The 48 Laws of Power

Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Reputation is the cornerstone of power.

Strangely enough, it is your act of kindness tiiat unbalances everything.

Friends often agree on tilings in order to avoid an argument. They cover up their unpleasant qualities so as to not offend each other. They laugh extra hard at each odier's jokes. Since honesty rarely strengthens friendship, you may never know how a friend truly feels. Friends will say that they love your poetry, adore your music, envy your taste in clothesmaybe they mean it, often they do not.

Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure. Tacitus, c. a.d. 55-120

Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.

Voltaire, 1694-1778

Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.

To have a good enemy, choose a friend: He knows where to strike.

Diane de Poitiers, 1499-1566, mistress of Henri II of France

“The value of a thing sometimes lies not in what one attains with it, but in what one pays for itwhat it costs us.”

Half of your mastery of power comes from what you do not do, what you do not allow yourself to get dragged into.