The 48 Laws of Power [in 210 mins] Director's Cut

the 48 laws of power by Robert Greene law number one never outshine the master always make those above you feel comfortably superior and your desire to please or impress them do not go too far and displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite inspire fear and insecurity make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power especially that last part sounds very promising in order to fully understand let's take a look at history and learn from others mistakes the law has been observed in the story of king louis xiv and his Finance Minister Nicola phuket first of all who was louie xiv louis quatorze as the fine frenchman would say it was the king monarch of versailles and in my humble opinion probably the most interesting of all the French monarchs his most famous quote is Letta simois literally I am the state he portrayed himself as the Sun King and had such might and power among his lands that he could make any decision he wanted without any discussion he would ask for a pen and the whole room would be fighting each other for the chance to give him theirs and still get in his good graces or be able to say they've done the great king a favour this behavior was Nicola Phuket's downfall in 17th century France Nicola phuket had spent enormous sums in building a magnificent chateau on his estate of vole of accompt when the Prime Minister died the position was abolished instead of replaced with Phuket the King's smart Finance Minister in order to not lose the Kings trust and regain his attention he then planned the most spectacular party France had ever seen to show off his connections cultivated manner and charm it was a great tribute to the guest of honour the king himself thinking this move would make him an indispensable asset Phuket had actually offended his master who was outraged by the fact people were more charmed by his finance minister than by himself fou kids unintentionally out shown his master making the King feel insecure he was arrested the next day and spent the last 20 years of his life in solitary confinement high in the Pyrenees Mountains for having stolen enormous amounts from the country's Treasury the accusations were false but such was the price of his actions best intentions aside a second example would be Galileo Galilei one of the greatest minds of the 16th century who used this law in his favor Galileo was clever in observing this law by giving glory to his patrons in order to solve his perennial problem of funding he dedicated his discovery of the moons of Jupiter to the Medici since the Royal symbol of the Medici family was the planet Jupiter he then commissioned an emblem for them with each moon representing one of the sons who revolved around the patriarch the Medici family became his major patron appointing him their official court mathematician and philosopher thereby giving him a more comfortable life and a steady salary so what are the lessons we should take away from the misfortune of Phuket and the brilliance of Galileo present your ideas in a way that they echo your bosses fought act less smarter than your boss do not take your position at work or in life for granted always make sure to make it seem like you want to seek the superiors expertise and advice discreet flattery is very powerful law number two never put too much trust in friends problem about working with friends is that it confuses the boundaries and distances that working requires if both partners in the arrangement understand the dangers involved a friend can often be employed to great effect you must never let your guard down in such a venture however always be on the lookout for any signs of emotional and disturbance such as envy and ingratitude nothing is stable in the realm of power and even the closest of friends can be transformed into the worst of enemy in order to fully understand let's take a look at history and learn from others mistakes the law has been observed with Michael of the Byzantine Empire and his friend Basilio's in the mid 19th century AD Michael had placed too much trust in his friends Basilius they had met a few years before when Michael had been visiting the stables just as a wild horse cut loose buzzy Leo saved Michael's life his strength and courage and impressed Michael who immediately raised those videos from the obscurity of being a horse trainer to the position of head of stables he loaded his friend with gifts and favors until they became inseparable Michael turned the peasant Basilius into a sophisticated and educated courtier who later on became greedy for more wealth and power and had his former benefactor and best friend Michael murdered Michael trees staked his future on the sense of gratitude he fought Basilius must feed for him he had created a monster he had allowed a man to see power up close a man who then wanted more who asked for anything and got it who felt encumbered by the charity he had received and simply did what many people do in such a situation they forget the favors they've received and imagine they've earned their success by their own merits another example is this song dynasty who ruled China for 300 years but how I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends Abraham Lincoln for several centuries after the fall of the Han Dynasty 8220 - Chinese history followed the same pattern of violent and bloody coups one after the other army men would plot to kill a weak Emperor then would replace him on the dragon throne with a strong general the general would start a new dynasty and crown himself Emperor to ensure his own survival he would kill off his fellow generals a few years later however the pattern would resume new generals would arise and assassinate him or his sons in their turn to be Emperor of China was to be alone surrounded by a pack of enemies it was the least powerful least secure position in the realm in 8950 9 general Sal kwang-jin I hope I'm saying his right became Emperor's song and per song knew that his friends in the army would show him up like meat and if he somehow survived his friends in the government would have him for supper emperor song persuaded his generals to retire to a life of nobility and give up their dreams of grabbing his throne one day he spared those who conspired against him and was able to win over enemies with his generosity song was finally able to break the pattern of coups violence and civil whar so what can we learn from these historical events here are the lessons for working with friends and enemies friends will not openly disagree with you in order to avoid arguments enemies on the other hand expect nothing so they will be surprised when you are generous an enemy spared the guillotine will be more grateful to you than a friend when you decide to hire a friend you will discover qualities they have kept hidden be on the lookout for any signs of a notional disturbance such as envy and ingratitude skill and competence are more important than friendly feelings hiring friends will limit your power all working situations require a kind of distance between people you destroy an enemy when you make him a friend an enemy at your heels keeps you sharp alert and focused law number 3 conceal your intentions have you ever heard of a skillful general who intends to surprise a citadel announcing his plan to his enemy conceal your purpose and hide your progress do not disclose the extent of your designs until they cannot be opposed until the combat is over when the victory before you declare the war in a word imitate those warlike people house designs are not known except by the ravaged country through which they have passed ninon delenn clone it takes effort to control your tongue and monitor what you reveal it is much more prudent to tailor your words telling people what they want to hear rather than the coarse and ugly truth of what you feel or think more important by being unabashedly open you make yourself so predictable and familiar that it is almost impossible to respect or fear you and power will not accrue to a person who cannot inspire such emotions train yourself in the art of concealing your intentions master the art and you will always have the upper hand our first instinct is to always trust appearances this fact makes it relatively easy to conceal one's intentions let's talk about how people conceal intentions and fool you use decoyed objects of desire to throw people off support an idea or cost that is actually contrary to your own sentiments but will help you achieve your goal use this tactic in the following manner hide your intentions not by closing up with the risk of appearing secretive and making people suspicious but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals just not your real ones you will kill three birds with one stone you appear friendly open and trusting you can see their intentions and you send your rivals on time-consuming wild-goose chases false sincerity people easily mistake sincerity for honesty remember their first instinct is to trust appearances and since they value honesty and want to believe in the honesty of those around them they will rarely doubt you or see through your act seeming to believe what you say gives your words great weights remember the best deceivers do everything they can to cloak their roguish qualities they cultivate an air of honesty in one area to disguise their dishonesty in others honest is merely another decoy in their arsenal of weapons planned facial expression behind the bland unreadable exterior all sorts of mayhem can be planned without detection this is a weapon that the most powerful men in history have learned to perfect noble gesture people want to believe apparently noble gestures are genuine for the belief is pleasant they rarely notice how the cept if these gestures can be appearing to belong to a group the tendency to mistake appearances for reality the feeling that if someone seems to belong to your group their belonging must be real this habit makes the seamless blend are very effective front the trick is simple you simply blend in with those around you and the better you blend in the last suspicious you become remember it takes patience and humility to dull your brilliant colors to put on the mask of the un-- conspicious do not despair at having to wear such a bland mask it is often your unread ability that draws people to you and makes you appear a person of power but how do people apply these ways to fool you simply dangle an object you seem to desire a goal you seem to aim for in front of people's eyes and they will take the appearance for reality once their eyes focus on the decoy they will fail to notice what you're really up to politicians use this all the time our first historical example would the decoyed objects of desire and making a woman fall in love Tamaki or Ma Marquis the salvinia was inexperienced in the art of love he confided in the infamous courtesan of 17th century France Nino knew Lancome to instruct him on how to seduce a difficult young countess she made him follow a plan over a number of weeks where the Marquis would be appearing in public always surrounded by beautiful women in the very places the campus would be expected to see him he was supposed to assume an air of nonchalance this increased the jealousy of the young countess who was not sure of his interest in her one day the Marquis is unable to control his passion broke from Nina's plan and blurted out to the countess that he loved her after their submission the count does no longer found him interesting and avoided him the whole premise of dating is based on games wild moves and being unpredictable if you display your feelings too soon it becomes an artless show of passion a door closed that would never open again in seduction set up conflicting signals such as desire and indifference and you not only throw them off the c-can't you inflame their desire to possess you another example Otto von Bismarck became prime minister of Prussia Otto von Bismarck was a deputy in depression / alignment at a time when many fellow deputies thought it was possible to go to war against Austria and defeat it Bismarck wanted to go to war but he knew that the king was not in favor of it he also knew the Prussian army was not prepared so he devised a clever way he publicly stated his praises for the Austrians and talked about the madness of war many deputies changed their votes had bismarck announced his real intentions arguing it was better to wait now and fight later he would not have won most Prussians wanted to go to war at that moment and mistakenly believed their army to be superior to the Austrians had he gone to the king his sincerity would have been doubted by giving misleading statements about wanting peace and concealing his true purpose bismarck speech catapulted him to the position of prime minister he later had the country go to war against the Austrians at the right time when he felt the Prussian army was more capable and United with Germany yet another example the Duke of Marlborough used this in the Spanish Succession during the war of the Spanish Succession in 1711 the Duke of Marlborough head of the English army wanted to destroy a key French fort because it protected a vital for ofer into France and he knew that if he destroyed it the French would realize what he wanted to advance down that road instead then he merely captured the fort and garrisoned it with some of his troops making it appear as if he wanted it for some purpose of his own the French attacked the fort and did you let them recapture it once they had it back they destroyed it figuring that the Duke had wanted it for some important reason now that the fort was gone the road was unprotected and Marlborough could easily march into France what else Henry Kissinger used bland face to win opponents Henry Kissinger would bore his opponents around the negotiating table to tears with his monotonously since Blanc look his endless recitations of details then as their eyes glazed over he would suddenly hit them with a list of bold terms caught off guard they would be easily intimidated as one poker manual explains it while playing his hands the good player is seldom an actor instead he practices a bland behavior that minimizes readable turns frustrates and confuses opponents permits greater concentration spies use appearing to belong to a group method during the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s as is now notorious a slew of British civil servants passed secrets to the Soviets they went undetected for years because they were apparently decent chaps had gone to all the right schools and fit the old boy network perfectly law number four always say less than necessary there are times when it is unwise to be silent silence can arouse suspicion and even insecurity especially in your superiors a vague or ambiguous comment can open you up to interpretations you had not bargained for silence in saying less the necessary must be practiced with caution then and in the right situations let us take a look at six ways to exert more by practicing listening make people review more about themselves speaking less will make people reveal more about themselves this is information you may be able to use against them later on your short answers and silences will put them on the defensive and they will jump in nervously filling the silence with all kinds of comments that will reveal valuable information about them and their weaknesses the longer you listen the more others move their lips and teeth as they move their lips and teeth you can thereby understand their real intentions number two people listen and interpret your every word carefully speaking less will force people to listen and interpret your every word carefully your silence will make other people uncomfortable humans are machines of interpretation and explanation they have to know what you're thinking when you carefully control what you reveal they cannot pierce your intentions or your meaning they will leave a meeting with you and they will go home and ponder your every word this extra attention to your brief comments will only add to your power masters of enigma Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp knew the power of saying less and keeping people guessing the less Duchamp talked about his work the more it was talked about in the art circles Andy Warhol recognized it was hard to talk people into doing what you wanted so when interviewed he would give vague and ambiguous answers and let the interviewer find his own interpretation number three once the words are out you cannot take them back keep them under control be particularly careful with sarcasm the momentary satisfaction you gained with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay number four the more you say the more common you appear when you're trying to impress people with words the more you say the more calm and you appear and the less in control even if you're saying something banal it will seem original if you make it vague open-ended and sphinx-like number five saying less will keep you from saying something foolish or even dangerous around 454 bc Coriolanus was a great military hero of ancient rome people held him in awe he decided to run for the Senate and he spoke his mind hardly able to control his arrogance and boastfulness he slandered and insulted people the more speeches he made the less people respected him he suffered the people's Rev and was eventually banished from the city number six people will not deceive you as they will never know your position louis xiv was a man of very few words his infamous i shall see was one of several extremely short phrases that he would apply to all manner of requests lui was not always this way as a young man he was known for talking at length delighting in his own eloquence his later taciturnity was self-imposed an act a mask he used to keep everybody below him off-balance no one knew exactly where he stood or could predict his reactions no one could try to deceive him by saying what they thought he wanted to hear because no one knew what he wanted to hear as they talked on and on to the silent louis they revealed more and more about themselves information he would later use against them to great effect in the end Louis silence kept those around him terrified and under his tongue it was one of the foundations of his power as st. Simon wrote no one knew as well as he how to sell his words his smile and even his glances everything in him was valuable because he created differences and his majesty was enhanced by despair sness of his words saying less than necessary is not for kings and statesmen only in most areas of life the less you say the more profound and mysterious you appear by saying less than necessary you create the appearance of meaning and power also the less you say the last risk you run of saying something foolish law number five so much depends on reputation guard it with your life reputation is the cornerstone of power in the social realm appearances are the barometer of almost all our judgments your reputation will protect you in the dangerous game of appearances distracting the probing eyes of others from knowing what you really like and giving you a degree of control over how the world judges you a powerful position to be in wise reputation importance a strong reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your strengths without you having to spend much energy it can also create an aura around you that will instill respect even fear and the fighting in the north African desert during World War two the German General Erwin Rommel had the reputation for cunning and deceptive maneuvering that struck terror into everyone who faced him even menaced forces were depleted and the British tanks outnumbered his by five to one the entire series would be evacuated at the news of his approach as they say your reputation inevitably precedes you and if it inspires respect a lot of your work is done for you before you arrive on the scene or author a single word during China's War of the Three Kingdoms ad 207 to 265 general Liang was able to fool his rival Sima is simply by letting his track record for being an undefeated leader in battle due to work for him the Youngs troops were far outnumbered by Sima is yet he devised a clever last resort plan the young gone the terraced rope and played the lute upon the wall of the city he was defending his soldiers opened the gates and hid when Sima east troops advanced upon the unguarded city he recognized his opponent sitting alone upon the wall fearing a trap Sima Yi called his soldiers to retreat how do you build a reputation in the beginning you must work to establish a reputation for one outstanding quality whether generosity or honesty or cunning this quality sets you apart and gets other people to talk about you you then make your reputation known to as many people as possible and watch as it spreads like wildfire do this subtly take care to build slowly and with a firm foundation reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded especially when you are first establishing it you must protect it strictly anticipating all attacks on it make your reputation simple and base it on one sterling quality this single quality efficiency say or seductiveness becomes a kind of calling card that announces your presence and places others under a spell a reputation for honesty will allow you to practice all manner of deception because Innova used his reputation as a great seducer to pave the way for his future conquests women who had heard of his powers became immensely curious and wanted to discover for themselves what had made him so romantically successful will cover four ways to safeguard and grow your reputation number one never appear desperate in your self defense against the slander of others do not let yourself get angry or defensive at the slanderous comments of your enemies it reveals insecurity not confidence in your application take the high road instead and never appear desperate in your self defense number two sow doubt and spread rumors about your rival an attack on other man's reputation is a potent weapon particularly when you have less power than he does he has much more to lose in such a battle and your own thirst for small reputation gives him a small target when he tries to return your fire PT Burnham used such campaigns to great effect in his early career but this tactic must be practiced with skill you must not seem to engage in petty vengeance if you do not break your enemy's reputation cleverly you will inadvertently ruin your own even if they deny it people will still be wondering why they are so defensive Burnham used these tactics to ruin his competition Peale's reputation by sowing doubts about Beals Museum stability and solvency doubt is a powerful weapon once you let it out of the bag with insidious rumors your opponents are in a horrible dilemma on the one hand they can deny the rumors even prove that you have slandered them but a layer of suspicion will remain why are they defending themselves so desperately maybe the rumour has some truth to it if on the other hand they take the high road and ignore you the doubts will be even stronger if done correctly the sowing of rumors can so infuriate and unsettle your rivals that in defending themselves they will make numerous mistakes this is the perfect weapon for those who have no reputation of their own to work from number three if you go too far in attacking another reputation it draws more attention to your wrongfulness than to the other person your slandering Thomas Edison considered the inventor who harnessed electricity belief that a workable system would have to be based on direct