The 48 Laws of Power

Half of your mastery of power comes from what you do not do, what you do not allow yourself to get dragged into. For this skill you must learn to judge all things by what they cost you. As Nietzsche wrote, “The value of a thing sometimes lies not in what one attains with it, but in what one pays for it—what it costs us.” Perhaps you will attain you

“The laws that govern circumstances are abolished by new circumstances,”

The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.

In evolution, largeness is often the first step toward extinction. What is immense and bloated has no mobility, but must constantly feed itself.

There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous.

Admiration is happy self-surrender; envy is unhappy self-assertion.

Even an ugly recent history will seem preferable to an empty space.

Understand: The fact that the past is dead and buried gives you the freedom to reinterpret it.

No people had a more profound attachment to the past than the Chinese. In the face of this enormous obstacle to reform, Mao’s strategy was simple: Instead of struggling against the past, he turned it to his advantage, associating his radical Communists with the romantic figures of Chinese history. Weaving the story of the War of the Three Kingdoms