THE 48 LAWS OF POWER

 Is a book authored by Robert Greene which gives a range of tactics that can be used in situations to gain and keep power. Here is the summary of the 48 Laws:

1. Never Outshine Your Master: Make Those Above You Feel Superior. Do Not Overexpose Your Natural Talents, Or You May Cause Their Insecurity To Come Out Nevertheless.

2. Do not put too much trust in your friends; learn how to use your enemies: You can More Easily Be Betrayed By Friends, but a Defeated Enemy Respects You More And Even Serves You.

3. Keep your Plans to yourself: Keep everyone Off-balance so they cannot predict your Moves and anticipate your Next Action.

4. Never Exaggerate Your Statement: Power Is Characterized By A Limit To The Speech - Jouissance - And Loquacity Dissuades From Action.

5. Guard Your Reputation with your Life: Reputation is the Foundation of All Power.

6. Conceal Your Activities and Appear at the Right Time: Remain Active to Avoid Being Ignored.

7. Take the Work of Others And Get the Credit: Use Someone Else’s Work in your Favor and Take the Credit for it.

8. Make it easy for others to approach you: Do not Chase Other People, Let Them Chase You.

9. Win without Fighting: Convincing an Opponent is Possible Only through One’s Actions and Not through Any Verbal Arguments.

10. Stay away from the Sorrowful People and the Pathetic: One's Sadness is Contagious; Don't Keep Company with Those Who Weaken You.

11. Make People Need You: If someone needs you, you have the power.

12. Sincerely and selectively give in: Forget Aggression, Gain the Upper Hand by Emotional Surrender.

13. When You are Seeking Assistance, Make a self-Interest Argument: Every person has an interest, appeal for that, not for thanks or help.

14. I’m not an enemy, I am a friend: Learn the art of getting clouded information without one’s knowledge.

15. Obliterate Your Enemy: Always ensure that the Enemy does not Heal, For an Enemy who Recovers is Surely an Enemy who will Seek to Avenge himself.

16. Make Use of Absence to Augment Esteem: The Scarcity Principle Inventory cursed things become valuable.

17. Keep Other People on Their Toes: Introduce Element of Surprise, and You Shall Inhibit Them and Become Too Powerful.

18. Resist the Tendency to Withdraw: Solitude is a source of weakness; Find Ways to Attach Yourself to the Society.

19. Understand the People you are Facing: Select your Enemies and Friends Carefully.

20. Not In the sense of Giving will turn to benefit No One: Fight for Yourself so that No One Else's Problems Overlap Yours.

21. Appearing To Be The Stupid One Catching the Sly: Let people believe there is something they can take advantage over you.

22. Resistance is Futile: There is strength in knowing when best to throw the towel.

23. Concentrate Your Forces: Direct Your energy Towards Only What is Significant.

24. Be Able To Act And Conceal: Do not expose all your strategies to your opponents.

25. Disguise Yourself: Exercise Control Over Your Life.

26. Keep Your Hands Clean: Ensure that other people take the blame when things go wrong.

27. Control people's wants and use it to gain loyalty: Fulfill their most cherished wants to secure their allegiance to you.

28. Do not hesitate to act: Some elements of fear are dangerous, while others are effective.

29. Prepare for everything in detail: It is easier to withstand shocks when working with a detailed program.

30. Portray your achievements as effortless: So, reinforce that with natural given talent, there will be little or no practice.

31. Manage Other People’s Choices: Manipulate the choice of some people by restricting their possible actions.

32. Manipulate other people’s imaginations: People are often drawn to emotion and fantasy for power.

33. Know the vulnerabilities of others: Understand the motivations behind different behaviors to exploit them.

34. Be the one that has self-control: The strength is in the facade of power and nobility.

35. Train yourself to know the right moment: There is no need to hurry; everything has its own moment.

36. Despisable is what one cannot have: This goes to the extent that one should not be troubled over what one cannot reach.

37. Stage captivating scenes: Drama and spectacles are attention-grabbing.

38. Feel free to think whatever, but act like everyone: Do not go against the prevailing norms and expectations in public.

39. Throwing a stone creates ripples: Create tension in the other person so that he can err.

40. Have contempt for something that is given free: What is free almost always has a catch attached to it.

41. Don’t take great men as your model: Be a trailblazer instead of a mere follower.

42. Hit the pastor and the congregation scatters: He brings down the authority of the leaders to weaken the loyalty of their followers.

43. Work with the hearts and minds of other people: Directing people involves first winning them over in spirit.

44. Use the mirror effect to defuse rage or create it: Do likewise to other people in order to make them lose their focus.

45. Advocate change, yet avoid changes that are too overwhelming: Overzealous change may be met with vigorous counteraction.

46. Do not ever appear to be to perfect: Being Too Perfect Can Attract Envy and Haters.

47. Do not accomplish more than you have targeted: Having accomplished your desires, know when to walk away.

48. Be malleable: Be flexible and do not restrict and impose a fixed structure upon yourself.

These laws aim at situations where there is power involved, however context and personal morals should be borne in mind upon their implementation.