current DC when the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla appeared to have succeeded in creating a system based on alternating current AC Edison was furious he determined to ruin Tesla's reputation by making the public believe that the AC system was inherently unsafe and Tesla irresponsible and promoting it too this end he captured all kinds of household pets and electrocuted them to death with an AC current when this wasn't enough in 1890 he got New York state prison authorities to organize the world's first execution by electrocution using an AC current but Edison's electrocution experiments had all been with small creatures the charge was too weak and the man was only half killed in perhaps the country's crew the state authorized execution the procedure had to be repeated it was an awful spectacle although in the long run in this Edison's name that has survived at the time his companion damaged his own reputation more than Tesla's he backed off the lesson is simple never go too far in attacks like these four that will draw more attention to your own wrongfulness and to the person you are slandering number four use humor or gentle mockery at your rivals expense when your own reputation is solid use subtler tactics such as satire and ridicule to weaken your opponent while making you out as a charming rogue the mighty lion toys with the mouse that crosses his path any other reaction would Mar his fearsome reputation once burn and did have a reputation of his own he used the fake hypnotism demonstration he really cooled his rival peels reputation he was extremely successful once you have a solid base of respect ridiculing your opponent puts him on the defensive and draws more attention to you and haints in your own reputation outright slander and insult are too strong at this point they're ugly and may hurt you more than help you but gentle humor and mockery suggested you have a strong enough sense of your own worth to enjoy a good laugh at your rivals expense a humorous fund can make you out as a harmless entertainer while poking holes in the reputation of your rival how do you improve a bad reputation perhaps you have already stained your reputation so that you prevent it from establishing a new one in such cases it is wise to associate with someone whose image counteracts your own using their good name to whitewash and elevate yours it is hard for example to erase a reputation for dishonesty by yourself but the paragon of honesty can help when PT Burnham wanted to clean up a reputation for promoting vulgar entertainments he brought the singer Jenny Lind over from Europe she had a stellar high-class reputation and the American tour Birnam sponsored for her greatly enhances own image greatly enhanced his own image similarly the great robber barons of 19th century America were long unable to rid themselves of a reputation for cruelty and mean spirit only when they began collecting art so that the names of Morgan and Frick became permanently associated with those of the wind she and Rembrandt accorded tension at all cost the ostentatious and be seen what is not seen is as though we did not exist it was light that first caused our creation to shine forth display fills up many blanks covers up deficiencies and gives everything a second life especially when it is backed by genuine merit Balthazar gricean everything is judged by its appearance what is unseen counts for nothing never let yourself get lost in the crowd then or buried in Oblivion stand out be conspicuous at all cost make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger more colorful more mysterious than the bland and timid masses why Fame is important in every field of work burning more brightly than those around you is a skill that no one is born with you have to learn to attract attention at the start of your career you must attach your name and reputation to a quality an image that sets you apart from other people this image can be something like a characteristic style of dress or a personality quirk that amuses people and gets talked about once the image is established you have an appearance a place in the sky for your star our first historical example the court of louis xiv contained many talented writers artists great beauties and men and women of impeccable virtue but no one was more talked about in the singular duke de lausanne the duke was short almost dwarfish and he was prone to the most insolent kinds of behavior he slept with the King's mistress and openly insulted not only other courtiers but the king himself Louis however was so beguiled by The Dukes eccentricities that he could not bear his absences from the court it was simple the strangeness of the Dukes character attracted attention once people were and trailed by him they wanted him around at any cost the great scientist Edison needed to raise money he had to main in the public eye at any cost almost as important as the inventions themselves was how he presented them to the public and courted attention Edison would design visually dazzling experiments to display his discoveries with electricity he would talk of future inventions that seemed fantastic at the time robots and machines that could photograph art and that he had known that she loved wasting his energy on but it made the public talk about him he did everything he could to make sure that he received more attention than his great rival Nikola Tesla who may actually have been more brilliant than he was but whose name was far less known in 1915 it was rumoured that Edison and Tesla would be joint recipients of that year's Nobel Prize in Physics Pryce was eventually given to a pair of English physicists only later was it discovered that the prize committee had actually approached Edison but he had turned them down by that time his fame was more secure than Tesla's and he thought it would be better to refuse the honor than to allow his rival the attention that would have come even from sharing the prize let's look at six ways you can become famous and make your ideas more popular than the competitions number one attack the sensational scandalous if you find yourself in a lowly position that offers little opportunity for you to draw attention an effective trick is to attack the most visible most famous most powerful person you can find example of Pietro a Latino when arity know a young Roman servant boy of the early 16th century wanted to get attention as a writer of verses he decided to publish a series of satirical poems ridiculing the Pope and his affection for a pet elephant the attack put era Tino in the public eye immediately a slanderous attack on a person in a position of power would have a similar effect however remember to use such tactics sparingly after you have the public's attention then the act can wear them number two keep reinventing yourself once in the limelight you must constantly renew it by adapting and varying your method of courting attention if you don't the public will grow tired will take you for granted and will move on to a newer star the game requires constant vigilance and creativity number three be unpredictable people feel superior to the person whose actions they can predict if you show them who is in control by playing against their expectations you will gain their respect and tighten your hold on their fleeting attention Pablo Picasso the greatest painter in the world because who never allowed himself to fade into the background if his name became too attached to a particular style he would deliberately upset the public with a new series of paintings that went against all expectations better to create something ugly and disturbing he believed than to let viewers grow too familiar with his work number four create an air of mystery in a world growing increasingly banal and familiar what seems an emphatic instantly draws attention never make it too clear what you're doing or about to do do not show all your cards an air of mystery heightens your presence it also creates anticipation everyone will be watching you to see what happens next use mystery to beguile seduce even frightened if you do not declare yourself immediately you are ours expectation makes a little mystery with everything and there very mystery stares of veneration and when you explain be not too explicit in this manner you imitate the divine way when you cause men to wander and watch Baltazar graafian once again number five better to be attacked slandered than ignored it is a common mistake to imagine that this peculiar appearance of yours should not be controversial that to be attacked is somehow bad nothing could be further from the truth to avoid being a flash in the pan and having your notorious year eclipsed by another you must not discriminate between different types of attention in the end every kind will work in your favor welcome personal attacks and feel no need to defend yourself pity burnin the greatest entertainer in the world Birnam learned about courting attention to his favor any form of publicity would benefit his entertainment business no matter if it were bad publicity he promoted his shows of curiosities to attend sis with all kinds of gimmicks he would offer free music for millions but hire bad musicians so the crowd would end up buying tickets to the show so they could avoid the bands he planted are the the newspapers and even sent an anonymous letters to keep his name in the limelight number six make yourself appear larger than life society craves larger-than-life figures people who stand above the general mediocrity never be afraid then of the qualities that set you apart and draw attention to you court controversy even scandal it is better to be attacked even slandered than ignored all professions are ruled by this law and all professionals must have a bit of the showman about them law number seven get others to do the work for you use the wisdom knowledge and legwork of other people to further your own cause not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy it will give you an aura of efficiency and speed in the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered never do yourself what others can do for you Thomas Edison was the consumer genius of other people's efforts after hiring a serbian scientist and inventor by the name of Nikola Tesla who toiled day and night to improve Edison's antiquated invention dynamos or as we know them today generators Tesla was told by Edison that he would receive $50,000 for redesigning the system of electrical current within a year Tesla created an improved version of the Dynamo and instead of receiving fifty thousand dollars he was given a raise by Edison who knew that his company would get all the credit for the work that was done by Tesla Nikola Tesla is a prime example of what not to do he was never credited for any of his work he was the inventor of the alternate current system AC which is synonymous with Westinghouse financials divested Tesla from the credit patents and riches that he would have received which approximates a twelve million dollars instead of the two hundred sixteen thousand dollars that he accepted as payment he was not even acknowledged for his patent filed in 1897 when another man Marconi took credit for inventing the radio Tesla is the true father of the radio this is a sad yet true story about a man who was obsessed with his work yet really never got the accolades or the money nor the respect as he deserved Edison on the other hand saw the requisite to hire the best in the field to do work that he himself would take credit for this does not back the question who would you rather be but it is a cautionary lesson for reasons why you should do too others number one nobody likes a rundown burnt-out hero if you insist on doing all the work yourself then you will never get very far hiring someone or others to do the work for you will give you a god-like quality that others will admire take artist peter paul rubens for example he assembled a vast array of outstanding artists to paint canvases so that when a client would visit Rubens studio it appeared to the client that Rubens was working honestly on his paintings when in essence the painting was already nearly finished number two there are some skills you do not possess hiring people who possess skills that you yourself lack is probably one of the wisest decisions you can make like in the case of artist Rubens he had different types of artists one artist specialized in ropes another specialized in backgrounds and so on this is what enabled him to appear to be working diligently on his paintings although he had procured others to do these paintings he was able to put his name on the work who's being the genius who got the credit and the money number three standing on the shoulders of giants can be brilliantly manipulated Isaac Newton a genius and his own right made his discoveries built on the achievement of others Shakespeare borrowed plots and other works from several writers and we can only guess how many people plagiarized the works of Shakespeare himself using the knowledge of the past just makes you a clever borrower and this end of itself is genius number four sharing the credit with others there is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing the credit with someone especially when that someone is your superior take Henry Kissinger the Secretary of State on the Richard Nixon if it had not been for kissing hers diplomacy Nixon's historic visit to the People's Republic of China would not have been as successful as it was knowing when to hold back by not hogging the spotlight is also a talent that will be beneficial in the long term be wise in your decision make sure that your position is unshakable or you will be accused of pushing people out of the limelight and deception is not a word that you want to be associated with picture the vulture he has it the easiest the hard work of others becomes his work due to their failure to survive and they become his nourishment while you're working hard he is hovering do not fight him join him he is vigilant ruthless and quiet three qualities that you must acquire to secure credit for an invention or creation until you can make it your own the credit for an invention is as important if not more important than the invention itself Bismarck once said fools say that they learn from experience I prefer to profit by others XP law number seven make other people come to you use bait if necessary when you force the other person to act you are the one in control it is always better to make your opponent come to you abandoning his own plans in the process lure him with fabulous gains then attack you hold the cards shells Mele stood talleyrand's the Foreign Minister to Napoleon can attest to this carried teller and was a mastermind manipulator who was behind the dramatic escape of Napoleon after his exile to the island of Elba teller and knew that Napoleon's arrogance was his weakness and he played to that weakness like a strategic poker player not showing his true feelings towered the Emperor teller and bided his time made the right connections which helped create the most elaborate scheme to dethrone one of the world's most infamous people Napoleon Bonaparte these are some strategies to keep in mind during war times reacting rather than directing keep others reacting to your moves keep them on the defensive play to their ineffectiveness to stay calm aggression versus effective action don't waste a lot of energy trying to make your points bide your time like tele Rennes make the other person come to you set debates control the situation know your opponent's weakness he who has control has the power master your emotions never be influenced through your anger aggressive people are never in control case and points during the russo-japanese war of 1914 1905 japan was able to plant false information that made the russian fleet go six thousand miles out of the way and forced the Russians into hostile territory the russian seamen were weak and exhausted by the journey and although japan had the weaker naval militia they planted the bait which gave them the upper hand on the russians and needless to say the japanese crush the russians because of their reaction to the rumor now five benefits to making your opponents come to you it is a vice thing to lure your opponent on hostile ground it is a subtle way to put him on the defensive your opponent will be nervous will cause him to rush his actions and make mistakes you want to create the illusion that your opponent is in control of the situation oftentimes your opponent's greed desires and emotions will be their great motivator which means that they can be easily led around and/or defeated getting people to dig their own graves forces their hand and makes you appear powerful and demand respect now is there ever a good time to go to your opponent you ask yes of course there is an exception to the rule when you should go to your opponent depending on the situation bait and weight is a wise choice but taking the leads to attack your opponent can be advantageous as well the element of surprise does not give the opponent time to think of a counter-attack they are left at your mercy and must respond to your terms your biggest issue is to know what tactic you use and the right time to use it the bait and wait or to strike with force that is the dilemma you can be like the bear hunter who lays the HoneyBaked trap he doesn't exhaust himself and risk his life to find the bear he lines a trap and waits patiently for the bear to come to him or if time is not on your side strike quickly to intimidate and control choose your approach wisely win through your actions never through arguments any momentary triumph you think you've gained through argument is really a spheric victory the resentment and ill-will you stir up is stronger and last longer than any momentary change of opinion it is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions without saying a word demonstrate do not explicate take the example of the engineer in Athens receiving orders from his commander musiah knows the scent the largest ship's mast to be used to help in the siege of the town of Pergamos the engineer argued that what the commander needed was not the larger mast but the smaller which would be better suited for the task Marciano's was infuriated and sent for the engineer who continued to try to explain his reasoning for sending the smaller mast for his disobedience he was flogged and scorched with rods until he died the engineer's argument went on deaf ears nobody cared whether or not it was more prudent to use the smaller mast the fact of the matter was that a superior gave a command and he decided that by insulting the intelligence of his master by arguing was more important unlike Michelangelo the engineer did not exercise the correctness or his ideas indirectly when Florence's mayor Piero sword Irini told Michelangelo that the nose on his sculpture that he had been commissioned to do of a young David where sling in hand was too big he did not argue that the nose was just right Michelangelo merely took the mayor onto the scaffolding and gave the appearance of changing the nose so the Rini was pleased and no one was offended you've definitely heard the old adage actions speak louder than words actions and demonstrations are much more powerful than any rhetoric that one can spew out his mouth there are no offensive words no possibility of misinterpretation no one can argue with demonstrated proof as Balthazar Glasson remarks the truth is generally seen rarely heard yet beyond actions the most powerful persuasion is symbolic symbols like a flag or mythic story or monument is something we all understand without the exchanging of one word Henry Kissinger who in 1979 suddenly broke off an intense meeting with the Israelis over the return of the CNI desert to go sightseeing on an ancient place in Masada Masada is where seven thousand Jewish Warriors were said to commit mass suicide in AD 73 rather than give in to the Roman troops the Israelis knew that kissinger's message was much more than just a warning it was a significant emotional symbol that made them think far more seriously than any oratorical rhetoric he cut off like Aidid choose your battles wisely sometimes it is the best thing to conserve your energy and walk away then there are other times when the heat of an argument will be beneficial to you on the opposite end of the spectrum it is advantageous to argue with all the convictions you can muster the more emotional the better especially when caught in a web of deception you need to draw the other person into the argument so as to distract and confuse phases of a convincing deceptive argument one fene ignorant like the con artist Victor Lustig who sold boxes for ten thousand dollars and claimed that the boxes could make money when confronted by sheriff Richards of ramzan County Oklahoma that the Box did not work he acted as if he could not believe it he went as far as the histor if if he had operated it properly this is the way to place doubt in the mind of the offended party I mean that's hilarious a box that can make money to put a technical spin or rhetoric on the deception in the case of lost ik he was masterful in his wording about the box this was nothing more than a bunch of technical jibber-jabber that further confused the sheriff who then let his guard down because of his own insecurities about the function of the box three offers something for nothing Lucic offered to give the sheriff his money back and to come back to the town to fix the box although he knew that the box would never work and the money was not real he diffused the situation that could have been deadly for him he had won the argument and was able to get the sheriff jailed for passing counterfeit bills in the process law number 10 infection avoid the unhappy and unlucky you can die from someone else's misery emotional states are as infectious as diseases you may feel you're helping the drowning man but you're only precipitating your own disaster the unfortunate sometimes DRA misfortune on themselves they will also draw it on you associate with the happy and fortunate instead the in factor possesses an inward instability that radiates outward drawing disaster to all that they touch Mary Gilbert aka Lola Montez of Ireland was one such person Lola found herself in the role of a courtesan prostitute of the royal court in today's society Lola would be considered a gold digger she only sought out men with high social standing in the community that she could use for her own gain once she would have her hooks in these men their slow demise began one of her victims was King Ludwig of Bavaria who felt compelled to help Lola yet once he was warned of the dangers of his affair with her he could not seem to resist Lola's aura and almost found his once peaceful country in a state of civil war it was not until then that the King finally ordered Lola to leave but a month after she left King Ludwig was forced to relinquish his throne there are many men who suffered because of their association with Lola Montez King Ludwig said that he was bewitched by Lola Lola was an unstable incurable and infectious character type this is not to say that these characteristics are only restricted to women this is to say that there are some people whose emotions are so powerful that they infect a very all of the people that they touch how to recognize an infected they draw misfortune upon themselves they have a turbulent past they have a long line of broken relationships they have an unstable career they have a forceful character that sweeps you up and makes you lose reason they have a desire to destroy and unsettle and is chronically dissatisfied