Tangled within heaven's gilded lies,
you sleep choking on the decay of
a thousand perfumed promises.
You are a wild fire: something crazed,
something feral, something dying
slowly with every poisoned breath.
You are dissolving as fast as you're
forming, leaving silt and cells strewn
haphazardly in your saltwater wake.
You are a supernova: igniting the skies,
setting the constellations aflame with
the final beat of your unruly heart and you are nothing more than a
simple maiden wading into the
murky waters of my destruction.
You are nothing more than a foolish
girl attempting to sing hymns that
will lull my demons to sleep you see, you are trusting i have the
strength to hold your continents
together when you are falling apart.
I am hoping i have the faith
to keep your soul from eroding
when i am frayed and fading i am closing my eyes, opening my heart
and
i am praying i can save you from yourself
i am praying i can save you
i am praying.
Thursday 21 April 2011
Friday 15 April 2011
What my life revolves around.
The 48 Laws of Power
Law 1 Never Outshine the Master Always make those above you feel
comfortably superior. In your desire to
please or impress them, do not go too
far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.
Law 2 Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies Be wary of friends-they will betray you
more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend,because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than
from enemies. If you have no enemies,
find a way to make them.
Law 3 Conceal your Intentions
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.
Law 4 Always Say Less than Necessary When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in
control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
Law 5 So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life Reputation is the cornerstone of power.
Through reputation alone you can
intimidate and win; once you slip,
however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your
reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside
and let public opinion hang them.
Law 6 Court Attention at all Cost Everything is judged by its appearance;
what is unseen counts for nothing.
Never let yourself get lost in the crowd,
then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the
bland and timid masses.
Law 7 Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit Use the wisdom, knowledge, and
legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered.
Never do yourself what others can do for you.
Law 8 Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary When you force the other person to act,
you are the one in control. It is always
better to make your opponent come to
you, abandoning his own plans in the
process. Lure him with fabulous gains
then attack. You hold the cards.
Law 9 Win through your Actions, Never through Argument Any momentary triumph you think gained
through argument is really a Pyrrhic
victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions,without saying a word. Demonstrate, do
not explicate.
Law 10 Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping
the drowning man but you are only
precipitating your own disaster. The
unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.
Law 11 Learn to Keep People Dependent on You To maintain your independence you
must always be needed and wanted.
The more you are relied on, the more
freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.
Law 12 Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim One sincere and honest move will cover
over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-
hearted gestures of honesty and
generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.
Law 13 When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a
way to ignore you. Instead, uncover
something in your request, or in your
alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he
sees something to be gained for himself.
Law 14 Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy Knowing about your rival is critical. Use
spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still:
Play the spy yourself. In polite social
encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.
Law 15 Crush your Enemy Totally All great leaders since Moses have known
that a feared enemy must be crushed
completely. (Sometimes they have
learned this the hard way.) If one ember
is left alight, no matter how dimly it
smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway
than through total annihilation: The
enemy will recover, and will seek
revenge. Crush him, not only in body but
in spirit.
Law 16 Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor Too much circulation makes the price go
down: The more you are seen and heard
from, the more common you appear. If
you are already established in a group,
temporary withdrawal from it will make
you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave.
Create value through scarcity.
Law 17 Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability Humans are creatures of habit with an
insatiable need to see familiarity in other
people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables:
Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior
that seems to have no consistency or
purpose will keep them off-balance, and
they will wear themselves out trying to
explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and
terrorize.
Law 18 Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous The world is dangerous and enemies are
everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest.
But isolation exposes you to more
dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it
makes you conspicuous and an easy
target. Better to circulate among people
find allies, mingle. You are shielded from
your enemies by the crowd.
Law 19 Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person There are many different kinds of people
in the world, and you can never assume
that everyone will react to your
strategies in the same way. Deceive or
outmaneuver some people and they will
spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and
opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person. Law 20 Do Not Commit to Anyone It is the fool who always rushes to take
sides. Do not commit to any side or
cause but yourself. By maintaining your
independence, you become the master
of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you. Law 21 Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark No one likes feeling stupider than the
next persons. The trick, is to make your
victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once
convinced of this, they will never suspect
that you may have ulterior motives. Law 22 Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power When you are weaker, never fight for
honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover,
time to torment and irritate your
conqueror, time to wait for his power to
wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of
fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you
infuriate and unsettle him. Make
surrender a tool of power.
