On the Path to Power: a brief review on Robert Greene’s ‘The 48 Laws of Power’
A brief, critical reading of Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power and its view of authority.
“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.”
Niccolò Machiavelli
The modern Machiavellian, Robert Greene’s ‘The 48 Laws of Power’ explores the working of the conscious and subconscious minds and the innate traits of us humans, whose understandings can be realized to both safeguard ourselves as well as exploit numerous situations according to our will. It teaches the power of subtlety, indirect statements, deception, mastering the art of timing, and the proper usage of symbols by drawing realistic analogies to the predicaments and strategies of famous individuals throughout history namely, Napoleon, Alexander, Talleyrand, Sen no Rikyū, “Yellow Kid” Weil and Henry Kissinger among plenty others.
Greene encourages the reader to explicate circumstances before deciding to be adamantly merciless or generously forgiving, to analyse the minds of people before displaying an outright boldness or being illusorily pretentious. Each law in the book has its own minutiae, applicability to various situations, and even reversals- the proper understanding and implementations of which solely depends on the reader.
The reason why I particularly felt enlightened after reading this book is because certain laws and statements have either harmoniously resonated with my own beliefs and principles, or aspired me to learn to become as such: Assuming flexibility and formlessness, adapting oneself with the surroundings, understanding the “insidious ability of words to be interpreted according to a person’s moods and insecurities”, maintaining a stance of neutrality and unpredictability, exercising selective honesty at times, saying less than necessary and learning when to stop.
In conclusion, ‘The 48 Laws of Power’ is not a book merely for any sorts of power-seekers, but a must-read for anyone who wishes to thrive in the current times.