they have great affect on the world around them and what do you do when you meet one don't argue with them this is part of how they trap you don't try to help them no matter what they say don't pass the person on to your friends or you will become enmeshed flee the infectors presence or suffer the consequences learn to fear the power of infection the risk of associating with infectors is that you will waste valuable time and energy trying to free yourself through a kind of guilt by association you will also suffer in the eyes of others on the other side of the spectrum of infectors are those people who attract happiness through their good sheer natural beauty and intelligence they are a source of pleasure and you must associate with them to share in the prosperity they draw upon themselves all positive qualities can affect us but taking advantage of the emotional side of this osmosis may be difficult now I put down five ways to affect positive change through your associations if you are miserly by Nature associate with the generous and they will infect you opening up everything that is tight and districted in you only general Souls attain greatness if you are gloomy gravitate to the cheerful if you are prone to isolation force yourself to befriend the gregarious never associate with those who share your defects they will reinforce what holds you back one simple example is the meth head who tries to break out of the cycle of drugs and still just hangs out with his lmf head friends it's just a very difficult environment and five only create associations with positive affinities so the quote Balthazar gricean once again recognized the fortunate so that you may choose their company and the unfortunate so that you may avoid them misfortune is usually the crime of folly and among those who suffer from it there is no malady more contagious never open your door to the least of misfortunes for if you do many others will follow in its Train do not die of another's misery law number 11 learn to keep people dependent on you to maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted the more you are relied on the more freedom you have make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear never teach them enough so that they can do without you necessity rules the world people rarely act unless compelled to if you create no need for yourself then you will be done away with that first opportunity if on the other hand you understand the laws of power and make others depend on you for their welfare if you can counteract their weakness with your own iron and blood as Bismarck said then you will survive your masters just as he did you will have all the benefits of power without the thorns that come from being a master Bismarck understood the importance of keeping people dependent he sought out the weak ruler Frederick William the fourth King of Prussia and created a relationship of dependency he was a key player in restoring the Kings power so much that when the King died his brother who preceded him depended on Bismarck as well Bismarck became their strength intelligence and their spine in the process he became a powerful force to reckon with he was the man behind the throne calling the shots now ten ways to manipulate power number one do seek out weak people in power seeking out those already in power is foolish they will swallow you up and spit you out they do not need anything from you number two get people to do as you wish without force or hurt if you have to bully someone into doing what you want that is not power the key is making the person believe that your services are needed and we found you they will be completely lost number three and mash yourself in the work of your superior by doing this you're superior notice that to get rid of you is futile they cannot afford to train another without losing time and a lot of money number four possess a talent and creative skill that simply cannot be replaced people think twice before giving rid of you because to get rid of you may spell disaster or even death a little over exaggerated here if you're in the office right I mean death but looking back that is very much the case number five create a situation in which you can always latch on to another patron this just simply means you have other places that will welcome your skills and talents in your sights your employer knows that they cannot easily another work with your particular talent so they will jump hoops to keep you in their employ number six have the appearance of specialized knowledge and skill this gives you leeway in your ability to deceive those above you into thinking they cannot do without you it is always in your power to make your skills indispensable number seven wrap yourself around the source of power you have placed yourself in a position that to cut you away would cause great trauma you do not necessarily have to end wine yourself around this superior another person will do as long as he or she to is indispensable in the chain number eight use the secret intelligence tactic by knowing people's secrets you seal your position with them downside to this is that the paranoia and insecurity that the power that it provides cancels itself out what good is power without peace number nine do not imagine your superiors dependence and you will make them love you it is more likely that they resent and fear you which is better that they fear the consequences of losing you rather than out of law for your company number ten better to place yourself in a position of mutual dependence the weakness of making others depend on you is that you are instrumental dependent on them although this is true you will not have the unbearable pressure of being on top and your superior will in essence be your slave for he will depend on you louis xi the great spider king of france once asked this astrologer to tell of his own faith and how long he had to live the astrologer replied i shall die just three days before your majesty the king was vexed because he had planned to kill the astrologer that day fearing the astrologer had killed people to prove his forecasting or that his might in astrology was real and therefore dangerous in of itself the king spared his life looked after him gave him gifts and even had several doctors check his health to ensure he would live as long as possible the astrologer actually survived the king by several years proving his mastery of power or number twelve hughes selective honesty to disarm your victim one sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people once your selective honesty opens the hole in their armor you can deceive and manipulate them at will a timely gift a Trojan horse will of the same purpose seven ways you can disarm anyone through an act of apparent sincerity and honesty this is called selective honesty who will distrust a person literally caught in the act of being honest this is an unexpected well-timed gesture that conflicts the emotions and distracts the one being disarmed and half the most brutal and cynical beast in the kingdom eating out of your hand in ancient China this was called the giving before the taking the giving makes it hard for the other person to see the taking Victor Lustig is one of the best examples of this law at work Liu stick was a con man of great distinction refinement and culture and his knowledge of human psychology was his most important characteristic he was so confident in himself that he was able to con Al Capone the most feared gangster of his time out of $5,000 Capone never knew what happened because Lucic disarmed him through selective honesty Lustig returned fifteen thousand dollars to Capone for allowing him to take the money in order to double it in 60 days lipstick took the money and left it in a safety deposit box until the 60 days were over he went back to Capone apologized profusely about the deal falling through and returned the original $50,000 Capone had already paid Lustig as a con artist but when lipstick returned their money it confused Capone and he dropped his guard and gave lustick $5,000 just for being honest number two learn to give before you take it softens the ground takes the bite out of a future request or simply creates a distraction and the giving can take many forms an actual gift that generous act a kind favor an honest admission whatever it takes number three use selective honesty on your first encounter with someone first impressions last a long time if someone believes you are honest at the start of your relationship it takes a lot to convince them otherwise a con man by the name of Lord John Gordon Gordon proved the Jay Gould another comment that phony Airy railroad stocks the gold had invested in was the work of top executors at railroads gold was so grateful to Gordon Gordon that they became friends buying the controlling interest of the railroad soon Gordon Gordon betrayed gold and disappeared he was a con man but his initial act of honesty and support had so blinded gold that it took the loss of millions for him to see through the scheme number four you must build a reputation for honesty based on a series of Acts Luke vu of Chang married off his daughter and killed one of his ministers in order to take over the powerful Kingdom of who the ruler of who heard that the minister was executed for telling Chang to conquer the kingdom of who whose ruler also considered the marriage of Chang's daughter and other acts of kindness from Chang and let down his guard a few weeks later Chang forces swept through who and took the country never to relinquish it number five only few people can resist the gift even from the most hardened enemy which is why it is often the perfect way to disarm people a gift brings out the child in us instantly lowering our defenses although we often view other people's actions in the most cynical light we rarely see the Machiavellian element of a gift which quite often hides ulterior motives a gift is the perfect object in which to hide a deceptive move number six practice the tactic with caution unless you can make the gesture seem sincere and heartfelt ooh do not play with fire if people see through it they're disappointed feelings of gratitude and warmth will become the most violent hatred and distrust and lastly number seven it is better to play the rope when you have a history of the seat behind you no amount of honesty generosity or kindness will fool people in fact it will only call attention to itself once people have come to see us deceitful to act honest all of a sudden is simply suspicious over deceptiveness will sometimes cover your tracks even making you admired for the honesty of your dishonesty law number thirteen asking for help appeal to people's self-interest if you need to turn to an ally for help do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds he will find a way to ignore you instead uncover something in your request or in your alliance with him that will benefit him and emphasize it out of all proportion he will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself self-interest is the lever that moves people the art of asking people for help depends on your ability to understand the person you're dealing with and not to confuse your needs to have theirs know that even the most powerful person is locked inside needs of his own and that if you make no appeal to his self-interest he merely sees you as a desperate or at best a waste of time what not to do when making your appeal number one don't bring up the past bringing up the past rather good or bad will not help you in your cause the justice and nobility of your cause will not prevail not only is a man not obliged to be grateful gratitude is often a terrible burden that he gladly discards it is best to speak pragmatically to pragmatic people people rarely act against their own interests like in the case of the coherence and the Corinthians who were at the brink of war with one another they both wanted to win over the Athenians as an ally because the do so would surely win the war both sides were to send representatives to plead their case to the Athenians the corcyra representative could only offer one thing and that was an alliance of mutual interests to create a formidable force that could intimate the rival state of Sparta the representative from Corinth only talked about their past relationship with Athens and went on to list them any services Corinth had performed for Athens and the importance of sure ingratitude to one's France needless to say the Athenians were offended by the Corinthian ambassador by his subtle way of asking them to feel guilty about past generosities the Athenians could have cared less and allied with the coherence number two don't be trapped in your own wants and desires do not start from the assumption that the people you are appealing to have a selfless interest in helping you don't talk as if your needs matter to people they probably could care less especially referring to larger issues at great cause or grant emotions such as love and gratitude when simple everyday realities would have much more appeal when the Dutch began to arrive in Japan in great numbers EFS through the Japanese Emperor was much relieved he needed Europeans for their know-how in guns and navigation and here at last where Europeans who cared nothing for spreading religion the Dutch wanted only to trade he has too swiftly moved to a victor Portuguese who were desperately trying to convert the Japanese people to Catholicism from then on he would only deal with the practical minded Dutch Japan and Holland were vastly different cultures but each shared a timeless and universal concern self-interest number three don't confuse your needs with others once you make people see how you can in some way meet their needs or advance their cause their resistance to your request for help will magically fall away at each step on the way to acquiring power you must train yourself to think your way inside the other person's mind to see their needs and interests to get rid of the screen of your own feelings that obscure the truth master this art and there will be no limits to what you can accomplish the motivation for most people is superiority believe it or not there are people who are not motivated through cynical self interests these are people who thrive on opportunities to display their good hearts they prefer to be able to exercise charity mercy and justice which are their ways of feeling superior to you because of their superior position if you ask this person for help you emphasize their power and position the only requirement from you is that all of this is done in public the more public the better it is truly their pleasure to give and to be seen giving they are dying to fund your project to introduce you to powerful people this is the one that intoxicates them you must have the wisdom to distinguish the differences among powerful people and figure out what makes them tick when they use greed do not appeal for their charity when they want to look charitable and Noble do not appeal to their greed this law is crazy important in everyday tasks I assure you at first I had trouble seeing it as well but then I realised that my friends and even my family took this way of course not always but if you have a request appeal to their self-interest law number 14 poses a friend work is a spy knowing your rival is critical use spies to get a valuable information that will keep you a step ahead better still play this by yourself in polite social encounters learn to probe ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions there is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying 5 reasons to secretly put the clients staff on your payroll you will gain some valuable information you will know their comings and goings changes in taste and other such tidbits of information that will be priceless you will appear to be all-knowing because you will be one step ahead of your competition your knowledge of your mark can also make you seem charming so well can you anticipate their desires and lastly no one sees the source of your power and what they cannot see they cannot fight but there also a few risks connected to hiring spies you have little control over the people who are doing the work perhaps they will inaptly expose your spying and they may secretly turn against you therefore here are six tips on the art of spying pose as a friend while secretly gathering information people will think that you genuinely like them and mistake your interest as friendship learn to possess the ability to suppress your thoughts in the conversation speak only when necessary learn to make others talk endlessly about themselves they will inadvertently reveal their intentions and plans when you're having a little chat and there's an awkward silence to it the other person will do everything they can to fill these silences and doing so they're likely to say something foolish or even reveal something about themselves that they better not have talked about organized social gatherings with people whom you're interested in knowing this is when most people's guards are down an example for such a gathering would be you throwing a party where there's lots of free booze alcohol that is which totally opens up the barriers for deeper conversation with some people stir up people's emotions by contradicting them in their emotional state they will reveal all kinds of truths about themselves truths you can later use against them give them a false confession this is a big one by pretending to bare your heart to another person you make them more likely to reveal their own secrets this can also be a test to see if you can trust the person with your secret and reveal their true character loyalty and honesty this kind of knowledge is often the most valuable to predict future actions but there's also risks connect to the spy indirectly people may begin to suspect you're warming secrets out of them under the disguise of conversation your search for gems of information cannot be too obvious your probing questions will reveal more about yourself and your intentions than about the information you hope to find about them information is critical to power but just as you spy on other people you must be prepared for them to spy on you one of the most potent weapons in the battle for information then is giving out false information by feeding people wrong information then you gain a potent advantage while spying gives you a third eye this information puts out one of your enemy's eyes our Cyclops he always misses his target this law might seem a little paranoid but really just like the rest of the book the book can seem like everyone's out to get you and there's only enemies and deceptive manipulative players in the world this is hopefully not true but knowing about these laws you don't necessarily need to make use of them but you can easily discover others trying to use it on you which is very very helpful at least that's what I think ball number 15 crush your enemy totally all great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely sometimes they've learned this the hard way if one ember is left alight no matter how dim lit it smolders a fire will eventually break out more is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation the enemy will recover and will seek revenge crush him not only in body but in spirits four ways to kill or be killed do not sympathize with your enemies your enemy will bide his time and strike back when you least expect it and they will not have sympathy for you when you pity or hope for reconciliation it will make you hesitate they may act friendly for the time being but they will eventually destroy you an enemy that is left around it's like a half-dead Viper that you nurse back to health you only strengthen their fear and hatred of you and lastly give your enemies nothing to negotiate no hope no room to maneuver do not humiliate yet nurture these resentful Vipers who will one day kill you this is all the truer with a former friend who has become an enemy the law governing fatal antagonisms reads reconciliation is out of the question you must exterminate crush and deny them the chance to return to haunt you such is the case of young nu and his enemy Leo pan young had proven his ruthlessness on many an occasion but with new pong he acted differently every time he had his rival in his hands something made him hesitate a fatal sympathy or respect for the man who had once been a friend and comrade in arms but the moment is young made it clear that he intended to do away with you yet failed to accomplish it he sealed his own doom Leo would not suffer the same hesitation once the tables were turned now he's young you was on the run from leo when he came upon a small group of his own retreating soldiers he cried out I hear Lupin has offered 1,000 pieces of gold and a fief of 10,000 families for his head let me do you a favor he danced as his own throat and dies it is not of course a question of murder it is a question of banishment sufficiently weakened and then exiled from your world your enemies are rendered harmless they have no hope of recovering insinuating themselves and hurting you and if they cannot be banished at least understand that they are plotting against you and paying no heed to whatever friendliness they fiend but sometimes it is better to let your enemies destroy themselves leave your enemy and escape route my retreat is the ultimate demoralizing defeat let them be the agents of their own destruction the result will be the same the risk of crushing an enemy is you embittered them so much that they spent years and years plotting revenge do not let your guard down but simply crush them again brutal chapter of the book now whatever history looks like we're not talking about killing people's nowadays right I hope all of your sociopaths out there understand that but one real example is you get bullied at school or university whatever you got I told you we're stronger than you beating you up and taking your lunch money what are you gonna do are you just going to accept that that you're the victim and that you supposedly fit into that role perfectly you gotta hit them right back one martial artist stars name I forgot has a video on YouTube I'll link it in the description where he explains this I hope you found this resourceful and you're not just going to take a sledgehammer now and attack your boss at work tomorrow but but these are definitely some ideas that you have to consider during war times law number 16 use absence to increase respect and honor too much circulation makes the price go down the more you're seen and heard from the more common you appear if you're already established in a group temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about even more admired you must learn when to leave create value for scar City at the start of an affair you need to heighten your presence in the eyes of the other if you have sent yourself too early you may be forgotten but once your lover's emotions are engaged and the feeling of love has crystallized absence in flames and excites giving no reason for your absence excites even more the other person assumes he or she is at fault while you are away the lovers imagination takes flight and they stimulated imagination cannot help but make love grow stronger conversely when you become to present too accessible leaving no room for the imagination the more you pursue the less they love you man that's why when I don't write back in a week she's already nagging and you know giving this [ __ ] about it I'm sure you know that we're busy growing our Empire right what withdraws what becomes scarce suddenly seems to deserve our respect and honor what stays too