Law 23 Concentrate Your Forces Conserve your forces and energies by
keeping them concentrated at their
strongest point. You gain more by
finding a rich mine and mining it deeper,
than by flitting from one shallow mine to
another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of
power to elevate you, find the one key
patron, the fat cow who will give you
milk for a long time to come.
Law 24 Play the Perfect Courtier The perfect courtier thrives in a world
where everything revolves around power
and political dexterity. He has mastered
the art of indirection; he flatters, yields
to superiors, and asserts power over
others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of
courtiership and there will be no limit to
how far you can rise in the court.
Law 25 Re-Create Yourself Do not accept the roles that society
foists on you. Re-create yourself by
forging a new identity, one that
commands attention and never bores
the audience. Be the master of your
own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic
devices into your public gestures and
actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than
life.
Law 26 Keep Your Hands Clean You must seem a paragon of civility and
efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by
mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such
a spotless appearance by using others as
scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.
Law 27 Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following People have an overwhelming desire to
believe in something. Become the focal
point of such desire by offering them a
cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your
words vague but full of promise;
emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new
disciples rituals to perform, ask them to
make sacrifices on your behalf. In the
absence of organized religion and grand
causes, your new belief system will bring
you untold power.
Law 28 Enter Action with Boldness If you are unsure of a course of action,
do not attempt it. Your doubts and
hesitations will infect your execution.
Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter
with boldness. Any mistakes you commit
through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires
the bold; no one honors the timid. Law 29 Plan All the Way to the End 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.
By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you
will know when to stop. Gently guide
fortune and help determine the future
by thinking far ahead.
Law 30 Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless Your actions must seem natural and
executed with ease. All the toil and
practice that go into them, and also all
the clever tricks, must be concealed.
When you act, act effortlessly, as if you
could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you
work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used
against you.
Law 31 Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal The best deceptions are the ones that
seem to give the other person a choice:
Your victims feel they are in control, but
are actually your puppets. Give people
options that come out in your favor
whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of
two evils, both of which serve your
purpose. Put them on the horns of a
dilemma: They are gored wherever they
turn.
Law 32 Play to People’s Fantasies The truth is often avoided because it is
ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to
truth and reality unless you are prepared
for the anger that comes for
disenchantment. Life is so harsh and
distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up
fantasy are like oases in the desert:
Everyone flocks to them. There is great
power in tapping into the fantasies of
the masses.
Law 33 Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the
castle wall. That weakness is usual y an
insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or
need; it can also be a small secret
pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a
thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.
Law 34 Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one The way you carry yourself will often
determine how you are treated; In the
long run, appearing vulgar or common will
make people disrespect you. For a king
respects himself and inspires the same
sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make
yourself seem destined to wear a crown.
Law 35 Master the Art of Timing Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself,
and over time. Always seem patient, as if
you know that everything will come to
you eventually. Become a detective of
the right moment; sniff out the spirit of
the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the
time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely
when it has reached fruition.
Law 36 Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge By acknowledging a petty problem you
give it existence and credibility. The
more attention you pay an enemy, the
stronger you make him; and a small
mistake is often made worse and more
visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If
there is something you want but cannot
have, show contempt for it. The less
interest you reveal, the more superior
you seem.
Law 37 Create Compelling Spectacles Striking imagery and grand symbolic
gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage
spectacles for those around you, then
full of arresting visuals and radiant
symbols that heighten your presence.
Dazzled by appearances, no one will
notice what you are really doing.
Law 38 Think as you like but Behave like others If you make a show of going against the
times, flaunting your unconventional
ideas and unorthodox ways, people will
think that you only want attention and
that you look down upon them. They
will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend
in and nurture the common touch. Share
your originality only with tolerant friends
and those who are sure to appreciate
your uniqueness.
