Robert Greene
The 48 Laws of Power
When the evening began, Fouquet was at the top of the world. By the time it had ended, he was at the bottom. Voltaire, 1694–1778 (Location 520)
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Scientists are not spared the vagaries of court life and patronage. They too must serve masters who hold the purse strings. (Location 544)
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Everyone has insecurities. When you show yourself in the world and display your talents, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity. This is to be expected. You cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others. With those above you, however, you must take a different approach: When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all. (Location 550)
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First you must flatter and puff up your master. (Location 580)
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He must appear as the sun around which everyone revolves, radiating power and brilliance, the center of attention. (Location 588)
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In all of these cases it is not a weakness to disguise your strengths if in the end they lead to power. (Location 591)
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By letting others outshine you, you remain in control, (Location 592)
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You cannot worry about upsetting every person you come across, but you must be selectively cruel. (Location 600)
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Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. (Location 608)
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To have a good enemy, choose a friend: He knows where to strike. (Location 618)
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Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure. (Location 729)
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LAW 3 CONCEAL YOUR INTENTIONS (Location 804)
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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, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late. (Location 806)
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a woman who is interested in a man wants to see that other women are interested in him, too. Not only does that give him instant value, it makes it all the more satisfying to snatch him from their clutches. (Location 827)
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Ninon knew that men and women are very different, but when it comes to seduction they feel the same: 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 person 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. Instead you must throw your targets off the scent. To surrender to your guidance they must be appropriately confused. You have to scramble your signals—appear interested in another man or woman (the decoy), then hint at being interested in the target, then feign indifference, on and on. Such patterns not only confuse, they excite. (Location 844)
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“The great questions of the time will be decided, not by speeches and resolutions, but by iron and blood.” (Location 868)
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many believe that by being honest and open they are winning people’s hearts and showing their good nature. They are greatly deluded. Honesty is actually a blunt instrument, which bloodies more than it cuts. (Location 893)
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by being unabashedly open you make yourself so predictable and familiar that it is almost impossible to respect or fear you, and power will not accrue to a person who cannot inspire such emotions. (Location 896)
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If you yearn for power, quickly lay honesty aside, and train yourself in the art of concealing your intentions. (Location 898)
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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. 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. (Location 914)
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Another powerful tool in throwing people off the scent is false sincerity. People easily mistake sincerity for honesty. (Location 917)
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What is dissipated, divided, and distended rots and falls to the ground. The bigger it bloats, the harder it falls. (Location 4101)
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In 1824 James Rothschild decided it was time to get married. This presented a problem for the Rothschilds, since it meant incorporating an outsider into the Rothschild clan, an outsider who could betray its secrets. James therefore decided to marry within the family, and chose the daughter of his brother Salomon. The brothers were ecstatic—this was the perfect solution to their marriage problems. James’s choice now became the family policy: Two years later, Nathan married off his daughter to Salomon’s son. In the years to come, the five brothers arranged eighteen matches among their children, sixteen of these being contracted between first cousins. (Location 4125)
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“We are like the mechanism of a watch: Each part is essential,” said brother Salomon. As in a watch, every part of the business moved in concert with every other, and the inner workings were invisible to the world, which only saw the movement of the hands. (Location 4129)
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Concentration was the foundation of the Rothschilds’ power, wealth, and stability. (Location 4140)
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