ll punish you for making them feel inferior
· Blend in

Law 39: Stir up waters to catch fish
· Anger and emotion is counterproductive
· Stay calm and objective
· Make enemies emotional while you stay calm
· Rattle your enemies

Law 40: Despise the free lunch
· What’s offered for free in dangerous
· Pay your own way to avoid guilt and gratitude
· No cutting corners with excellence
· Be lavish with your money, keep it circulating
· Generosity is a sign and magnet for power

Law 41: Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes
· What happens first always appears better and more original than what’s next
· Following great people means you must double their power
· Gain power by shining in your own way

Law 42: Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
· Trouble can be traced to a single individual
· These people will influence others
· Do not negotiate but banish them
· Strike at the source of the trouble

Law 43: Work on the hearts and minds of others
· Coercion will work against you
· Seduce others into wanting to move in your direction
· Seduce others by operating on their individual psychologies and weaknesses
· Soften them by working their emotions and what they fear
· Ignore the hearts and minds and they will grow to hate you

Law 44: Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect
· When you mirror exactly what your enemies do, they cannot figure out your strategy
· The mirror effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact
· Hold a mirror to their psyches and you’ll seduce them and they’ll think they share your values
· Mirror their actions and they learn lessons

Law 45: Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once
· Everyone wants change but too much is traumatic
· When new to power show you respect old ways
· Make change feel like a gentle improvement on the past

Law 46: Never appear too perfect
· Its dangerous to appear like you have no thoughts
· Its ok to admit to small defects

Law 47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory know when to stop
· When going to far in victory, you make more enemies
· Set a goal, achieve it, then stop

Law 48: Assume formlessness
· By having a visible plan you open yourself to attack.
· Stay adaptable and on the move
· Accept that nothing is certain and now law fixed