long in on dating us with its presence makes us disdain it take the romance of surgery on the below and Madame GU Yelm the Xavier she's just going I'm just going to call her Delma Delma death favia Jerome was the perfect night who wrote poetry and songs the madam Dwemer she fell deeply in love with him but because he wanted to feel the ultimate bliss that comes with reconciliation after a quarrel he fiend great anger with her and left in order for his plan to work she would have to be upset with him but his leaving only met her longed for him more so his plan in essence had backfired when he saw her again he drove her away with harsh words and threatening gestures that she Wow never to see him again he regretted what he had done so he wrote to have yak but the lady would not receive him and ordered her servants to chase him away over the next year sir Jerome wrote many letters and poems to her and was miserable without her she finally forgave him and this is when he finally experienced the joy that comes with reconciliation after a quarrel okay picking up women in the late middle age or the hell absence diminishes minor passions and in flames great ones as the wine thousands of candle and fans of fire the hosh fuku here are the ten games of hide-and-seek how strong presence will draw power and attention to you shine more brightly than those around you too much presence creates the opposite effect the more you're seen and heard from the more your value degrades you must learn to withdraw yourself before you are unconsciously pushed away starve the other person off your presence force their respect by threatening the past that they will lose you for good by completely withdrawing for a while you create a kind of death before death when you come back it will be as if you had come back from the dead and lastly an air of Resurrection will cling to you and people will be relieved at your return the other side of the coin this law only applies once this law only applies once a certain level of power has been attained the need to withdraw only comes after you have established your presence leave too early and you do not increase your respect you are simply forgotten when you are first entering onto the world stage create an image that is recognizable reproducible and is seen everywhere until that status is attained absence is dangerous instead of Fanning the flames it will extinguish them law number 17 cultivate an air of unpredictability humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people's actions your predictability gives them a sense of control turn the tables be deliberately unpredictable behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off balance and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moose taken to an extreme this strategy can intimidate and terrorize so here's five ways to keep your opponent off balance appear to have no clear strategy scramble old patterns alter your behavior to improvise and overcome the weight of routine and habit unsettled those around you to keep the initiative on their side strike without warning to make others tremble when they least expected to illustrate this law we will use the game of chess chess contains the concentrated essence of life first because the wind you have to be supremely patient and far-seeing and second because the game is built on patterns whole sequences of moves that have been played before and will be played again with slight alterations in any one match your opponent analyzes the patterns you are playing and uses them to try to foresee your moves allowing him nothing predictable to base his strategy on gives you a big advantage in chess as in life when people cannot figure out what you're doing they are kept in a state of terror waiting uncertain confused it is a device that the powerful have used for centuries scrambling your patterns on a day-to-day basis will cause a steer around you and stimulate interest people will talk about you ascribe motives and explanations that have nothing to do with the truth but to keep you constantly in their minds in the end the more capricious you appear the more respect you will garner only the terminally sub ordinate act in a predictable manner two reasons that predictability will work in your favor one it sets up a smokescreen a comfortable front behind which you can carry on deceptive actions and second it allows you on rare occasions to do something completely against the pattern unsettling your opponent so deeply he will fall to the ground without being pushed in 1974 Muhammad Ali and George Foreman were scheduled to fight for the world heavyweight boxing championship in a press conference before the big fight he said he was going to change his style and punch it out with Foreman no one least of all four men believed this for a second to everyone's amazement Ali did exactly what he had said he would do as Foreman waited for him to dance around Ali went right up to him and slugged it out he completely upset his opponent strategy at a loss Foreman ended up wearing himself out not by chasing Ali but by throwing punches wildly in taking more and more counter punches finally Ali landed a dramatic right cross that knocked out Foreman the habit of assuming that a person's behavior will fit his previous patterns is so strong that not even ali's announcement of a strategy change was enough to upset it Foreman walk into the trap the trap he had been told to expect warning this law just like many other laws of the book can backfire on you if not practiced with caution unpredictability can work against you sometimes especially if you are in a sub or limit position there are times when it is better to let people feel comfortable and settled around you than to disturb them too much unpredictability will be seen as a sign of indecisiveness or even of some more serious psyche problem such power should only be used judiciously isolation is dangerous the world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere everyone has to protect themselves a fortress seems the safest but isolation exposes you to more dangerous than it protects you from it cuts you off from valuable information it makes you conspicuous and uneasy targets better to circulate among pea to find allies and mingle you are shielded from your enemies by the crowd here's five dangerous that isolation brings you lose contact with the sources of your power you lose your ear for what is happening around you you lose your sense of proportion you cut yourself off from the kind of knowledge on which your life depends you cannot hear what is happening around you including the plots against you it becomes harder to break out of your isolation when you choose to it sinks you deep into it's quicksand without your noticing compare and contrast the lives of Qin Shihuang t the first emperor of China and Louis the 14th after outlawing the writings and teachings of the great philosopher Confucius Shi Huang he made many enemies and he grew constantly afraid and even paranoid louis xiv on the other hand very early grasped the truth that for a king to isolate himself is gravely dangerous the emperor withdrew deeper and deeper interest palace to protect themselves and he slowly lost control of the realm he slept in a different room every night and anyone who inadvertently laid eyes on him was instantly beheaded king louis bedroom occupied the literal center of the palace of versailles and was the focus of everyone's attention due to his absence sequin teased a noose and ministers enacted political policies without his approval or even his knowledge and also plotted against them louis xiv knew that if he was absent conspiracies would spring up like mushrooms after rain animosities will crystallize into factions and rebellion will break out before he has the time to react shi huang travelled incognito disguising himself carefully on one such trip through the provinces he suddenly died he died alone far from his wives his family his friends and his courtiers accompanied only by a minister and a handful of our news some speculate that he was poisoned by the same scheming ministers who encouraged his isolation louis xiv on the opposite built the palace of versailles where everything and everyone's focus was on him these conditions at Versailles lasted for Louis aunt Irene some fifty years of relative peace and tranquility through it all not a pin dropped without lui hearing it place yourself at the center of activity you should be aware of everything happening on the street and off anyone who might be hatching plots against you do not feel threatened this is a dangerous way to start becoming paranoid do not retreat and close ranks to find security in a kind of fortress fight the desire to turn inward do not rely on information from a small circle and lose perspective on events around you do not lose maneuverability and become an easy target as in warfare and most games of strategy isolation often precedes defeat and death make yourself more accessible seek out old allies and make new ones force yourself into more and more different circles if you need time to think then choose isolation only as the last resort and only in small doses be careful to keep your way back into society open you need to be permeable able to float in and out of different circles and mix with different types that kind of mobility and social contact will protect you from plotters who will be unable to keep secrets from you and from your enemies who will be unable to isolate you from your allies always on the move you mix and mingle in the rooms of the palace never sitting or settling in one place no hunter can fix his aim on such a swift moving creature law number 19 do not offend the wrong person there are many different kinds of people in the world and you can never assume that everyone will react your strategies in the same way the sieve or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their life seeking revenge they are wolves in lambs clothing choose your victims and opponents carefully never offend or deceive the wrong person here are the five most dangerous and difficult types of people that you will definitely stumble upon at some point in your life number one the arrogant and proud man although he may initially disguise it this man's touchy pride makes him very dangerous any perceived slight will lead to a vengeance of overwhelming violence you may say to yourself but I only said such-and-such at a party everyone was drunk it doesn't matter there is no sanity behind his overreaction so do not waste time trying to figure him out if at any point in your dealings with a person you sense as oversensitive with overactive pride flee run away whatever you're hoping for from this person isn't worth it number two D hopelessly insecure man this man is related to the proud and arrogant type but it's less violent and harder to spot his go is fragile his sense of self and secure and if he feels himself deceived or attacked the hurt will simmer he will attack you in bites that will take forever to get big enough for you to notice if you find you have deceived or harmed such a man disappear for a long time do not stay around him or he will nibble you to death number three mr. suspicion he sees what he wants to see usually the worst in other people and imagines that everyone is after him mr. suspicion is in fact the least dangerous of the three genuinely unbalanced he is easy to deceive justice Stalin himself was constantly deceived play on his suspicious nature to get him to turn against other people but if you do become the target of his suspicions watch out number four the serpent with a long memory if hurt or deceived this man will show no anger on the surface he will calculate in weight then when he is in a position to turn the tables he will exact a revenge marked by a cold-blooded shrewdness recognized this man by his calculation and cunning in the different areas of his life he is usually cold and unaffectionate be doubly careful of this snake and if you have somehow injured him either crush him completely or get him out of your sight number five the plain unassuming and often unintelligent man the danger with this man is not that he will harm you or seek revenge but merely that he will waste your time energy resources and even your sanity in trying to deceive him have a test ready for him a joke or a story if his reaction is utterly literal this is a type you're dealing with continue at your own risk five final words of caution one in judging and measuring your opponent never rely on your instincts you will make the greatest mistakes of all if you rely on such in exact indicators nothing can substitute for gathering concrete knowledge study and spy on your opponents for however long it takes this will pay off in the long run number two never trust appearances anyone with a serpent's heart can use a show of kindness to cloak it a person who is blustery on the outside is often really a coward learn to see through appearances and their contradictions never trust the version that people give of themselves it is utterly unreliable three if you want to turn people down it is best to do so politely and respectfully even if you feel the request is impudent or they're offered ridiculous never reject them with an insult until you know them better you may be dealing with a Chinggis Khaan for some people's insecurities and ego fragility cannot tolerate the slightest offense to see if you're dealing with such a type test them first make say a mild joke at their expense a confident person will laugh an overly insecure one will react as if personally insulted if you suspect you're dealing with this type find another victim number five swallow the impulse to offend even if the other person seems weak the satisfaction is meager compared to the danger that someday he or she will be in a position to hurt you all right that's almost it for this law let me elaborate more on why I chose this Hitler figure in the first part I know it's not the best example and I also know it's not the only reason he blamed the Jewish people he played the blame game propaganda people were pissed at losing the First World War and having to pay reparations having scarce resources and so on and he made the Jewish people responsible for it but before all that Hitler was living on the streets trying his luck as an artist yes Adolf Hitler did paintings and when he reached out to museums and art shows he was deeply hurt a lot of these organizations were owned by Jewish people who he took personal offense to never offend the wrong person law number twenty do not commit to anyone it is the fool who always rushes to take sides do not commit to any side or cause but yourself by maintaining your independence you become the master of others playing people against one another making them pursue you do not commit to anyone but we courted by all if you allow people to feel they possess you to any degree you lose all power over them by not committing your affections they will only try harder to win you over stay aloof and gain the power that comes from their attention and frustrated desire play the Virgin Queen give them hope but never satisfaction the aura of power grows with time you must learn the tricks that will enhance your image emanate mystery and desirability never discouraging anyone's hopes but never yielding when you hold yourself back you in core not anger but a kind of respect you instantly seem power because you make yourself ungraspable rather than succumbing to the group or to the relationship as most people do as your reputation for independence grows more and more people will come to desire you wanting to be the one who gets you to commit the moment you commit the magic is gone people will try all kinds of underhanded methods to get you to commit they will give you gifts shower you with favors all that puts you under obligation accept the gifts and favors if you so desire but be careful to maintain your inner aloofness you cannot inadvertently allow yourself to feel obligated to anyone encourage the attention stimulate their interest but do not commit at any cost the goal is not to put people off or to make it seem like you are incapable of commitment you have to bend to their attention occasionally then but never too far desire is like a virus if we see that someone is desired by other people we tend to find this person desirable as well like the Virgin Queen you need to stir the pot excite interest and lure people with the possibility of having you do not commit to anyone stay above the fray do not let people drag you into their petty fights and squabbles seem interested and supportive but find a way to remain neutral let others do the fighting while you stand back watch and wait when the fighting parties are good and tired they will be ripe for the picking you can make it a practice in fact the stearic worlds between other people and then offer to mediate gaining power as they go between master your emotions do not allow whatever compassion and pity you possess to suck you in you must seem interested in other people's problems even sometimes appear to take their side you must maintain your inner energy and sanity by keeping your emotions disengaged never let your interest in their affairs and petty squabbles go beyond the surface give them gifts listen with a sympathetic look even occasionally play the charmer but inwardly keep them all at arm's length by refusing to commit and thus maintaining your autonomy you retain the initiative your moves say a matter of your own choosing not defensive reactions to the push and pull of those around you pay attention however both parts of this law will turn against you if you take it too far the game proposed here is delicate and difficult if you play too many parties against one another they will see through the maneuver and will gang up on you if you keep your growing numbers of suitors waiting too long you will inspire not desire but distrust people will start to lose interest eventually you may find it worthwhile to commit to one side if only for appearances sake the proof you are capable of attachments even then however the key will be to maintain your inner independence to keep yourself from getting emotionally involved preserve the unspoken option of being able to leave at any moment and reclaim your freedom if the site you are allied with starts to collapse the friends you made while you were being courted will give you plenty of places to go once you jump ship cousin over one of the greatest seduces in history use this lot to make himself more desired by women when he'd pursue more than one at a time they wanted to win him over outdoing all other women in the process he was the price they would win in this competition a person having more than a few options can care less if one of the options falls away law number 21 playing soccer to catch a sucker no one likes feeling stupider than the next person the trick then is to make your victims feel smart and not just smart but smarter than you are once convinced of this they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives here's six ways to appear more stupid than the mark never inadvertently installed or impune a person's brainpower subliminally reassure people that they are more intelligent than you are convince them that you are a bit of a [ __ ] and you can run rings around them the feeling of intellectual superiority you give them will disarm their suspicion muscles given how important the idea of intelligence is the most people's vanity make people feel they're more sophisticated than you are and their guard will calm down the swine and the tiger the Chinese have a phrase masquerading as a swine to kill the tiger this refers to an ancient hunting technique in which the hunter clothes himself in the height and snout of a pig and mimics its grunting masquerading as a swine works wonders and those who like tigers are arrogant and overconfident the easier they think it is to prey on you the more easily you can turn the tables this trick is also useful if you're ambitious yet find yourself low in the hierarchy appearing less intelligent than you are even a bit of a fool is the perfect disguise look like a harmless pig and no one will believe you Harbor dangerous ambitions they may even promote you since you seem so likeable and subservient in general then always make people believe they are smarter and more sophisticated than you are they will keep you around because you make them feel better about themselves and their longer you around the more opportunities you will have to deceive them the mighty Tiger thinks a pig is coming his way and lets it get close savoring the prospect of an easy meal but it is the hunter who has the last laugh intelligence can pay off to reveal the true nature of your intelligence rarely pays you should get in the habit of downplaying it at all times if people inadvertently learn the truth that you're actually much smarter than you look they will admire you more for being discreet than for making your brilliance show at the start of your climb to the top of course you cannot play to stupid you may want to let your bosses know in a subtle way that you are smarter than the competition around you as you climb the ladder however you should to some degree try to dampen your brilliance there is one situation where it pays to do the opposite when you can cover up a deception with a show of intelligence in matters of smarts as in most things appearances are what counts if you seem to have Authority and knowledge people will believe what you say this can be very useful in getting you out of us gray law number 23 concentrate your forces conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point you gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper than by flitting from one shallow mine to another intensity defeats extensity every time when looking for sources of power to elevate you find the one keep at Ron the fat cow who'll give you milk for a long time to come maybe you can relate to the following do you find yourself in a state of total distraction and diffusion hardly able to keep your mind in one direction before you are pulled in a thousand others the modern world's level of conflict is higher than ever and you internalize it in your life the solution is a form of retreat inside yourself to the Past to more concentrated forms of thought and action single mindedness of purpose total concentration on the goal then use these qualities against people less focused such an error will find its mark every time and overwhelm the enemy this is what happened to ancient Athens which lusted for the faraway island of Sicily and ended up losing its Empire the Romans stretched the boundaries of their empire to encompass vast territories in doing so they increased their vulnerability and the chances of invasion from yet another barbarian tribe they're useless expansion let their end into oblivion concentrate on a single goal a single task and beat it into submission you will need help from other people usually those who are more powerful than you more energy is saved and more power attained when you affixed yourself to a single appropriate source of power find out who controls the operation find out the real director behind the scenes power itself always exists in concentrated forms in any organization it is inevitable for a small group to hold the strings and often it is not those with the titles in the game of power only the full flavours about without fixing its target you cannot hit two targets with for an arrow if you're flat straight you miss your enemies hearts mind and arrow must become one too dangerous in concentration when fighting a stronger enemy concentrating your