Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue

by Ryan Holiday

Conspiracy entails determined, coordinated action, done in secret—always in secret—that aims to disrupt the status quo or accomplish some aim.

“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”

a proper conspiracy moves through three distinct phases: the planning, the doing, and the aftermath.

a conspiracy requires patience and fortitude, so much patience, as much as it relies on boldness or courage.

Never fight a battle against someone who buys ink by the barrel. It’s easier to just let the whole thing go.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Thucydides would say that the three strongest motives for men were “fear, honor, and self-interest.” Fear. Honor. Self-interest. All covered.

compartmentalization: he was content with his role on the team.

“Patience and Time.” “There is nothing stronger than those two,”

To begin you must study the end. You don’t want to be the first to act, you want to be the last man standing.

Culture eats strategy.

Culture transcends strategy.

Another maxim from Napoleon: “Never interrupt an enemy making a mistake.”

“The terrible thing about people like you is that decent people have to become so much like you in order to stop you—in order to survive.”

He had proven that “nothing you can do about it” is just what people who don’t want to do anything about it like to say to make themselves feel better about their inaction.

amor fati—loving, embracing the good in what has happened.

“There is a special sadness in achievement, in the knowledge that a longdesired goal has been attained at last, and that life must now be shaped towards new ends.”