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 cost --
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 the 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-interest, 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 - seem 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 own 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 to perfect --
law 47. Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop --
law 48. Assume formlessness --
