This is more than a guide on How to Use Your Enemies, it is at the same time a guide on How to Use Your Friends (considering you have some left after behaving like the author suggested). It was so manipulative that it was actually an awkward read for me.

It is compared to Machiavelli, and while his ideas are also very calculated, they made more sense to me as they all help to reach a certain goal. They are harsh and cold, and don't translate into modern days, but one can imagine that they are useful. Now take that, and apply it on literally every aspect of your life and you'll get How to Use Your Enemies. He really seemed like the typical calculating evil guy. This is not one of the Little Black Classics that I would recommend.

Little Black Classics #12

Baltasar Gracián was a 17th Century Spanish priest who wrote proto-existentialist philosophical essays and prose. This collection contains a selection of aphorisms that are akin to the Italian Machiavellian The Prince, offering advice on how to exploit your friends, your enemies, your talents and other people's flaws.


The advice in this little black book is something that hasn't changed at all since it was written, and all of it is still as relevant today as it was then. It is full of contradiction, however, because I firmly believe in the mantra "be yourself", but the advice tells you to change your personality to fit every single occasion in order to gain advantage over everyone in every situation. The advice that does not ask you to do this is well worth adhering to, however.

Like all of these Little Black Books, it is written so well and thoughtfully that I cannot fathom how anyone could not fall in love immediately.