my 10 favorites in the 48 laws of power

• Law 1 Never outshine the master.
• Law 2 Never put too much trust in friends; learn how to use enemies.
• Law 3 Conceal your intentions.
• Law 4 Always say less than necessary.
• Law 5 So much depends on reputation. Guard it with your life.
• Law 6 Court attention at all costs.
• Law 7 Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.
• Law 8 Make other people come to you; use bait if necessary.
• Law 9 Win through your actions, never through argument.
• Law 10 Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky.
• Law 11 Learn to keep people dependent on you.
• Law 12 Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim.
• Law 13 When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interests, never to their mercy or gratitude.
• Law 14 Pose as a friend, work as a spy.
• Law 15 Crush your enemy totally.
• Law 16 Use absence to increase respect and honor.
• Law 17 Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability.
• Law 18 Do not build fortresses to protect yourself. Isolation is dangerous.
• Law 19 Know who you're dealing with; do not offend the wrong person.
• Law 20 Do not commit to anyone.
• Law 21 Play a sucker to catch a sucker: play dumber than your mark.
• Law 22 Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power.
• Law 23 Concentrate your forces.
• Law 24 Play the perfect courtier.
• Law 25 Re-create yourself.
• Law 26 Keep your hands clean.
• Law 27 Play on people's need to believe to create a cultlike following.
• Law 28 Enter action with boldness.
• Law 29 Plan all the way to the end.
• Law 30 Make your accomplishments seem effortless.
• Law 31 Control the options: get others to play with the cards you deal.
• Law 32 Play to people's fantasies.
• Law 33 Discover each man's thumbscrew.
• Law 34 Be royal in your fashion: act like a king to be treated like one.
• Law 35 Master the art of timing.
• Law 36 Disdain things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best revenge.
• Law 37 Create compelling spectacles.
• Law 38 Think as you like but behave like others.
• Law 39 Stir up waters to catch fish.
• Law 40 Despise the free lunch.
• Law 41 Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes.
• Law 42 Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
• Law 43 Work on the hearts and minds of others.
• Law 44 Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect.
• Law 45 Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once.
• Law 46 Never appear perfect.
• Law 47 Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop.
• Law 48 Assume formlessness.

*WIKI: The 48 Laws of Power is a 1998 book by Robert Greene.
The book shares thematic elements with Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince
and has been compared to Sun-Tzu's classic treatise The Art of War.