Law 39 Stir up Waters to Catch Fish Anger and emotion are strategically
counterproductive. You must always stay
calm and objective. But if you can make
your enemies angry while staying calm
yourself, you gain a decided advantage.
Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you
can rattle them and you hold the strings.
Law 40 Despise the Free Lunch What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden
obligation. What has worth is worth
paying for. By paying your own way you
stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit.
It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with
excellence. Be lavish with your money
and keep it circulating, for generosity is a
sign and a magnet for power.
Law 41 Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes What happens first always appears better
and more original than what comes after.
If you succeed a great man or have a
famous parent, you will have to
accomplish double their achievements to
outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your
own making: Establish your own name
and identity by changing course. Slay the
overbearing father, disparage his legacy,
and gain power by shining in your own
way.
Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter Trouble can often be traced to a single
strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of
goodwill. If you allow such people room
to operate, others will succumb to their
influence. Do not wait for the troubles
they cause to multiply, do not try to
negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence
by isolating or banishing them. Strike at
the source of the trouble and the sheep
will scatter.
Law 43 Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others Coercion creates a reaction that will
eventually work against you. You must
seduce others into wanting to move in
your direction. A person you have
seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And
the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and
weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by
working on their emotions, playing on
what they hold dear and what they fear.
Ignore the hearts and minds of others
and they will grow to hate you. Law 44 Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect The mirror reflects reality, but it is also
the perfect tool for deception: When
you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as
they do, they cannot figure out your
strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and
humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches,
you seduce them with the illusion that
you share their values; by holding up a
mirror to their actions, you teach them a
lesson. Few can resist the power of
Mirror Effect.
Law 45 Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once 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. If you are new to
a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of
respecting the old way of doing things. If
change is necessary, make it feel like a
gentle improvement on the past.
Law 46 Never appear too Perfect Appearing better than others is always
dangerous, but most dangerous of all is
to appear to have no faults or
weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies.
It is smart to occasionally display defects,
and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human
and approachable. Only gods and the
dead can seem perfect with impunity. Law 47 Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop The moment of victory is often the
moment of greatest peril. In the heat of
victory, arrogance and overconfidence
can push you past the goal you had
aimed for, and by going too far, you
make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head.
There is no substitute for strategy and
careful planning. Set a goal, and when
you reach it, stop.
Law 48 Assume Formlessness By taking a shape, by having a visible
plan, you open yourself to attack.
Instead of taking a form for your enemy
to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on
the move. Accept the fact that nothing
is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid
and formless as water; never bet on
stability or lasting order. Everything
changes.
Law 1 Never Outshine the Master Always make those above you feel
comfortably superior. In your desire to
please or impress them, do not go too
far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.
Law 2 Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies Be wary of friends-they will betray you
more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend,because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than
from enemies. If you have no enemies,
find a way to make them.
Law 3 Conceal your Intentions
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.
Law 4 Always Say Less than Necessary When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in
control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
Law 5 So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life Reputation is the cornerstone of power.
Through reputation alone you can
intimidate and win; once you slip,
however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your
reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside
and let public opinion hang them.
Law 6 Court Attention at all Cost Everything is judged by its appearance;
what is unseen counts for nothing.
Never let yourself get lost in the crowd,
then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the
bland and timid masses.
Law 7 Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit Use the wisdom, knowledge, and
legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered.
Never do yourself what others can do for you.
Law 8 Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary When you force the other person to act,
you are the one in control. It is always
better to make your opponent come to
you, abandoning his own plans in the
process. Lure him with fabulous gains
then attack. You hold the cards.
Law 9 Win through your Actions, Never through Argument Any momentary triumph you think gained
through argument is really a Pyrrhic
victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions,without saying a word. Demonstrate, do
not explicate.
Law 10 Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping
the drowning man but you are only
precipitating your own disaster. The
unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.
Law 11 Learn to Keep People Dependent on You To maintain your independence you
must always be needed and wanted.
The more you are relied on, the more
freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.
Law 12 Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim One sincere and honest move will cover
over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-
hearted gestures of honesty and
generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.
Law 13 When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a
way to ignore you. Instead, uncover
something in your request, or in your
alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he
sees something to be gained for himself.
