The key ideas

The Laws of Human Nature

Robert Greene, 2018

For years a friend seems like the warmest person in your life, while behind your back she tells a very different story about you. Robert Greene gathered eighteen laws of human behavior and explained each one through the story of a real person, from Pericles to Nixon. Here are the six strongest: on masks, character, narcissism, envy, the shadow and emotions.

Who it is for

For anyone who wants to understand the people around them better: to notice masks, envy and hidden motives, and to look at themselves more honestly along the way.

People tend to wear a mask that shows them in the best light: modest, confident and hardworking.

What the book is about

How can a close friend seem like the warmest person in your life for years, while behind your back she says something entirely different about you, and nobody notices?

Robert Greene, the author of The 48 Laws of Power, gathered eighteen "laws" of human behavior here. His method is easy to recognize: the story of a real person, the pattern that repeats in it, the law, the hidden side people prefer not to see, and a strategy.

An important frame: this is the author's own model, built on history, psychology and Greene's observations, not a set of scientifically proven laws. The stories illustrate an idea but do not prove it. What follows are six laws, and the first begins with a young man confined to his bed.

Idea 1. The law of role-playing: the young man who watched

In 1919, polio paralyzed seventeen-year-old Milton Erickson. Lying in bed, he listened to his sisters talking around him and began to notice something strange. One sister would say "great idea" in a flat voice while smirking. Someone would answer "yes" while everything about them said "no." Years later Erickson became a famous psychiatrist with a motto: observe, observe, observe.

The pattern, according to Greene: people control their words better than their voice and face. Hence the law of role-playing: everyone wears a social mask, and people tend to present themselves as modest, confident and hardworking. The hidden side: everyone needs a mask, and so do we. Greene's strategy is not to tear masks off, but to understand the other person's role and play your own consciously.

A note from Livria: Greene gives nonverbal signals a lot of weight, but they are not a reliable detector of feelings. A sour face can mean tiredness or embarrassment.

A colleague says "I'm happy for you" without a trace of a smile. On its own, that means almost nothing. But if she then "forgets" to invite you to important meetings again and again, the gap between her words and her actions is no longer an accident.

A mismatch between words and signals is a reason to look closer, not proof. It is more reliable to test a mask against time and actions, which is what the next law is about.

Read in Livria

About the author

Robert Greene is an American writer, the author of The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction and Mastery. In his books he explains human behavior through examples from history.

All books by this author: Robert Greene

Terms from the book

  • Shadow
  • Character
  • Healthy narcissism
  • Social mask: In Greene's model, the image a person shows others in order to look better. A term from the book, not a diagnosis.
  • Envy: A painful feeling that comes from comparing yourself with someone else. According to Greene, it often hides behind friendship or praise.
  • Inner Athena: An image from the book, not a scientific term: the rational part of a person that helps them pause and avoid making decisions on emotion.

All terms

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