The 48 Laws Of Power

“If the world is like a giant scheming court and we are trapped inside it, there is no use in trying to opt out of the game. That will only render you powerless, and powerlessness will make you miserable. Instead of struggling against the inevitable, instead of arguing and whining and feeling guilty, it is far better to excel at power.”

Greene anticipates the morally minded reader’s resistance to viewing life as a power game and encourages them to be realistic. The imagery of entrapment in a scheming court allows the reader no escape from needing to engage with power; while the unattractive option of powerlessness is presented as the only alternative to power games. He then juxtaposes the list of futile methods of struggling against this reality with what he considers the only viable option: excelling at power.

“Without enemies around us, we grow lazy. An enemy at our heels sharpens our wits, keeping us focused and alert.”

Greene turns against the instinct to avoid antagonists by stating that they are essential to our success. Without these people challenging us every step of the way, we grow self-satisfied and rest on our laurels. In invoking the metaphor of an enemy as a dangerous, serpent-like animal at our heels, Greene conjures an image of vigilance and alertness. This ties in with his belief that awareness of what others are doing is essential to both power and success in the public realm. Without the presence of people who potentially want to undermine us, we will lack the motivation to reach great heights.

“Deep down inside, they often sense when they are being seduced, but they give in because they enjoy the feeling of being led along. It is a pleasure to let go, and to allow the other to detour you into a strange country. Everything in seduction, however, depends on suggestion. You cannot announce your intentions or reveal them directly in words.”

Seduction, the process of beguiling another person and having them believe your preferred version of events, depends upon an avoidance of direct truth. In emphasizing the other person’s pleasure, even perhaps at being deceived, Greene alerts the reader to the power that seduction gives you over others. The metaphor of a detour into a strange country indicates how seducers both intrigue and disorient their victims, thus bending them to their will. The continual delay in revealing the truth keeps the other person in suspense; however, a single verbal announcement can kill the magic.

“Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides.”

Greene boldly asserts that reputation is a crucial element of power. Reputation, which can be defined as the public’s perception of you, rather than the reality of your character, can wage campaigns in your favor. When Greene refers to the potential loss of reputation, he evokes the image of a protective disguise slipping, as the public sees you for who you are, rather than the idealized image you wish to project. The idea that you “will be attacked on all sides” creates a sense of urgency, as though a merciless public is eager to capitalize on your fall from grace.

“The essence of power is the ability to keep the initiative, to get others to react to your moves, to keep your opponent and those around you on the defensive. When you make other people come to you, you suddenly become the one controlling the situation. And the one who has control has power.”

Greene here makes the important link between power and control. Your ability to control how others respond to your actions rather than directly ordering them about gives you power over them. Here, Greene presents a paradox—keeping the initiative whilst getting others to move.

“Such is the power of artful spying: It makes you seem all-powerful, clairvoyant. Your knowledge of your mark can also make you seem charming, so well can you anticipate his desires. No one sees the source of your power, and what they cannot see they cannot fight.”

Greene here shows how the careful art of spying on your targets gives you a supernatural appeal. By gathering information on other people, you can anticipate their needs and they will enjoy having you around. Greene communicates the idea that the source of your power will be invisible to others and so they will not be able to challenge it. Here, Greene shows that the powerful often wear a soft, ingratiating veneer, contrary to the bullish front others expect.

“This is what isolation brings: Retreat into a fortress and you lose contact with the sources of your power. You lose your ear for what is happening around you, as well as a sense of proportion. Instead of being safer, you cut yourself off from the kind of knowledge on which your life depends.”

Greene is a vehement critic of isolation as a protection strategy. He believes power is determined by your relationships with other people. He uses the metaphor of losing your ear to imply a kind of tone-deafness to the zeitgeist, which is the most debilitating predicament of all. Safety, Greene implies, is contingent on connection to other people and having a clear sense of where you stand in relation to them. He uses the hyperbole of losing a life to indicate the potentially devastating consequences of being cut off. 

“The highest form of the art of power is the ability to distinguish the wolves from the lambs, the foxes from the hares, the hawks from the vultures. If you make this distinction well, you will succeed without needing to coerce anyone too much. But if you deal blindly with whomever crosses your path, you will have a life of constant sorrow, if you even live that long.”

Greene employs animal imagery to show how the wise categorize the different types of people they are dealing with, rather than applying a bloc strategy to them all. Those who apply the principle of distinction will find power comes to them effortlessly, without coercion. Greene uses the hyperbolic situation of a life of misery that potentially ends in premature death to warn readers against failing to curate their strategy. Again, an understanding of people as individuals is a crucial element of power. 

“If you allow people to feel they possess you to any degree, you lose all power over them. By not committing your affections, they will only try harder to win you over. Stay aloof and you gain the power that comes from their attention and frustrated desire. Play the Virgin Queen: Give them hope but never satisfaction.”

Greene urges his readers to imitate the example of Elizabeth I of England, the Virgin Queen. By playing the game of exciting hope, whilst never providing satisfaction, you can effortlessly keep the attention of your targets. In contrast, once you have been straightforward and declared your affections, you will lose your ability to control them, and the reverse will occur—they will control you. Greene applies the hyperbole of losing “all power over them” to emphasize his point.

“Subliminally reassure people that they are more intelligent than you are, or even that you are a bit of a moron, and you can run rings around them. The feeling of intellectual superiority you give them will disarm their suspicion-muscles.”

Greene turns conventional wisdom on its head, as he invites readers to ensure that the other party feels more intelligent. The flattery to their ego will mislead them about your intention to control the situation, especially if you play the fool. The colloquialism to “run rings around” someone serves Greene’s purpose as commonplace diction masks the sophisticated deception that belies it.