Law 14 Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy Knowing about your rival is critical. Use
spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still:
Play the spy yourself. In polite social
encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.
Law 15 Crush your Enemy Totally All great leaders since Moses have known
that a feared enemy must be crushed
completely. (Sometimes they have
learned this the hard way.) If one ember
is left alight, no matter how dimly it
smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway
than through total annihilation: The
enemy will recover, and will seek
revenge. Crush him, not only in body but
in spirit.
Law 16 Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor Too much circulation makes the price go
down: The more you are seen and heard
from, the more common you appear. If
you are already established in a group,
temporary withdrawal from it will make
you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave.
Create value through scarcity.
Law 17 Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability Humans are creatures of habit with an
insatiable need to see familiarity in other
people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables:
Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior
that seems to have no consistency or
purpose will keep them off-balance, and
they will wear themselves out trying to
explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and
terrorize.
Law 18 Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous The world is dangerous and enemies are
everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest.
But isolation exposes you to more
dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it
makes you conspicuous and an easy
target. Better to circulate among people
find allies, mingle. You are shielded from
your enemies by the crowd.
Law 19 Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person There are many different kinds of people
in the world, and you can never assume
that everyone will react to your
strategies in the same way. Deceive or
outmaneuver some people and they will
spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and
opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person. Law 20 Do Not Commit to Anyone It is the fool who always rushes to take
sides. Do not commit to any side or
cause but yourself. By maintaining your
independence, you become the master
of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you. Law 21 Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark No one likes feeling stupider than the
next persons. The trick, is to make your
victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once
convinced of this, they will never suspect
that you may have ulterior motives. Law 22 Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power When you are weaker, never fight for
honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover,
time to torment and irritate your
conqueror, time to wait for his power to
wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of
fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you
infuriate and unsettle him. Make
surrender a tool of power.
Law 23 Concentrate Your Forces Conserve your forces and energies by
keeping them concentrated at their
strongest point. You gain more by
finding a rich mine and mining it deeper,
than by flitting from one shallow mine to
another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of
power to elevate you, find the one key
patron, the fat cow who will give you
milk for a long time to come.
Law 24 Play the Perfect Courtier The perfect courtier thrives in a world
where everything revolves around power
and political dexterity. He has mastered
the art of indirection; he flatters, yields
to superiors, and asserts power over
others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of
courtiership and there will be no limit to
how far you can rise in the court.
Law 25 Re-Create Yourself Do not accept the roles that society
foists on you. Re-create yourself by
forging a new identity, one that
commands attention and never bores
the audience. Be the master of your
own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic
devices into your public gestures and
actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than
life.
Law 26 Keep Your Hands Clean You must seem a paragon of civility and
efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by
mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such
a spotless appearance by using others as
scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.
Law 27 Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following People have an overwhelming desire to
believe in something. Become the focal
point of such desire by offering them a
cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your
words vague but full of promise;
emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new
disciples rituals to perform, ask them to
make sacrifices on your behalf. In the
absence of organized religion and grand
causes, your new belief system will bring
you untold power.
Law 28 Enter Action with Boldness If you are unsure of a course of action,
do not attempt it. Your doubts and
hesitations will infect your execution.
Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter
with boldness. Any mistakes you commit
through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires
the bold; no one honors the timid. Law 29 Plan All the Way to the End 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.
By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you
will know when to stop. Gently guide
fortune and help determine the future
by thinking far ahead.
Law 30 Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless Your actions must seem natural and
executed with ease. All the toil and
practice that go into them, and also all
the clever tricks, must be concealed.
When you act, act effortlessly, as if you
could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you
work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used
against you.
Law 31 Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal The best deceptions are the ones that
seem to give the other person a choice:
Your victims feel they are in control, but
are actually your puppets. Give people
options that come out in your favor
whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of
two evils, both of which serve your
purpose. Put them on the horns of a
dilemma: They are gored wherever they
turn.
