The 48 laws of power

Law 1: Never outshine the master

Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to 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, never to their mercy or gratitude

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 notbuild 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 that 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.