forces only makes you an easier target better to dissolve into the scenery and frustrate your enemy with the elusiveness of your presence tying yourself to a single source of power has one preeminent danger if that person dies leaves or falls from grace you suffer in cases when you may need protection then it is often wise to entwine yourself around several sources of power such a move would be especially prudent in periods of great promote and violent change or when your enemies are numerous the more patrons and masters you serve the less risk you run if one of them falls from power such dispersion will even allow you to play one off against the other even if you concentrate on the single source of power you still must practice caution and prepare for the day when your master or patron is no longer there to help you finally being too single-minded in purpose can make you an intolerable bore especially in the arts of power 24 play the perfect courtier the perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity he has mastered the art of indirection he flatters yields disappears and asserts power over others in the most oblique and graceful manner learn and apply the laws of courtier ship and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court in the past the court garnered around the ruler and had many functions besides keeping the ruler amused it was a way to solidify the hierarchy of royalty nobility and the upper classes and to keep the nobility both subordinate and close to the ruler so that he could keep an eye on them court surfs power in many ways but most of all it glorifies the ruler providing him with a microcosmic world that must struggle to please him Alexander the great conqueror of the Mediterranean Bazar and the Middle East through to India was mentored and tutored by the great Aristotle he complained that on his long campaigns he could not discuss philosophical matters with anyone worthy of such a conversation Aristotle suggested Alexander best take callisthenics a former pupil of Aristotle and a promising philosopher with him on his journeys but christina's believed in pure philosophy free from censorship he would speak his mind instead of tailoring his words carefully as Aristotle had taught him one day callisthenics dared of and Alexander one too many times and was put to death being honest all the time will make more enemies than you can count criticism is to be given with extreme caution best avoided or given indirectly as in the next example during the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago Chinese scholars compiled a series of writings called the 21 histories an official biography of each dynasty in each history the scholars would write down unusual events such as earthquakes and floods that could be historically verified but among the listings one would find bizarre manifestations of two-headed sheep Gee's flying backward and stars suddenly appearing in different parts of the sky the Emperor that the world revolved around was not easy to console many servants would find themselves fall out of favor lose their positions and even lives when you criticize someone of great power in his anger he sees the one criticizing not the criticism itself for that matter the Chinese scholars came up with a way to hide themselves of the Emperor's eyes and advised him safely inserting sightings of strange phenomena into the court chronicles was the only way to warn him the emperor would read of moons out of orbit and realized he was being cautioned he was unbalancing the universe jean-baptiste is a Bey had become the unofficial painter of the Napoleonic Court he was to capture the historic events taking place after Napoleon's defeat and imprisonment in an epic painting tele rent main negotiator of the French and the Duke of Wellington the main negotiator of the English both approached him with the same request to be the center of attention and to be in the very center of the painting he created a painting that honored and satisfied both sides on one side the Duke enters the room and all eyes are turned toward him making him the center of attention in the very center of the painting meanwhile sits heavy rains you will stumble upon difficult situations where it will seem you can only satisfy one of your authorities you gain favorability from one and disdain from the other like jean-baptiste be on the lookout for a win-win-win solution one afternoon in ancient China Chao ruler of Han got so drunk that he fell asleep in the garden the crown keeper her sole task was to look after the rulers crown as his name suggests saw the ruler lay on the ground and put his own coat over him as it was getting cold when he awoke the coat keeper was punished for neglecting his duties and the crown keeper was beheaded for overstepping his boundaries go the extra mile over-deliver but never do too much save your energy for time outside the courts FRA Filippo Lippi the Italian Renaissance painter sailing for amusement in a small boat was captured by pirates who sold him and his friends into slavery finding himself in a cell with a white wall and access to charcoal still in Chains he drew a great portray of his owner who soon heard of this and freed Filippo upon discovering his talent that seemed like a miracle a gift from God use your skills and talents to be discovered and get out of imprisonment and slavery there's most likely something you can do greater than others use it to flatter your masters and by their mercy and support Alfons are the first of Aragon once had a servant who told him about a dream he supposedly had in the dream the Great King had gifted him weapons horses and clothes Alfonso found it humorous to make the dream a reality claiming a god-like power for himself when the same servant approached him again having yet another dream of this kind the king was insulted he smiled and said don't believe in dreams from now on they'll I never ask for too much and no when the stock also never underestimate the intelligence of your masters I'm honestly surprised the story didn't end with the servant being sentenced to death Aizen was so often the case in history if you think you aren't getting enough join the queue of the other millions of people and instead of complaining start using your free time to build your own source of income but how things are running now you won't get much for free in the traditional way of employment it's already hard to get what you should be getting so again asking for favors from your boss don't go too far here's 16 successful courtier plates they please but are not pleasing to much obeying but somehow distinguishing himself from the other courtiers never distinguishing himself so far as to make the ruler and secure have mastered the science of manipulating people they make the King feel more kingly they make everyone else fear their power they are magicians of appearance knowing that most things that court are judged by how they seem they are gracious and polite their aggression is filed and indirect masters of the word they never say more than necessary they get the most out of a compliment or hidden insult they are magnets of pleasure people want to be around them because they know how to please they neither for nor humiliate themselves they are wizards in the accumulation of influence they become the Kings favorites enjoying the benefits of that position they often end up more powerful than the rule the royal court may have more or less disappeared or at least lost its power but courts and courts here still exist because power still exists the laws that govern court politics are as timeless as the laws of power there is much to be learned than from great courtiers past and present play the perfect courtier the greatest chapter of the book in my humble opinion in September I'm going to make a podcast on how to play the courtier in the modern day world at your office job how to deal with your colleagues superiors etc if you haven't already made the connection let me explain not a lot has changed since the beginning of history as Robert Greene said the exact same things are going on today it's just less bloody think of your boss as the king your superiors as nobility your colleagues as courtiers or servants we all are servants in a way if we're employed the manipulation and power games that is going on in the office is something you're not taught in school so I congratulate you you awesome badass for picking up the book and watching these videos you know better and you are yourself with powerful knowledge I'll leave you with these final words a man who knows the court is master of his gestures of his eyes and off his face he is profound impenetrable HEDIS simulates bad offices smiles and his enemies controls his irritation this guy's is his passions belies his heart speaks and acts against his feelings Jean de la fiere law number 25 recreate yourself do not accept the roles that society forced on you recreate yourself by forging a new identity that commands attention and never bores the audience be the master of your own image rather than letting others define it for you incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger-than-life three ways to be the consumer chameleon you must learn to enlarge your actions through dramatic techniques such as surprise suspense the creation of sympathy and symbolic identification you must be constantly aware of your audience of what will please them and what will bore them and you must arrange to place yourself at the center to command attention and never to be upstaged at any cost because of his own Assaf interest in drama julius caesar was perhaps the first public figure to understand the vital link between power and theatre he sublimated this interest by making himself an actor and director of the world stage even while dying he kept his sense of drama drawing the top of his gown over his face he let go of the clothes lower parts so that it draped his legs allowing him to die covered and decent according to the Roman historian Suetonius s final words to his old friend Brutus who was about to deliver a second blow where in Greek and as if rehearsed for the end of a play you too much child understand the following the world wants to assign you a role in life and once you accept that role you are doomed your power is limited to the tiny amount allotted to the role you have selected or have been forced to assume an actor on the other hand plays many roles enjoy the protein power and if it is beyond you at least forge a new identity one of your own making one that has no boundaries assigned to it by an envious and resentful world this act of defiance is Promethean it makes you responsible for your own creation your new identity will protect you from the world precisely because it is not you it is a costume you put on and take off you need not take it personally and your new identity sets you apart gives you theatrical presence those in the back rows can see you and hear you those in the front rows marvel at your audacity the Promethean task of the powerful is to take control of the process to stop allowing others that ability to limit and mold them remake yourself into a character of power working on yourself like clay should be one of your greatest and most pleasurable life tasks it makes you in essence an artist an artist creating yourself in fact the idea of self creation comes from the world of art steps in the process of self creation is you must be self conscious being aware of yourself as an actor and taking control of your appearance and emotions and second you must learn self-control about the plasticity of the actor who can mold his or face to the emotion required and third creation of a memorable character a character that compels attention that stands out above the other players on the stage good drama however needs more than an interesting appearance or a single standout moment drama takes place over time it is an unfolding event rhythm and timing are critical one of the most important elements in the rhythm of drama is suspense the key to keeping the audience on the edge of their seats as leading events unfold slowly then speeding them up at the right moment according to a pattern and tempo that you control besides covering a multitude of sins good drama can also confuse and deceive your enemy or the dramatic effects for your repertoire include the Borgias an action and a climactic moment that symbolizes your triumph or your boldness you must also appreciate the importance of stage entrances and exits remember that overacting can be counterproductive it is another way of spending too much effort trying to attract attention it is less what you do that matters then how you do it your gracefulness and imposing stillness on the social stage count for more than overdoing your part and moving around too much finally learn to play many roles to be whatever the moment requires adapt your mask to the situation be protein in the face as you wear law number 26 keep your hands clean you must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency your hands are never solved by mistakes and nasty deeds maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat's-paws to disguise your involvement conceal your mistakes have a scapegoat around to take the blame our good name and reputation depend more on what we conceal then on what we reveal everyone makes mistakes but those who are truly clever managed to hide them and to make sure someone else's blame a convenient scapegoat should always be kept around for such moments understanding the workings of power and the importance of appearances shop around for the most convenient head and have it served up immediately occasional mistakes are inevitable handled people of power are undone not by the mistakes they make but by the way they deal with them the mistake does not vanish with an apology it deepens and Fester's it's better to cut it off instantly distract attention from yourself and focus attention on a convenient scapegoat do not give people time to ponder your responsibilities or your possible incompetence the bloody sacrifice of the scapegoat seems a barbaric relic of the past but the practice lives on to this day if indirectly and symbolically since power depends on appearances and those in power must seem never to make mistakes the use of scapegoats is as popular as ever besides conveniently shifting blame a scapegoat can serve as a warning to others example of Cesare Borgia Robert Greene took the following right out of Nicola Machiavelli's The Prince Cesare Borgia used the scapegoat to gain control of large parts of Italy he gave Ramiro d'arco a cruel and vigorous man absolute powers with extreme violence he would enforce jesuis rule with brutal justice and grow hated by the local population to guard his own reputation to avoid being associated with Orko's gruesome actions to calm the people scream for revenge he publicly stated that he had in no way ordered or code to do what he did and imprisoned beheaded and blamed him Cesare had painted a pleasing picture for the public who not only wished Orko's death but that his cruelty be repaid next to his headless body Orko's head was spiked up on a pike to quote Achilles fighting Hector at the temple of the Sun God why would I kill you now young prince if no one sees how you fall Cesare built a spectacle for everyone to see not only can you use others escape goats but you can make them your cat's paw and the fable the monkey grabs the paw of his friend the cat and uses his power to get it to face chestnuts out of the fire so as to get the nuts without hurting himself if there is something unpleasant or unpopular that needs to be done it is far too risky for you to do the work yourself you need a cat's paw someone who does dirty work for you the cat's paw grabs what you need hurts whom you need hurt and keeps people from noticing that you are the one responsible let someone else be the executioner or the bearer of bad news while you bring only joy and left tidings Cleopatra was more than only a woman she was a queen an empress a goddess her appearance would never be the same only ever wearing the nicest robes and Asus was probably one of the most dangerous seductresses in history like many women still today she used her feminine qualities to get men to do as she desired at the age of 10 she witnessed her father potala my the 12th get overthrown and banished by her elder sisters Berenice emerged as the leader of the rebellion had her other sisters imprisoned and her own husband murdered to secure her own rule this extreme violence on one of her own made the public resent her and four years later potala my could return beheading the elder sisters in 51 BC Ptolemy died and left four remaining children as pairs the eldest son the eleven years old Paloma the 13th married the elder sister Cleopatra incest was common in order to keep royal positions and those power in the family in a fight for power Cleopatra was exiled non dared to make the same mistake as Baroness by killing one of their own it would inevitably shed a dark light on the murderer therefore Cleopatra bided her time and scheme when she heard of Julius Caesar's plan to make Egypt a Roman colony she arranged to see him seducing and thereafter using him as a tool to destroy her siblings and other enemies to get the throne for herself in 41 BC she would use the same tactics on Mark Antony she was able to reduce both of these very powerful and dangerous men to her cat's-paws doing exactly what she wanted them to and that's it for this long however there is an additional lesson for men to be learned even a great man such as Julius Caesar was tamed by feminine charm be wary of the Cleopatra's in today's society their numbers have grown enormously while the odds for men to become a Caesar are constantly diminishing as always thanks for watching lore number 27 create a cult play on people's need to believe people have an overwhelming desire to believe in something become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause a new faith to follow keep your words vague but full of promise emphasize enthusiasm over Ash analogy and clear thinking give your new disciples rituals to perform ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf in the absence of organized religion and grant causes your new belief system will bring you untold power the gimmicks of the Charlotteans may seem quaint today but there are thousands of charlatans among are still using the same tried and true methods their predecessors refined centuries ago only changing the names of their elixirs and modernizing the look of their coats we find these latter-day charlatans in all areas of life business fashion politics art many of them perhaps our following in the charlatan tradition without having any knowledge of its history but you can be more systematic and deliberate simply follow the five steps of code making that our charlatan ancestors perfected over the years five ways to create a cult keep it vague keep it simple first attract attention this you should not do through actions which are too clear and readable but through words which are hazy and deceptive your initial speeches conversations and interviews must include the promise of something great and transformative the other a total vagueness second emphasize the visual and essential over the intellectual once people have begun to gather around you two dangers will present themselves a boredom boredom will make people go elsewhere these skepticism all allowed in the distance to think rationally about whatever it is you're offering blowing away the mist you have artfully created and revealing your ideas for what they are you need to amuse the board then and ward off the cynics useful or other devices of its kind surround yourself with luxury dazzle your followers with visual splendor and fill their eyes with spectacle not only will this keep them from seeing the ridiculousness of your ideas the holes in your belief system it will also attract more attention more followers and borrow the forms of organized religion to structure the group five ways to organize your cult like following find a way both elevating and comforting create rituals for your followers organize them into a hierarchy ranking them in Grace of sanctity and giving them names and titles that resound with religious overtones ask them for sacrifices that will fill your coffers and increase your power to emphasize your gatherings quasi religious nature talk and act like a prophet you are a priest a guru a sage a shaman or any other word that hides your real power in the midst of religion Scientology disguise your source of income your group has grown and you have structured it in a church-like form your coffers are beginning to fill with your followers money yet you must never be seen as hungry for money and the power it brings it is at this moment that you must disguise the source of your income never reveal that your wealth actually comes from your followers pockets instead make it seem to come from the truth of your methods followers will copy your each and every move in the belief that it will bring them the same results and their imitative enthusiasm will blind them to the charlatan nature of your wealth set up an us-versus-them dynamic the group is now large and thriving a magnet attracting more and more particles to keep your followers united you must now do what all religions and belief systems have done create an us-versus-them dynamic make sure your followers believe they are part of an exclusive club unified by a bond of common goals manufacture the notion of a devious enemy out to ruin you there is a force of non-believers that will do anything to stop you if you have no enemies invent one given a straw man to react against your followers will tighten and cohere but be warned if at any moment the group sees through you you will find yourself facing not one deceived soul but an angry crowd that will tear you to pieces as avidly as it once followed you law number 28 interaction with boldness if you are unsure of a course of action do not attend it your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution timidity is dangerous better to enter with boldness any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity everyone admires the bald no one honors the timid in May of 1925 five of the most successful dealers in the French scrap metal business found themselves invited to an official but highly confidential meeting in the most luxurious hotel in Paris bursting with curiosity demand met the host general director mr. Lu stick he explained that the government had planned to destroy the Eiffel Tower and the metal would be sold to the highest bidder Lustig gave them all the possible information they needed not leaving out one tiny detail as to why he explained the Eiffel Tower needed many repairs as was recently in the newspapers the maintenance costs had grown and in times of the crisis they faced many Parisians would be delighted to see it go Lucic provided them with sheets of government stationery filled with figures such as the tonnage of the towers metal as they calculated possible profits they could make from selling the metal they grew increasingly or phoric the businessmen were then driven to the Eiffel Tower in a limo where lipstick would continue his speech it all seemed so real too big of a target too extraordinary to not be real way too bold several days after the offers were submitted one of the five a mr. P received notice that his bid was the winner and that to secure the sale he should come to the suite at the hotel within two days barring a certified check for more than 250,000 francs the equivalent of $1,000,000 today however miss