It is really too difficult for them to imagine that the bland and harmless person they are dealing with is simultaneously setting up something elseĪs Kierkegaard wrote, “The world wants to be deceived.” Law 4: Always say less than necessary This derives from a simple truth: people can only focus on one thing at a time. Use smoke screens to disguise your actions. You will kill three birds with one stone: You appear friendly, open, and trusting you conceal your intentions and you send your rivals on time-consuming wild-goose chases. Hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals- just not your real ones. Use decoyed objects and desires and red herrings to throw people off the scent Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent. The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Friends will say that they love your poetry, adore your music, envy your taste in clothes- maybe they mean it, often they do not. Since honesty rarely strengthens friendship, you may never know how a friend truly feels. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemiesīut hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head.

When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power

The 48 laws of power