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Law 33
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The 48 Laws of Power, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power, Morality, and Pragmatism
Emotion vs. Action
The Pitfalls of Greed
History and Human Nature
Summary
Analysis
Be royal in your own fashion: act like a king to be treated like one. If you act noble and confident, like a king, people will eventually treat you that way. Louise-Phillippe of France failed to follow this rule, trying to portray himself as a king of the people but instead just making people think he was common and incompetent. He was eventually forced to abdicate. By contrast, Christopher Columbus did follow this law—he was, by many accounts, mediocre as an explorer, but he was full of easy self-confidence that helped him win over powerful people and ultimately succeed in his goals.
This law relates back to Greene’s other law about reinventing yourself, as if you’re playing a character. He suggests that if you have to invent yourself, you may as well dream big. The example of Christopher Columbus shows how a person can build their own mythology and eventually reach a point where others start to buy into the myth as well. Columbus’s confidence is like that of a con artist or a magician, types of people that Greene references in other laws.
Active
Themes
Believing in your own greatness can help others come to believe in it too. Many people have this belief when they’re children but lose it in adulthood. The key is not to be disappointed by failures and maintain an air of importance around yourself. If you don’t know your own value, others will try to offer you less than you’re worth. Still, you must be careful not to take this law too far, as arrogance can lead to a leader’s undoing.
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