P started having doubts the whole thing seemed a bit odd suspicious to say the least why for example did they meet in a hotel and not in an official government building why hadn't he heard of the officials upon arrival Miz yellow stick a master con artist robbed Mississippi not only from his hesitations but from all the money he had built on the Eiffel Tower when mr. P realized he was scammed it was no option for him to go to the police his reputation would have been destroyed causing business suicide everyone would laugh at him pointing to the man who fought he was in all seriousness buying the Eiffel Tower amazingly the story does not end here mr. Lewis Teague returned to Paris six months later and sold the Eiffel Tower once more for a sum in francs equivalent today to over one and a half million dollars boldness in the truest of its forms largeness of scale deceives the human eye it distracts and ours us and is so self-evident that we cannot imagine there is any illusion or deception of foot asking for more ports the other person on the defensive cuts out the nibbling effect of compromise and doubts and overwhelms with its boldness this is the story of even the terrible in 1533 vasily the grand duke of moscow and ruler of a semi united russia proclaimed his three-year-old son even the fourth as his successor until even reached his majority however his mother Helena would have the ruling hands she sought out help from her trusted friend Prince even obolensky to help her rule the Boyer clan the opposite party poisoned Helena and had obolensky starve to death in prison at the age of eight Yvonne was now a despised orphan the boyars would treat him roughly dress him up in ropes were for sapped are mocking him beating and banishing his only friends he'd roamed the palace ilk loaded hiding from the boyars he remained strictly silent throughout all of this they fought their plan had worked they had crushed the little man even was no longer a friend they could ignore him on December 29th 1543 even turned 13 and asked Prince Andrei's shuisky the head of the boyars to come to his room when the prince arrived the room was filled with palace guards even pointed with his finger or during Andres arrest death and that his body be thrown to the blood wounds in the Royal canal over the next few days even had all of Andres close associates arrested and banished the boyars now stood in mortal terror of the young future even the terrible who had planned and waited for five years to take revenge with this one swift and bold act that would secure his power for decades to come law number 29 plan all the way to the end the ending is everything plan all the way to it taking into account all the possible consequences obstacles and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others by planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead most men are ruled by the heart not the head their plans are vague and when they meet obstacles they improvise but improvisation will only bring you as far as the next crisis and is never a substitute for thinking several steps ahead and planning to the end in 1863 the Prussian premier Otto von Bismarck surveyed the chessboard of European power as it then stood the main players were England France and Austria Prussia itself was one of several states in the loosely allied German Federation Austria dominant member of the Federation made sure that the other German states remained weak divided and submissive Bismarck belief that Prussia was destined for something far greater than being a servant body to Austria this is how Bismarck played the his first move was to start a war with lowly Denmark in order to recover the former Prussian lands of lease Vic whole time he knew that these rumblings of Prussian independence might worry France and England so he enlisted Austria in the war claiming that he was recovering schleswig-holstein for their benefit in a few months after the war was decoded Bismarck demanded that the newly conquered lands be made part of Prussia the Austrians of course outraged compromised a year later they also agreed in selling Horsch time Bismarck next move was his boldest in 1866 he convinced King William of Prussia to withdraw from the German Federation and in doing so to go to war with Austria itself although everyone who posts such a war Bismarck succeeded in forcing the conflict and Prussia superior army defeated the Austrians in the brutally short seven weeks war he kept going acquiring more lands for Prussia even provoking a war with France this cycle would go on until almost mysteriously he stopped the other parties would wait in fear for his next bold move but there was no more Bismarck had planned his campaign in its entirety all along instead of expanding further he would now as the Prince of a greater prussia focus on securing the newly acquired lands what good is it to have the greatest dream in the world if others reap the benefits and the glory never lose your head over a vague open-ended dream plan to the end the only solution is to plan for the long run foresee the future with as much clarity as the gods on Mount Olympus who look through the clouds and see the ends of all things according to the cosmology of the ancient Greeks the gods were fought to have complete vision into the future they saw everything to come right down to the intricate details men on the other hand were seen as victims of faith trapped in the moments and their emotions unable to see beyond immediate dangers heroes such as Odysseus who were able to look beyond the present and planned several steps ahead seemed to the five faiths to approximate the gods in their ability to determine the future this comparison is still valid those among us who think further ahead and patiently bring their plans to fruition seem to have a god-like power law number 30 make your accomplishments seem effortless your actions must seem natural and executed with ease all the toil and practice that go into them and also all the clever tricks must be concealed when you act act effortlessly as if you could do much more avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work it only raises questions teach no one new tricks or they will be used against you you will often have to use tricks and ingenuity to create your effects but your audience must never suspect the work or the thinking that has gone into them Nature does not reveal its tricks and what imitates nature by appearing effortless approximates nature's power in 16th century Japan sin nor EQ was the preferred keymaster although not from a noble family emperor Hideyoshi found him to be an important advisor on a static and even political matters recuse secret was to appear natural concealing the efforts behind his work one evening while having tea at a friend's house Riku saw his host go outside hold up a lantern in the darkness cut a lemon off a tree and bring it this charm 3q the host needed a relish for the dish he was serving and had spontaneously gone outside to get one but when the man offered the lemon with some osaka rice cake Riku realized that he had planned creating this effect of beauty he found so desirable the gesture no longer seemed spontaneous it was a way for the host to prove his cleverness but he had accidentally revealed how hard he was trying Ricky you politely declined the cake excused himself and left to send nori hue the sudden appearance of something naturally almost accidentally graceful was the height of beauty this beauty without warning and seemed effortless nature created such things by its own laws and processes but men had to create their effects through labor and contrivance and when they showed the effort of producing the effect the effect was spoiled secret practice makes perfect you must research and practice endlessly before appearing in public on stage or anywhere else never expose the sweat and labor behind your pores some things such exposure will demonstrate their diligence and honesty but it actually just makes them look weaker as if they weren't really up to the job keep your effort and your tricks to yourself and you seem to have the Grace and ease of a god the book of the courtier by ballast our Castilian air speaks of sprezzatura the capacity to make the difficult seem easy it is relevant to all forms of power for power depends vitally on appearances and illusions you create your public actions are like artworks they must have visual appeal create anticipation and even entertain when you reveal the inner workings of your creation you become just one more mortal among others what is understandable is not all inspiring we tell ourselves we could do as well if we had the money and time avoid the temptation of showing how clever you are instead conceal the mechanisms of your cleverness do not give people ideas they can use against you because you can see the advantages of keeping silent resist the temptation to want your vanity gratified by having your hard work and cleverness applauded do not vie for sympathy for the hours it has taken to reach your point of artistry and finally learn to control this propensity to blab for its effect is often the opposite of what you expected the more mystery surrounds your actions the more awesome your power seems you appear to be the only one who can do what you do and the appearance of having an exclusive gift is immensely powerful and second because you achieve your accomplishments with grace and ease people believe that you could always do more if you tried harder this not only admiration but a touch of fear your powers are untapped no one can fade in their limits word to the wise there are also times when revealing the inner workings of your projects can provide worth while it all depends on your audience's taste and on the times in which you operate as long as the partial disclosure of tricks and techniques is carefully planned rather than the result of an uncontrollable need to blab it is the ultimate in cleverness it gives the audience the illusion of being superior and involved even while much of what you do remains concealed from them with all number 31 get others to play with the cards you deal the best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice your victims feel they are in control but are actually your puppets give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils both of which serve your purpose put them on the horns of a dilemma they are gored wherever they turn even the terrible had to confront an unpleasant reality the country desperately needed reform but he lacked the power to push it through the greatest limit to his authority came from the boyars the Russian princely class that dominated the country and terrorized the peasantry in 1553 at the age of 23 even fell ill lying in bed and nearing his death he asked the boyars to swear allegiance to his son as the nudes are some hesitated some refused and even saw that the boyars could not be reasoned with when he recovered he did not forget that valuable lesson the boyars defected to poland and lithuania the latter by one of Yvonne's closest friends Andrzej corpse key who became Yvonne's greatest enemy not only the boyars caused him grief Russia's vast size made it a nightmare to defend whatever direction even would have turned he'd leave his back wide open for a stab December 3rd 1560 for Yvonne had left the capital to a nearby village leaving the Tsar's treasures and visions behind without any explanation Moscow's population feared that even had led them behind to be slaughtered by the boyars as a result they begged the Tsar to come back please sir please come back and fool us again blaming the boyars for their betrayal even listened but would not change his mind a few days later the begging had not stopped and he gave them a choice a choice in the same way the Godfather gave the choice of either signing the contract for getting shot in the head what was it either your name comes on the paper or your brain or somewhere even with either rule as a dictator or not at all leaving them vulnerable for whoever pleased to take the throne they accepted his terms and could no longer rebelled against the dictatorship they had chosen this is important they had made the choice words like freedom options and choice evoke a power of possibility far beyond the reality of the benefits they entail when examined closely the choices we have in the marketplace in elections in our jobs tend to have noticeable limitations they are often a matter of choice simply between a and B with the rest of the alphabet out of the picture as long as the faintest mirage of choice flickers on we rarely focus on the missing options we choose to believe that the game is fair and that we have our freedom we prefer not to think too much about the depth of our Liberty to choose we are unwilling to probe the smallness of our choices that stems from the fact that too much freedom creates a kind of anxiety the phrase unlimited options sounds infinitely promising but unlimited options would actually paralyze us and cloud our ability to choose our limited range of choices comforts us appear to give options where there are none this is what the law is about as long as people feel they've been able to make their own decision between options considering the pros and cons of them all they will behave in a more positive manner complying with what you want Lorrimer 32 players people's fantasies the truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant never appealed the truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes from disenchantment life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oasis in the desert everyone flocks them there is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses such is the power of the fantasies that take root in us especially in times of scarcity and decline people rarely believe that their problems arise from their own misdeeds and stupidity someone or something out there is to blame the other the world the gods and so salvation comes from the outside as well to gain power you must be a source of pleasure for those around you and pleasure comes from playing to people's fantasies never promise a gradual improvement through hard work rather promise the moon the great and sudden transformation the pot of gold aka the lose 16 pounds in a week diets the six-minute abs the 4-hour workweek become a millionaire overnight and the congratulations you're our millionth visitor you want an iPad pop-up it appeals to us so much because the marketers behind these know our fantasies too well no disrespect Tim Ferriss I love this guy I will certainly take on his books as well anyways 1570 Vinny's lost a valuable Island Cyprus to the Turks once one of the wealthiest of places Venice found itself in poverty thinking of ways to turn the economy around Venice got notice of a man called el brigadeiro an alchemist who could turn worthless objects into gold with a secret substance this man would be the solution he was invited to reside in Venice at the expense of the state's treasures ill brigadeiro would have gold coins clinking in his hands accompanied by two dogs at all times his palace the state provided what if golden plates golden watches buttons and whatnot everyone was pleased to see this magical man in their neighborhood they would buy coal and books on alchemy learning how to do it themselves would not be concerned about the practice brigadeiro himself the states became impatient some advising not to push him over the edge so ill brigadeiro gave a demonstration creating gold dust out of a mineral innocence for everyone to see after a while the doubts grew and Ilya Dino explains he could double all the gold right away but if they waited for seven years the gold would multiply many times more a part of the city formed an angry mob choosing not to believe this sorcery anymore ABR dino state that they had betrayed him and left Bernice continuing his deception in different areas living like a noble Prince what the people had not noticed of course was the little tube of glass he had hidden in his sleeve that poured the gold dust His image his actions his bald appearance the fact that he was wanted by other states had set a brigadeiro reputation as a true Alchemist and stone people wanted to believe so badly they threw away all rational [ __ ] and like little children believed in the tooth fairy preferring not to see the truth behind this charlatan like figure here's my perspective ironically ill brigadeiro or by his real name cypriot my magna did know how to turn something into gold though the gold would only be for himself and the ingredients were not objects that you can touch with your hands but people's fantasies and beliefs does that make him any less of an alchemist what is there more profitable than a person's wishes dreams and fantasies paired with strong belief once we choose to believe something we will stick with it because we rationalize our actions not to do so would be like betraying our own judgments and if we cannot rely on our past decisions that would mean facing confronting the sad and ugly truth it would be too painful to admit we have been fooled we have made bad wrong poor decisions we followed a course led by a fraud who took our money it's too much of a shame sadly this behavior this utter denial and justification of our wrongdoings sticks with so many people for their entire lives once we choose to pursue our career ladder by traditional means in slavery the chain around her neck a tie we come to despise everything else we cannot believe in entrepreneurial ISM being real being an option because if it was with get our hopes up and we're afraid very afraid of that with each year that goes by we reinforce these ideas law number 33 discover each man's thumb screw everyone has a weakness a gap in the castle wall that weakness is usually insecurity an uncontrollable emotion or need it can also be a small secret pleasure either way once found it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage one of the most important things to realize about people is that they all have a weakness some part of the psychological armor that will not resist that will blend to your will if you find it and push on it some people wear their weaknesses openly others disguise them those who disguise them are often the ones most effectively undone through that one [ __ ] in their armor in 1615 the 30 year old bishop of lhasa later known as Richelieu turned to the throne a 15 year old king louis xiii and to the Queen mother Marie de Medici who sat beside Louis as the regent ruling France until her son reached his majority everyone expected rich lear to flatter and charm the king but instead he gave words of admiration to the queen who he knew loved to get attention from men her lover Kanchana Contini an italian korte was her favorite therefore he treated him as if he were the king himself however louis xiii was underestimated in one blow he killed off his mother's lover Contini and imprisoned his associates rich lira questioned his strategy had he done the right thing he chose to stand beside the queen who was now a virtual prisoner shut up in the Louvre he served as a liaison between the Queen and the king for his loyalty the Queen empowered him to the rank of Cardinal and pleads to her son not to get rid of Richelieu whom he despised later on the king would take richly earth's advice to the point of depending on him just as the Queen was depending on him he stopped serving the Queen and focused on his new authority of the King had none other to trust and affairs of state came hard to him and so for the next 18 years perish leo exploiting the Kings weaknesses governed and molded friends according to his own vision unifying the country and making it a strong European power for centuries to come rish leo started the persons who had the real power found their biggest flaw weakness in their character and played on it wonderfully to become an indispensable acid to them once the power had gone to another he would adapt his strategies accordingly low 34 be royal in your own fashion act like a king the way you carry yourself will often determine how you're treated in the long run appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you for a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment and others by acting regally and confident of your powers you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown powerful people may be tempted to affect the common man or ax trying to create the illusion that they enter subjects or underlings are basically the same but the people whom this false gesture is intended to impress will quickly see through it they understand that they are not being given more power than it only appears as if they shared in a powerful person's faith leaders who try to dissolve that distance through a false geminus gradually lose their ability to inspire loyalty fear or love instead they elicit contents they are too uninspiring even to be worth the guillotine the best they can do is simply vanish in the night as if they were never there when Christopher Columbus was trying to find funding for his legendary voyages many around him believed he came from the Italian aristocracy a descendant from the legendary Roman general colonias an illustrious background indeed but it was nothing more than a lustrous fantasy for Columbus was actually the son of Domenico Colombo a weaver who held a wine shop and had made a living selling cheese Columbus himself had created the myth of his noble background for he felt that he had a kind of royalty in his blood destined for greatness using the fabricated story of his noble background he married into an established Lisbon family that had excellent chance worth pour two g's royalty using his in-laws he managed to have a meeting with the King of Portugal whom he petitioned to finance a westward voyage aimed at discovering a shorter route to Asia which he would do in the King's name demanding incredibly bald hereditary rights for himself he shall be titled to the Grand Admiral of the oceanic sea the office of vice TRO over any lands he found and ten percent of the future commerce with such lands Columbus made these demands even though he had previously been a mere merchant he knew almost nothing about navigation he could not work a quadrant and he had never led a group of men although the king refused with a smile he treated his demands as legitimate leaving the door open for the future by asking for the moon he had instantly raised his own status for the King assumed that unless a man who set such a high price on himself were mad which Columbus did not appear to be he must somehow be worth it unlike Columbus here's what we generally tend to do we set up boundaries that only get firmer with time we come to expect less from the world we accept limitations that are really self-imposed and we bow and scrape and apologize for even the simplest of requests we have to deliberately force ourselves in the opposite direction downplay the failures and ignore the limitations and make ourselves demand and expect as much as a child this strategy of the crown is based on a simple chain of cause and effect if we believe we are destined for great things our belief will radiate outward this outward radiance will infect the people around you and your limits and boundaries disappear you will be surprised how often it bears fruit when you let yourself be overcome by your self belief even while you know you are practicing a kind of deception on yourself act like a king or queen and you are likely to be treated as one but please whatever you do don't act like a princess we have enough of these the difference of this strategy is that the crown may separate you from other people it is up to you to make that separation real and you have to act differently demonstrating your distance from those around you one way to emphasize your difference is to always act with dignity no matter the circumstance do not confuse regal bearing with arrogance it betrays insecure green mentions three strategies to reinforce a royal demeanor first will be the Columbus strategy always make a bold demand set your price high and do not waver be the David and Goliath strategy in a dignified way go after the highest person in the building by choosing a great opponent you create the appearance of greatness this puts you on the same plane as the chief executive you are attacking and lastly see the gift strategy give a gift of some sort the doors above you by giving your patcher on a gift you are saying that the two of you are equal that is the old con game of giving so that you can take the gift strategy is subtle and brilliant because you do not beg you ask for help in a dignified way that implies equality between two people one of whom just happens to have more money remember that it is up to you to set your own price ask for less and that is just what you will get ask for more however and you send a signal that you are worth a king's ransom even those who turn you down respect you for your confidence and that respect will eventually pay off in ways you cannot imagine but obviously there's a risk of reversal to this so be warned the idea behind the assumption of regal confidence is to set yourself apart from other people but if you take this too far it will be your undoing never make the mistake of thinking that you elevate yourself by humiliating people also it is never a good idea to lose too high above the crowd you make an easy target and there are times when an aristocratic post is eminently dangerous finally it is true that you can sometimes find some power through effecting a kind of earthy vulgarity which will prove amusing by its extremist separating yourself from other people by appearing even more vulgar than they are this game is dangerous there will always be people more vulgar than you and you will easily be replaced the following season by someone younger and worse law number 35 mastered the art of timing never seem to be in a hurry hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself and over time always seem patient as if you know that everything will come to you eventually become a detective of the right moment sniff out the spirit of the times the trends it will carry you to power learn to stand back when the time is not yet right and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition time is an artificial concept that we ourselves have created to make the limitlessness of eternity and the universe more bearable more human since we have constructed the concept of time we are also able to mold it to some degree to play tricks with it the time of a child is long and slow with vast expanses the time of an adult whizzes by frighteningly fast Joseph Foucher initially a mathematics teaching priest never took his vows he had waited for his chance to follow bigger dreams and when 1789 the French Revolution broke out he became a revolutionary to miss the boat at this critical moment could have spelled disaster Fouchet merely adopted to the spirit of the times befriending the revolutionary Robespierre he quickly rose in the rebel ranks and was elected as the representative of non to the National Convention created that year to frame a new constitution for a French Republic when fouché arrived in Paris to take his seat at the convention a violent rift had broken out between the moderates and the radical Jacobins Fouch a sense that in the long run neither side would emerge victorious power rarely ends up in the hands of those who start the revolution or even of those who further it power sticks to those who bring it to a conclusion that was the side fouché wanted to be on until his death he would change sides several more times supporting the execution of louis xvi turning against his former friend Robespierre then supporting a young Napoleon only to be conspiring against him alongside Talleyrand later on foucha had remarkable patience we found patience as your sword and shield your timing will fail and you will inevitably find yourself a loser when the times were against fouché he did not struggle get emotional or strike out rashly he kept his cool and remained a low profile patiently building support among the citizenry the bulwark in his next rise to power observing this law closely here are the ten key lessons in the art of timing it is critical to recognize the spirit of the times you must always work with the times anticipate twists and turns and never miss the boat recognize time by not what is loudest and most obvious in it but by what lies hidden and Dorman's recognizing the prevailing winds does not necessarily mean running with them any potent movement creates a powerful reaction and it is unwise to anticipate what that reaction will be rather than ride the cresting wave of the movement wait for the tides app to carry you back to power upon occasion bet on the reaction that is brewing and place yourself in the vanguard of it recognize the moment then to hide in the grass or slither under a rock as well as the moment to bare your fangs and attack space we can recover time never time depends on perception which can be willfully altered this is vital in mastering the art of timing if the inner turmoil caused by our emotions tends to make time move faster it follows that once we control our emotional responses to events time will move much more slowly this altered way of dealing with things tends to lengthen our perception of future time opens up possibilities and allows us the patience that is the principal requirement in the art of timing law number 36 disdain things you cannot have by acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility the more attention you pay an enemy the stronger you make him and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it it is sometimes best to leave things alone if there is something you want but cannot have show contempt for it the less interest you reveal the more superior you seem in the year 15 27 King Henry 8 of England decided he had to find a way to get rid of his wife Catherine of Aragon Catherine had failed to produce a son a male here who would ensure the continuance of his dynasty and Henry fought he knew why he had read in the Bible the passage and if a man shall take his brother's wife it is an unclean thing he have uncovered his brother's nakedness very shalt be childless before marrying Henry Catherine had married his older brother Arthur but Arthur had died five months later Henry had waited an appropriate time then had married his brother's widow catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and by marrying her he had kept a life of valuable alliance now however Catherine had to assure him that her brief marriage with offer had never been consummated otherwise Henry would see their marriages null and void Catherine insisted that she had remained a virgin through her marriage to offer and Pope Clement the 12th supported her by giving his blessing to the Union which he could not have done had he considered it incestuous the king convinced that she was lying and fearing God had punished them for their forbidden relationship henry applied to the Vatican but Pope Clement would never unmold the marriage and so Henry simply started his own church putting himself at the top and annulling his marriage that way the Pope was furious and kept threatening the King with excommunication from the Catholic Church but King Henry simply ignored him and has now banished from the court ex-wife completely when you pay attention to a person the two of you become partners of sorts each moving in step to the actions and reactions of the other in the process you lose your initiative it is a dynamic of all interactions by acknowledging other people even if only to fight with them you open yourself to their influence had Henry locked horns with Catherine he would have found himself mired in endless arguments is what if weakens his resolve and eventually worn him down Henry would have none of this he played a devastating power game total this day by ignoring people you cancel them out this unsettles and infuriates them but since they have no dealings with you there's nothing they can do man kick him he'll forgive you flatter him he may or may not see through you but ignore him and he will hate you I'd reassure caravan of Dreams there's essentially two strategies to execute the sour grapes approach if there is something you want but you realize you cannot have it the first thing you can do is draw attention to your disappointment by complaining about it and infinitely more powerful tactic is to act as if it never really interested you in the first place and the treating it lightly approach when you are attacked by an inferior deflect people's attention by making it clear that the attack has not even registered look away or answer sweetly showing how little the attack concerns you similarly when you yourself have committed a blunder the best response is often to make less of your mistake by treating it lightly but as always be warned develop the skill of sensing problems when they are still small and taking care of them before they become intractable learn to distinguish between the potentially disastrous and the mildly irritating the nuisance that will quietly go away on its own in either case never completely take your I of it as long as it is alive it can smolder and spark into life law number 37 create compelling spectacles striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power everyone responds to them stage the spectacles for those around you full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence dazzled by appearances no one will notice what you are really doing people do not always want words or rational explanations or demonstrations of the powers of science they want an immediate appeal to their emotions give them that and they will do the rest such as imagine that they can be healed by the light reflected from a rock a quarter million miles away in the early 1780s word spread through Berlin of the strange and spectacular medical practice of a doctor vice-leader he performed his miracles in an enormous converted beer hall outside which Berliners began to notice ever longer lines of people the blind the lame anyone with an illness incurable by normal medicine when it leaked out that the doctor worked by exposing the patient to the Rays of the Moon he soon became dubbed the moon doctor of Berlin sometime in 1783 it was reported that dr. vice-leader had cured a well-to-do woman of a terrible ailment he suddenly became a celebrity previously only the poorest of Berlin had been seen waiting outside the beer hall in their rags now magnificent carriages were parked outside and gentlemen in frock coats and ladies with enormous coiffure lined the street the sunset rune year as they waited to get in the poorer clients would explain to the upper-class people that the doctor only practiced when the moon was in its increase and face many would add that they themselves had already been exposed to the healing powers he called for from the Rays of the moon even those who felt cured kept coming back drawn by this powerful experience once the people reached a doctor or his wife on the second floor having passed a spectacular first floor he would take the patient uncovered the afflicted body part and lift the boy up to the window which faced the light of the moon he would rot the sight of injury or illness mumbles something unintelligible look knowingly at the moon and then after collecting his feet sent the patient on their way dr. vice-leader may have known nothing about medicine but he understood human nature he recognized that people do not always want words or rational explanations or demonstrations of the powers of science they want an immediate appeal to their emotions give them that and they will do the rest such as imagine that they can be healed by the light of the Moon the spectacle was simple and it needed to be the doctor would not explain why this technique worked he let his patients fill in the blanks with their placebo effects there needs to be heard and so on here are the four essential steps dr. vice-leader used the scene larger than life play with images weaving visual clues into an encompassing Gestalt establish a trademark to set yourself apart in this case the moon find an image or symbol from the past that will neatly fit your situation and then put it on your shoulders like a cape law number 38 think as you like but behave like others if you make a show of going against the times flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them they will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior it is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness people who flaunt their infatuation with a different culture are expressing a disdain and contempt for their own they are using the outward appearance of the exotic to separate themselves from the common folk who unquestioningly followed the local customs and laws and to express their sense of superiority otherwise they would act with more dignity showing respect for those who do not share their desires indeed their need to show their difference so dramatically often makes them disliked by the people whose beliefs they challenged indirectly and slowly perhaps but offensively nonetheless here's a historical example for someone breaking this law as so few people even today seem to be aware of how to blend in around the year 478 BC the city of Sparta sent an expedition to purge led by the young spot nobleman Pausanias the city-state's of greece had recently fought of a mighty invasion from persia and now Pausanias along with allied ships from athens had orders to punish the invaders and win back the islands and coastal towns that the Persians had occupied both the Athenians and the Spartans had great respect for Pausanias he had proven himself as a fearless warrior with a flair for the dramatic with amazing speed Pausanias and his troops to excite praised and captured bits until now master of part of the Persian Empire Pausanias began to show signs of behavior that went beyond his normal flamboyance he appeared in public wearing pole mates and his hair and flowing Persian robes and accompanied by a bodyguard of Egyptians he held lavish banquets in which he sat in the Persian Manor and demanded to be entertained he stopped seeing his old friends entered into communication with the Persian King sexes and all in all affected the style and manner of a Persian dictator clearly power and success have gone to Pausanias head he then went ahead and flaunted his disdain for the Greek simple way of life insulted the common Greek soldier and even showed evidence that he had dreams of becoming a kind of Greek sexes the Spartans relieved Pausanias of his command and called him home sparing him when they learned from his intentions to attack Greece alongside the Persians thinking he was invincible the spartans made arrangements for his arrest Pausanias however trapped in the sacred temple refused to surrender and eventually died of starvation the trick to your uniqueness contains that you pretend to disagree with dangerous ideas but in the course of your disagreement you give those ideas expression and exposure you seem to conform to the prevailing orthodoxy but those who know will understand the irony involved you are protected there is no point in making a display of your dangerous ideas if they only bring you suffering and persecution martyrdom serves no purpose better to live in an oppressive world even to thrive in it and find a way to express your ideas subtly for those who understand you lying your pearls before swine will only bring you trouble the truth is we all tell lies and hide our true feelings for complete free expression is a social impasse ability from an early age we learned to conceal our thoughts telling the prickly and insecure what we know they wanna hear watching carefully lest we offend them there are ideas and values that most people accept that in his pointless to argue we believe what we want you but on the outside we wear a mask there are people however who see such restraints as an intolerable infringement on their freedom they have a need to prove their superiority of their values and beliefs in the end their arguments convince only a few and offend a great deal more the recent arguments do not work is that most people hold their ideas and values without thinking about them there is a strong emotional content in their beliefs and they really do not want to have to rework their habits of thinking and when you challenge them whether directly through your arguments or indirectly through your behavior they are hostile lost 39 stir up waters to catch fish anger and emotions are strategically counterproductive you must always stay calm and objective but if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself you gain a decided advantage put your enemies off-balance find the [ __ ] in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings by the late 1920s haile selassie had nearly achieved his goal of assuming total control over a GOP ax a country he felt needed strong and unified leadership as regent to the Empress Saudi - and here to the throne Selassie had spent several years weakening the power of it Geo pious various warlords now only one real obstacle stood in his way the Empress and her husband Ragusa Selassie knew the royal couple hated him and wanted to get rid of him so to cut short their plotting he made cookster the governor of the northern province of Peggy Madrid forcing him to leave the capital where the Emperor's lived for several years scoops have played the loyal administrator but Selassie did not trust him he knew that gooks and the Emperor's were plotting revenge as time passed and Gosa made no move the chances of a plot only increased Selassie drew gooks are out got under his skin and pushed him into action before he was ready cogsa fell for the trap that had been laid for him before service yet ordered cooks at the fight Diaz a vocalist he had secure the support of the Ethiopian church and before the revolt got underway he had bribed several of kooks s key allies not to show up for battle as the rebel army marched south airplanes flew overhead dropping leaflets announcing that the highest church officials had recognized the loss is the true Christian leader of Ethiopia and that they had been excommunicated cooks staff were fermenting a civil war and as bed loomed and the support that gooks US allies had promised him failed to show up soldiers began to flee or defect when the battle came the rebel army quickly collapsed refusing to surrender rasgulla was killed in the fighting on April 30 Selassie issued a formal proclamation announcing his new title emperor of ethiopia a sovereign should never launch an army out of anger a leader should never start a war out of wrath soon to 4th century BC there is seven problems with the angry response at first it may strike fear and terror but only in some and as the days passed and the storm clears other responses emerge embarrassment and uneasiness about the shelter's capacity for going out of control resentment Fester's of what has been said you always make unfair and exaggerated accusations a few such tirades and people are counting the days until you are gone to show your frustration is to show that you have lost your power to shape events it is the helpless action of the child who resorts to a hysterical fit to get his way never let them see you sweat tantrums neither intimidate nor inspire loyalty they only create doubts and uneasiness about your power exposing your weakness these stormy eruptions often herald the fall the essence of the law is when the waters are still your opponents have the time and space the plot actions that they will initiate and control so steer the waters force the fish to the surface get them to act before they are ready and steal the initiative the best way to do this is to play on uncontrollable emotions pride vanity love and hate once the water is stirred up the little fish cannot help but race the debate law number 40 despise the free lunch what is offered for free is dangerous it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation what has worth is worth paying for by paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude guilt and deceit it is also often wise to pay the full price there are no cutting corners with excellence be lavish with your money and keep it circulating for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power being open and flexible with money also teaches the value of strategic generosity a variation on the old trick of giving when you are about to take by giving the appropriate gift you put the recipient under obligation generosity softens people up to be deceived by gaining a reputation for liberality you win people's admiration while distracting them from your power place by it strategically spreading your wealth you charm the others creating pleasure and making valuable allies louis xiv had an eagle eye for the strategic power of money when he came to the throne the powerful nobility had recently proven a thorn in the monarchy's side and sieved with rebellious nough so he impoverished these aristocrats by making them spend enormous sums on maintaining their positions in the court making them dependent on royal largest for their livelihood he had them in his claws next Louis brought the nobles to their knees with strategic generosity whenever he noticed the stubborn courtier hos influence he needed to gain or host troublemaking he needed to squelch he would use his vast wealth to softened the soil first he would ignore his victim making the man anxious then the man would suddenly find that his son had been given a well-paid post or that funds had been spent liberally in his home region or that he had been given a painting he had long coveted presence would flow from Louis hands finally weeks or months later Louis would ask for the favor he had needed all along a man who had once vowed to do anything to stop the king would have made him rebellious this was far more insane facing hardened earth in which nothing could take root Louie loosened the soil before he planted his seeds Louie understood that there is a deep-rooted emotional element in her attitude on money and elements going back to childhood when we are children all kinds of complicated feelings about her parents center around gifts we see the giving of a gift as a sign of love and approval and that emotional element never goes away the recipients of gifts financial or otherwise are suddenly as vulnerable as children especially if the gift comes from someone in authority here's five simple lessons surrounding this law friends who offer favors without asking for payment will later want something far dearer than the money you would have paid them the bargain has hidden problems both material and psychological learn to pay and to pay well baits your deceptions with the possibility of easy money people are essentially lazy and want wellfare fall in their lap rather than work for it for a small sum seldom advice on how to make millions and that small sum will become a fortune when multiplied by thousands of suckers that is a literal quote from the book I don't necessarily agree with that but I am displaying the books knowledge all right and for lure people in with the prospect of easy money and you have the room to work