48 Laws of Power

[BarryIRL]

I come accross these recently and unfortunely don't understand some of them.

Anyone else have this problem?

The first one i need explained more is Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies

The description given was:

Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.


Can anyone follow up on this, i dont really get it. For anyone who doesnt understand other Laws, insert them here to be hopefully explained.


Thanks.

 

[rgeere]

Because the fact that an enemy is naturally distant from you, it would be less harmful to bring them a little closer than a friend who is already closer to you.

And also, an enemy is less likly to attack you because you already naturally guard against them, but a friend can walk in and out of the defenses and even exploit them. It is called taking advantage of trust and vulnerability. You don't trust an enemy so they can't do this to you.

 

[DeathDealer]

If you don't have an enemy - You MUST create one from one of your friends. Which means you should start treating them distantly and like an enemy because one day they backstab you. Now don't do this with "best friends" (you know the type that's been with you for many years and you and him go through a lot of crap together.) if one of your friends isn't that close to you, he can be your designated enemy and you do what enemies do:

don't say too much, crush them fast and withdraw fast. i have a bunch of pseudo-friends and many times they would try to knock me off - it's not that they don't hate me, they don't want me to get out of status quo (which means when i am better than they are, they feel threatened.) so one of them becomes your clear enemy.

and your enemies because they're so guarded both of you know if anyone where to do anything both of you look like suspects of each other.

having an enemy is better than a friend sometimes too.

political example:

USA friends with France, China, Russia ... on the surface - but they both back stab each other. England? is USA's best friend.. trustworthy to the death.

Usa enemies: North Korea, Iran - all this screaming and shouting from the USA is only done because France,China,Russia secretly support those two countries. The enemy states and USA will never do anything against each other because they have been sworn enemies for a long time so they always see each other's playing cards at all times.