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Life in the court was a never-ending game that required constant vigilance and tactical thinking. It was civilized war.
“Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.”
Place your iron hand inside a velvet glove.
Making a show of one’s weakness is actually a very effective strategy, subtle and deceptive, in the game of power
Treating everyone equally means ignoring their differences, elevating the less skillful and suppressing those who excel.
The most important of these skills, and power’s crucial foundation, is the ability to master your emotions.
Half of the game is learning how to forget those events in the past that eat away at you and cloud your reason. The real purpose of the backward-glancing eye is to educate yourself constantly—you look at the past to learn from those who came before you.
“I shall never repeat such a mistake; I shall never fall into such a trap again.”
You cannot succeed at deception unless you take a somewhat distanced approach to yourself—unless you can be many different people, wearing the mask that the day and the moment require.
Like mastering your emotions, patience is a skill—it does not come naturally. But nothing about power is natural; power is more godlike than anything in the natural world.
Everything good will happen—the grass will grow again, if you give it time and see several steps into the future. Impatience, on the other hand, only makes you look weak. It is a principal impediment to power.
Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others—that is too high a price to pay.
To be a master player you must also be a master psychologist. You must recognize motivations and see through the cloud of dust with which people surround their actions.
Never discriminate as to whom you study and whom you trust. Never trust anyone completely and study everyone, including friends and loved ones.
Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.
NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior.
Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.
All masters want to appear more brilliant than other people.
When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all.
Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head.
Discreet flattery is much more powerful. If you are more intelligent than your master, for example, seem the opposite: Make him appear more intelligent than you. Act naive. Make it seem that you need his expertise. Commit harmless mistakes that will not hurt you in the long run but will give you the chance to ask for his help.
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.
To have a good enemy, choose a friend: He knows where to strike.
Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.
The problem is that you often do not know your friends as well as you imagine. Friends often agree on things in order to avoid an argument.
You are trying to work, not make friends; friendliness (real or false) only obscures that fact. The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.
Without enemies around us, we grow lazy. An enemy at our heels sharpens our wits, keeping us focused and alert. It is sometimes better, then, to use enemies as enemies rather than transforming them into friends or allies.
The wise man profits more from his enemies, than a fool from his friends.
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, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.
Honesty is actually a blunt instrument, which bloodies more than it cuts. Your honesty is likely to offend people; it is much more prudent to tailor your words, telling people what they want to hear rather than the coarse and ugly truth of what you feel or think. More important, 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.
Our first instinct is to always trust appearances.
Win the victory before you declare the war.
ALWAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSARY
Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
person who cannot control his words shows that he cannot control himself, and is unworthy of respect.
Learn the lesson: Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.
Authority: Never start moving your own lips and teeth before the subordinates do. The longer I keep quiet, the sooner others move their lips and teeth.
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 it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable.
Make your reputation simple and base it on one sterling quality.
COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST
Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.
Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you.
Once people’s eyes are on you, you have a special legitimacy.
People feel superior to the person whose actions they can predict. If you show them who is in control by playing against their expectations, you both gain their respect and tighten your hold on their fleeting attention.
People are enthralled by mystery; because it invites constant interpretation, they never tire of it. The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what cannot be seized and consumed creates power.
GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU, BUT ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT
