The 48 Laws Of Power

Necessity

rulestheworld.

Peoplerarely

actunless

compelled

to.If

you

createnoneedfor

yourself,

then

you

willbedone

away

withatfirst

oppor-

tunity.

If,

on

theother

hand,

you

understandtheLawsofPowerandmake

others

depend

on

you

for

their

welfare,

if

you

cancounteracttheirweak»

nesswith
your

own“ironand

blood,”

inBisrn-arck’s

phrase,

then

you

will

survive
your

mastersasBismarckdid,Youwillhaveallthebenefitsof

power

withoutthethornsthatcomefrom

being

amaster.

Thusawise

prince

willthink

ofways

to

keep

hiscitizens

ofevery

sort

andunder

every

circumstance

dependent

onthestateandon

him;

andthan

they

will

always

be

trustworthy.

Nitculé

ll/l(tt'hi(tzIellz'.,

1 469-152 7

KEYSTOPOWER

Theultimate
power

isthe

power

to

get

people

todoas

you

wish.When

you

candothiswithout

having

toforce

people

orhurt

them,

when

they

will»

ingly

grant

you

what

you

desire,

then

yourpower

isuntouchable.

Thebest

way

toachievethis

position

is

to

createa.

relationship

of

dependence.

The

master

requiresyour

services;

heis

weak,

orunabletofunctionwithout

you;you

haveenmeshed

yourself

inhisworkso

deeply

that

doingaway

with

you

would

bring

him

greatdifficulty,

oratleastwouldmeanvaluable

timelostin
training

anotherto

replaceyou.

Oncesucha

relationship

ises-

tablished

you

havethe

upper

hand,

the

leverage

tomakethemasterdoas

you

wish.

It

istheclassiccaseofthemanbehindthe

throne,

theservantof

the

king

who

actually

controlsthe

king.

Bismarckdidnothaveto

bully

ei-

therFrederickorWilliaminto

doing

his

bidding.

He

simply

madeitclear

thatunlesshe
got

whathewantedhewouldwalk

away,leaving

the

king

to

twistinthewind.Both

kings

soon

dancedto

Bismarck’stune.

Donotbeoneofthe

many

who

mistakenly

believethattheultimate

formof

power

is

independence.

Powerinvolvesa

relationship

between

people;you

will

always

needothersas

allies,

pawns,

orevenasweakmas

terswhoserveas
your

front.The

completelyindependent

manwouldlive

inacabininthe
woods«—~hewould
havethefreedomtocomeand
go

ashe

pleased,

buthewouldhaveno

power.

Thebest

you

can

hope

foristhat

others

will

grow

so

dependent

on

you

that

you

enjoy

akindofreversein-

dependence:

Theirneedfor

you

frees

you.

LouisXI

(1423-1483),

the

greatSpiderKing

of

France,

had

aweak-

nessfor

astrology.

He

kept

acourt

astrologer

whomhe

admired,

until

one

day

the

man

predicted

that

a

lady

ofthecourt

woulddiewithin

eightdays.

Whenthe

prophecy

came

true,

Louiswas

terrified,thinking

thateitherthe

manhadmurderedthewomanto

prove

his

accuracy

orthathewasso

versedinhissciencethathis

powers

threatenedLouishimself.Ineither

casehehadtobe

killed.

One

evening

Louis

summoned

the

astrologer

tohis

room,

high

inthe

castle.Beforetheman

arrived,

the

king

toldhisservantsthatwhenhe

gave

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small

height

without

any

kind

oj'.mppnrt.

sheshot

forth

/n,-v~

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hranrhr-.\‘tou

very

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m'igI1~

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a.v.ri.vmm:e."Poor

[IljllI-

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rhrub.

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n';7.‘i(*rl

the«rim."howinconsis-

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thy

mmlud.’

lV(:uIrl.s'I(hm!

In‘

truly

iudepeudmr,

thou

.rlmuz'r!.\'t

mn>fuIl_v

apply

those

/nicer

to

the

e>nlurg<'nImtuflhy

stem.

which[hon

lavislzrvrinvain

upon

i(IHlt‘L‘€.3‘StH‘)'_f'r)/iz1g4.'.

I

shortly

shut!/.tt’hU/LI

thee

gruvelling

onthe

gmmm‘;ye!

co1mtu«

mmceti,

indvvrl,

by

many

of

thelmmtm

race,who,itztctxicalxfd

will!

twziry.

haw:

de.vpi.s‘ctlcmnrmly;

and

who. 10

support

for

u

mo.-nenttheir

empty

boast

ofin(l(r[wmImm’.

havecxlmumrithe

very

mzmrr»

oftt

in

f'rii'~

olous

exp:-nses.

"

l‘AI'tl.FS.

RmarurDom!s

V1,

1703-1764

LAW 11 85