“Great courtiers throughout history have mastered the science of manipulating people. They make the king feel more kingly; they make everyone else fear their power. They are magicians of appearance, knowing that most things at court are judged by how they seem.”

The metaphor of courtier as magician highlights how the former are gifted at trickery and illusion. The idea that manipulation is a science indicates Greene’s belief that it can be codified and learned. He spells out one interpretation of the formula when the courtiers are able to make kings feel more worthy of their position, whilst they make their peers afraid of them because they hold the initiative. The imbalance in how courtiers treat people on different levels in the social hierarchy is one of the central tenets of power in Greene’s book.

“The world wants to assign you a role in life. And once you accept that role you are doomed. Your power is limited to the tiny amount allowed to the role you have selected or have been forced to assume.”

Here, Greene creates an association between being stuck in a role and low amounts of power. This is because roles are designed to curtail power. Greene invokes the idea of a hostile outside “world” for whom it is convenient for you to have a limited role. Instead of passively accepting the role and being hyperbolically “doomed” to having the power that others are willing to give you, you must resist roles altogether.

“Boldness and hesitation elicit very different psychological responses in their targets: Hesitation puts obstacles in your path, boldness eliminates them.”

Greene asserts that the bold and the hesitant do not only have opposite characters but will attract diametrically opposite fates. Whereas those who act decisively will have a smooth trajectory, those who hesitate will stumble. The targets that Greene refers to are other humans who will mirror the attitude displayed by the perpetrator in considering their proposition.

“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.”

Greene introduces the threat of a reversal in power, should you fail to anticipate a twist of fortune that might see others benefiting from your hard work. Instead, when you do not assume that you will be lucky and take all obstacles into account, you will guide luck your way.

“The person who can spin a fantasy out of an oppressive reality has access to untold power […] search and dig for what really imprisons them. Once you find that, you have the magical key that will put great power in your hands.”

Greene contrasts the lightness and freedom of fantasy with the shackles of the truths that keep people stuck and powerless. An intimate knowledge of what these truths are gives a person supernatural abilities in the metaphor of a magic key. Here, Greene sets up an opposition between the knowing master of power and their unknowing victims.

“Since we all try to hide our weaknesses, there is little to be learned from our conscious behavior. What oozes out in the little things outside our conscious control is what you want to know.”

Greene asserts the importance of the unconscious in gaining a grasp on character. The image of involuntary behavior or information oozing out creates an impression of the other’s lack of control. However, the fact that this information arises from a study of “little things” indicates the subtlety of mind needed by the power-hungry.

“It is within your power to set your own price. How you carry yourself reflects what you think of yourself. If you ask for little, shuffle your feet and lower your head, people will assume this reflects your character.”

Greene draws an association between comportment and self-worth. Those who believe they are worth little and so corporeally lower themselves to the ground by inclining their head and shuffling their feet, set themselves up for a destiny of ill treatment. How you seem, Greene implies, is how others think you are. Thus, illusions predestine reality.

“Wise and clever people learn early on that they can display conventional behavior and mouth conventional ideas without having to believe in them. The power these people gain from blending in is that of being left alone to have the thoughts they want to have, and to express them to the people they want to express them to, without suffering isolation and ostracism.”

Greene shows that the isolation that might result from openly displaying eccentric ideas is not worth the risk. Instead, camouflage with the status quo is often a more empowering position, as being perceived as unthreatening will mean that you we be allowed closer to the heart of power and so establish the foothold you need to rise.

“Powerful people judge everything by what it costs, not just in money but in time, dignity, and peace of mind.”

Greene introduces the factors of time and dignity into the relationship between money and power. He implies that a singular focus on money gained and saved is not an adequate power tool. Instead, it is wiser to look at money as a currency that enables other privileges, such as having the right timing for your project or embellishing one’s public appearance. 

“The pampered, indulged son almost always squanders the inheritance, for he does not start with the father’s need to fill a void. As Machiavelli states, necessity is what impels men to action, and once the necessity is gone, only rot and decay are left.”

Greene establishes the relationship between lack and the sharpened initiative that leads to power. Those who start off with all their needs met, cannot find the urgency to act and establish themselves on their own terms. Thus, decadence is the most natural path.

“The ability to mimic another person not physically, but psychologically […] is immensely powerful because it plays upon the unsatisfied self-love of a child. Normally, people bombard us with their experiences, their tastes. They hardly ever make the effort to see things through our eyes.”

Greene shows the primacy of appealing to someone’s need to be seen and recognized. The allusion to childhood, an earlier state where we were less able to control ourselves, indicates the visceral rather than rational appeal of psychological mirroring. The psychological mirror shows the other person that you are seeing the world through their eyes, and you are therefore more able to understand them. In doing this, you will be exceptional, as the typical human being clumsily bombards the other person with their own personality.

“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.”

Greene asserts the paradox that humans continually complain that things need to change, but in reality, they are reluctant to see the change occur. The cliché “creatures of habit” refers to the irrational, animal part of the human that is wedded to its routine and sense of safety. Thus, Greene appeals that policy makers should not ignore this tendency if they are to remain in power.

“In the realm of power, you must be guided by reason. To let a momentary thrill or an emotional victory influence or guide your moves will prove fatal. When you attain success, step back. Be cautious.”

In this set of brisk imperatives, Greene warns that success should be followed by caution and rational calculation. This is counterintuitive, as opposed to the superhuman elation you may experience at this moment. The figure of speech of stepping back also indicates a temporary removal from the battlefield to gain perspective.