Law 32 Play to People’s Fantasies The truth is often avoided because it is
ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to
truth and reality unless you are prepared
for the anger that comes for
disenchantment. Life is so harsh and
distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up
fantasy are like oases in the desert:
Everyone flocks to them. There is great
power in tapping into the fantasies of
the masses.
Law 33 Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the
castle wall. That weakness is usual y an
insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or
need; it can also be a small secret
pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a
thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.
Law 34 Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one The way you carry yourself will often
determine how you are treated; In the
long run, appearing vulgar or common will
make people disrespect you. For a king
respects himself and inspires the same
sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make
yourself seem destined to wear a crown.
Law 35 Master the Art of Timing Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself,
and over time. Always seem patient, as if
you know that everything will come to
you eventually. Become a detective of
the right moment; sniff out the spirit of
the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the
time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely
when it has reached fruition.
Law 36 Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge By acknowledging a petty problem you
give it existence and credibility. The
more attention you pay an enemy, the
stronger you make him; and a small
mistake is often made worse and more
visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If
there is something you want but cannot
have, show contempt for it. The less
interest you reveal, the more superior
you seem.
Law 37 Create Compelling Spectacles Striking imagery and grand symbolic
gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage
spectacles for those around you, then
full of arresting visuals and radiant
symbols that heighten your presence.
Dazzled by appearances, no one will
notice what you are really doing.
Law 38 Think as you like but Behave like others If you make a show of going against the
times, flaunting your unconventional
ideas and unorthodox ways, people will
think that you only want attention and
that you look down upon them. They
will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend
in and nurture the common touch. Share
your originality only with tolerant friends
and those who are sure to appreciate
your uniqueness.
Law 39 Stir up Waters to Catch Fish Anger and emotion are strategically
counterproductive. You must always stay
calm and objective. But if you can make
your enemies angry while staying calm
yourself, you gain a decided advantage.
Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you
can rattle them and you hold the strings.
Law 40 Despise the Free Lunch What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden
obligation. What has worth is worth
paying for. By paying your own way you
stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit.
It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with
excellence. Be lavish with your money
and keep it circulating, for generosity is a
sign and a magnet for power.
Law 41 Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes What happens first always appears better
and more original than what comes after.
If you succeed a great man or have a
famous parent, you will have to
accomplish double their achievements to
outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your
own making: Establish your own name
and identity by changing course. Slay the
overbearing father, disparage his legacy,
and gain power by shining in your own
way.
Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter Trouble can often be traced to a single
strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of
goodwill. If you allow such people room
to operate, others will succumb to their
influence. Do not wait for the troubles
they cause to multiply, do not try to
negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence
by isolating or banishing them. Strike at
the source of the trouble and the sheep
will scatter.
Law 43 Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others Coercion creates a reaction that will
eventually work against you. You must
seduce others into wanting to move in
your direction. A person you have
seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And
the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and
weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by
working on their emotions, playing on
what they hold dear and what they fear.
Ignore the hearts and minds of others
and they will grow to hate you. Law 44 Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect The mirror reflects reality, but it is also
the perfect tool for deception: When
you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as
they do, they cannot figure out your
strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and
humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches,
you seduce them with the illusion that
you share their values; by holding up a
mirror to their actions, you teach them a
lesson. Few can resist the power of
Mirror Effect.
Law 45 Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once 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. If you are new to
a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of
respecting the old way of doing things. If
change is necessary, make it feel like a
gentle improvement on the past.
Law 46 Never appear too Perfect Appearing better than others is always
dangerous, but most dangerous of all is
to appear to have no faults or
weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies.
It is smart to occasionally display defects,
and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human
and approachable. Only gods and the
dead can seem perfect with impunity. Law 47 Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop The moment of victory is often the
moment of greatest peril. In the heat of
victory, arrogance and overconfidence
can push you past the goal you had
aimed for, and by going too far, you
make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head.
There is no substitute for strategy and
careful planning. Set a goal, and when
you reach it, stop.
Law 48 Assume Formlessness By taking a shape, by having a visible
plan, you open yourself to attack.
Instead of taking a form for your enemy
to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on
the move. Accept the fact that nothing
is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid
and formless as water; never bet on
stability or lasting order. Everything
changes.
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