still more deceptions on them greed is powerful enough to blind your victims to anything and lastly greed does not pay if you're greedy you will end up like Ebenezer Scrooge be generous instead and receive the love back that you gave out of the world you give a hundred gifts more a thousand gifts more you will receive more than enough gifts back law number 41 avoid stepping into a great man's shoes what happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after if you succeed a great man or have a famous parent you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them do not get lost in their shadow or stuck in a past knot of your own making establish your own name and identity by changing course slay the overbearing father disparage his legacy and gain power by shining in your own way power depends on appearing larger than other people and when you are lost in the shadow of the Father the king the great predecessor you cannot possibly project such a presence but how does the son step out of the father's shadow for one he can adopt the ruthless strategy of Alexander the Great disparage the past create your own Kingdom and put the father in the shadows instead of letting him do the same to you this is a dialogue from the movie Alexander between permi nian and my great great great great etc grandfather I pray to Apollo you soon realize how far you've turned from your father's path damn you Parmenion by the gods and your Apollo war was in my father's guts it wasn't over ripened reasoned like yours he never lusted for war Alexander or enjoyed it so he consulted his peers and console among equals the Macedonian way it didn't make decisions based on his personal desires I've taken us further than my father ever dreamt old man were in a new world it was played by Colin Farrell an Irishman so if you cannot materially start from Ground Zero it would be foolish to renounce an inheritance you can at least begin from Ground Zero psychologically throw off the weight of the past and chart a new direction recognize like Alexander instinctively that the privileges of birth are impediments to power be merciless with the past not only with your father and his father but with your own earlier achievements only the weak rest on their laurels and dote on past tramps in the game of power there is never time to rest louis xiv died in 1715 after a glorious 55 year green all eyes focused on his great-grandson and chosen successor the future louis 15 from a country that had descended into civil war in the late 1640s louis xiv forged the mightiest realm in europe great generals would tremble in his presence a cook once made a mistake in preparing a dish and committed suicide rather than face the King's wrath Louie had many mistresses but their power ended in the bedroom he filled his court with the most brilliant minds of the age the symbol of his power was versa refusing to accept the palace of his forefathers the louvre he built his own palace in what was the middle of nowhere symbolizing that this was a new order he had found it one without precedent he made Versailles the centerpiece of his reign place that all the powerful of Europe envied and visited with a sense of awe in essence Louis took a great void the decaying monarchy of France and filled it with his own symbols and radiant power Louis 15 on the other hand symbolizes the faith of all those who inherit something large or who follow in a great man's footsteps it would seem easy for a son or successor to build on the grand foundation left for them but in the realm of power the opposite is true the pampered indulged son almost always squanders the inheritance for he does not start with the father's need to fill the void as Machiavelli states necessity is what impels men to take action and once the necessity is gone only rot and decay are left but when they began to make sovereignty hereditary the children quickly degenerated from their fathers and so far from trying to equal their father's virtues they considered that a prince had nothing else to do than to excel all the rest in idleness indulgence and every other variety of pleasure Michael Bernardo Machiavelli see here is five reasons to bury the past the past prevents the young hero from creating his own world he must do as his father did even after that father is dead or powerless the hero must bow and scrape before his predecessor and yield to tradition and precedent what had success in the past must be carried over to the present even those circumstances have greatly changed and the past also weighs the hero down with an inheritance that he is terrified of losing making him timid and cautious the question then arises how does one bury the past power depends on the ability to fill a void to occupy a field that has been cleared of the dead weight of the past only after the father figure has been properly done away with will you have the necessary space to create and establish a new order variations on the execution of the king that disguise the violence of the impulse by channeling it in socially acceptable forms perhaps the simplest way to escape the shadow of the past is simply to belittle it playing on the timeless antagonism between the generations stirring up the young against the old and established distance from your predecessor which demands some symbolism a way of advertising itself publicly as Louis had changed the king's palace from the Louvre to Versailles essentially the problem is the following the overbearing predecessor fills the vistas before you with symbols of the past and you have no room to create your own name lastly the superstitious believed that if the person before you succeeded by doing a EB and C you can recreate their success by doing the same thing you must go with the times adapt and overcome this is part of the solution hunt out the vacuums those areas in culture that have been left vacant with this you can become the first and principal figure to shine and make a name for yourself where no shadows could obscure your presence but remember you are your own father do not let yourself spend years creating yourself only to let your guard down and allow the ghosts of the past father habit or history to sneak back in as always tread lightly the past often has elements worth appropriating qualities that would be foolish to reject out of a need to distinguish yourself even Alexander the Great recognized this important fact because he was influenced by his father's skill in organizing an army making a display of doing things differently from your predecessor can make you seem childish and in fact out of control unless of course your actions have logic of their own finally it is often wise to keep an eye on the young your future rivals and power just as you try to rid yourself of your father they will soon play the same trick on you denigrating everything you have accomplished law 42 strike the Shepherd and the sheep will scatter trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual this terror the arrogant underling the poisoner of goodwill if you allow such people room to operate others will succumb to their influence do not wait for the troubles they cost the multiply do not try to negotiate with them they are irredeemable neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter strike the Shepherd and the sheep will scatter when the tree falls the monkeys scatter cut the snake at the head these are fairly common proverbs but what do they mean within any group trouble can most often be traced to a single source the unhappy chronically dissatisfied one who will always steer up dissension and infect the group with his or her ill ease before you know what hit you the dissatisfaction spreads act before it becomes impossible to disentangle one strand of misery from another or to see how the whole thing started isolation then is one of the most powerful ways to deal with that source of trouble who should you isolate powerful people who have alienated themselves from the group people host power has gone to their heads and they considered himself superior those people who have perhaps lost their knack of communicating with ordinary folk basically people breaking law 18 isolation is dangerous search of people who hold high positions yet who find themselves isolated on the board and find the one head that matters the person with willpower or smarts or most important of all charisma identify and shut the hell raisers down first recognize troublemakers by their overbearing presence or by they're complaining nature once you spot them do not try to reform them or appease them that will only make things worse do not attack them whether directly or indirectly for they are poisonous in nature and will work on the ground to destroy you do as the Athenians did banish them before it is too late separate them from the group before they become the eye of a tornado do not give them time to stir up anxieties and so discontent and to not give them room to move let one person suffer so that the rest can live in peace once you recognize who this theory is pointing it out to other people will accomplish a great deal understanding who controls the group dynamic is a critical realization because steers drive by hiding in the group disguising their actions among the reactions of others but why isolate can't you just hire an assassin and go about your daily life well that is an option but yes history has shown not a very good one you see getting rid of someone doesn't dissolve the loyalty of those who are close to your enemy rather isolate as they are vulnerable to you and your presence becomes magnified it can prove a powerful way of bringing people under your spell to seduce or swindle them here they feel weak and succumb to deception more easily as powerful as they may be people like this can be turned to use it is often better to isolate your enemies than to destroy them you seem less brutal look at them like apples falling into your lap easily seduced and able to catapult you into power yourself isolation disheartens the sheet beyond an irrational measure and most important of all cancer begins with a single cell excise it before it spreads beyond cure how does one isolate his enemies render their actions visible and they lose their power to upset separate your victims from their power base or their usual social context the result is the same as that achieved with the help of an assassin for in the game of power isolation spells death there's three kinds of isolation the physical banishment or absence from the court the political narrowing their base of support and deep psychological them from the group through slander and insinuation remember these when someone is trying to isolate you Machiavelli wrote any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge basically what law 15 is all about crushing your opponents completely if you act to isolate your enemy make sure he lacks the means to repay the favor if you apply this law in other words apply it from a position of superiority so that you have nothing to fear from his resentment I have recently watched a great movie with Keanu Reeves and you know when Keanu is in it that that is pretty much a given but the movie tells the story of the 47 Ronin as a samurai warrior you swore allegiance to your masters if they were to be killed their death had to be avenged if the samurai refused to take revenge in their fallen leaders name they would lose the honor of being a samurai from there on living a dishonorable life in shame as Ronin what happens in the movie is what happens if you fail to isolate your enemy from his followers even postmortem your enemies may come to haunt you in the form of your allies law 43 work on the heart and mind of others coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you you must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction our person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn and the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses soften up the resistant by working on their emotions playing on what they hold dear and what they fear ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you near the end of the reign of Louis 15 all of France seemed desperate for change when the Kings grandson and chosen successor the future louis xvi married the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Empress of Austria the French caught a glimpse of the future that seemed hopeful the young bride Marie Antoinette as soon as marie antoinette became queen she abandoned herself to the pleasures she loved most ordering and wearing the most expensive gowns and jewelry in the realm sporting the most elaborate hair in history her sculpted quoi feels rising as much as three feet above her head and throwing a constant succession of masked balls and feats all of these whims she paid for on credit never concerning herself with the cost or who paid the bills she had been running off her huge expenditures the country was headed for ruin but her subjects could rot in hell for all she cared in 1789 an unprecedented event took place the beginning of the French Revolution the Queen did not worry let the people have their little rebellion she seemed to think it would soon quiet down and she would be able to resume her life of pleasure that year the people marched on their side forcing the royal family to quit the palace and take residence in Paris this was a triumph for the rebels but it offered the Queen an opportunity to heal the wounds she had opened and established contact with the people the Queen however had not learned her lesson not once which she leave the palace during her stay in Paris in October of 1793 when the revolution officially declared the end of the monarchy she was found guilty and finally knelt at the guillotine on repentance and defiance to the bitter end here are five of the most disastrous attitudes in the realm of power types like Marie Antoinette live in their own bubble they seem to feel they're born kings and queens and that attention is owed them they do not consider anyone elses nature but bulldoze over people with their self-righteous arrogance pampered and indulged as children so as adults they still believe that everything must come to them convinced of their own charm they make no effort to charm seduced or gently persuade anyone when the energy and the art of seduction commands that at all times you must attend to those around you dodging their particular psychology tailor your words to what you know will entice and say the higher you are elevated above the crowds the greater the need to remain attuned to the hearts and minds of those below you create a base of support to maintain you at the pinnacle your first option to not distress yourself with such petty Affairs may be quick and easy but over time it brews ugly emotions in the hearts of the vanquished their resentment turns to hatred such animosity keeps you on the edge you spend your energy protecting what you've gained growing paranoid and offensive without that base of support your power will Teeter and at the slightest change of fortune those below you will gladly assist in your fall from grace force will only strengthen their resistance think critically before you act use patience it brings you peace of mind it converts a potential enemy into a pillar of support take the time to calculate and attune yourself to your targets emotional makeup and psychological weaknesses be alert to what separates them from everyone else their individual psychology and what they share with everyone else soften them up alternate harshness with mercy and play on their basic fears hate jealousy and also primary emotions once you break them down you will have a lifelong friend and fiercely loyal ally demonstrating as simply as possible how an action will benefit them self-interest is the strongest motive of all it secures the deal the wider your support base the stronger your power but read lightly understanding that one alienated disaffected soul can spark a blaze of discontent you too must constantly win over more allies on all levels law 44 disarmed and infuriate with the mirror effect the mirror reflects reality but it is also the perfect tool for deception when you mirror your enemies doing exactly as they do they cannot figure out your strategy the mirror effect marks and humiliates them making them overreact by holding up a mirror to the psyches you seduced them with the illusion that you shared their values by holding up a mirror to their actions you teach them a lesson few can resist the power of the mirror effect early on in his career the ambitious statesmen and general Alcibiades of Athens fashioned a formidable weapon that became the source of his power in every encounter with others he would sense their moods and tastes then carefully tailor his words and actions to mirror their inmost desires he would seduce them with the idea that their values were superior to everyone else's and that his goal was to model himself on them or help them realize their dreams few could resist his charm the first man to fall under his spell was the philosopher Socrates Alcibiades represented the opposite of the Socratic ideal of simplicity and uprightness he lived lavishly and was completely unprincipled whenever he met Socrates however he mirrored the older man's sobriety eating simply accompanying Socrates on long walks and talking only of philosophy and virtue Socrates was not completely fooled he was not unaware of Alcibiades other life but that only made him vulnerable to a logic that flattered him only in my presence does this man submit to a virtuous influence only I have such power over him this feeling intoxicated Socrates who became Alcibiades fervent admirer and supporter one day even risking his own life to rescue the young man in battle Alcibiades then charmed the Athenians got accused of profaning sacred statues and fled he then charmed the Spartans impregnated the King's wife and fled and lastly he charmed the Persians secretly helping the Athenians win their war with Sparta and well fled Persia but returned back home were the Athenians embraced him with open arms in 408 BC wherever Alcibiades went whoever he had to deal with he would leave behind his own values and appear to share the values of his victims no one could resist a man who not only concurred with them but also admired their ways of living seeming to be one of their own this mirror effect this very early discovery of what some call a neuro simplistic programming technique today was way more effective than any sharpened sword and shield LC biddies could have wielded Greene describes these four main mirror effects the neutralizing effect the narcissus effect the moral effect and the hallucinatory effect all good and well but what does that mean in a certain I am so glad you asked in neutralizing do what your enemies do following their actions as best as you can and they can see what you're up to you as their strategy for dealing with you depends on your reaction with the narcissus effect you look deep into the souls of other people fade them their inmost desires their values their tastes their spirits and you reflect it back to them feeding their narcissism with the moral effect you mirror what other people have done to you and do so in a way that makes them realize you are doing to them exactly what they did to you the hallucinatory effect comes from creating a perfect copy of an object a place or a person mirroring people is extremely effective you give them the feeling that you share their thoughts and goals if they suspect you have ulterior motives the mirror shields you preventing them from figuring you out by playing the dooble you steal their thunder suck away their initiative and make them feel helpless you also gain the ability to choose when and how to unsettle them the mirror saves you mental energy simply echoing the moves of others gives you the space you need to develop a strategy of your own but tread lightly mirrors contain great power but also dangerous reefs you can often back into a mirrored situation without fully understanding it most often you suffer by the comparison see me either weaker than the previous occupant of your position or else tainted by any unpleasant associations that person has left behind avoided the association effects like the plague in a mirrored situation you have little or no control over the reflections and recollections that will be connected to you any situation beyond your control is dangerous doesn't matter if the person or event has positive associations you will suffer from not being able to live up to them since the past generally appears greater than the present law 45 preach change but never reform quickly everyone understands the need for change in the abstract but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habits too much innovation is traumatic and will lead to revolt if you are new to a position of power or an outsider trying to build a power base make a show of respecting the old way of doing things if change is necessary make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past sometime in the early 1520's King Henry the eighth of England decided to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon because she had failed to bear him a son and because she had fallen in love with the young and calmly on boolean bowline or son like that the Pope opposed the divorce and threatened the King with excommunication The Kinks the most powerful Minister Cardinal Wolsey also saw no need for divorce and his wholehearted support of the king costs him his position and soon his life one man in Henry's cabinet Thomas Cromwell not only supported him in his desire for divorce but had an idea for realizing it a complete break with the past he convinced the king that by severing ties with Rome and making himself the head of a newly formed English church he could divorce Catherine and Mary Anne by 1531 Henry saw this as the only solution to reward Cromwell for his simple but brilliant idea he elevated this son of a blacksmith to the post of royal councilor so far as we've seen in law 3:6 disdain things you cannot have this strategy was a great success King Henry successfully impregnated his new fertile life and could now rest assured his leg he would carry on but this new character Thomas Cromwell he wasn't in any way subtle about his approach he envisioned a new protest and order in England with the power of the Catholic Church smashed and its vast wealth in the hands of the king and the government and his ways of going about it were unabashedly bald he began to seize the holdings in the churches and monasteries of England pouring them out of existence one by one virtually overnight England was converted to a new official religion at Terror fell on the country some people had suffered under the Catholic Church which before the reforms had been immensely powerful but most Britons had strong ties to Catholicism and to it's comforting rituals they watched in horror as churches were demolished images of the Madonna and saints were broken in pieces stained glass windows were smashed and the church's treasures were confiscated 1535 powerful revolts in the north of England threatened to topple Henry from his throne by the following year he had suppressed the rebellions but he had also begun to see the costs of Cromwell's reforms the king himself had never wanted to go this far he had only wanted a divorce it is critical to understand that change comes with consequences the man who initiates strong reforms often becomes the scapegoat for any kind of dissatisfaction eventually the reaction to the reforms may consume you for change is upsetting for the human-animal even when it is for the good you can see this for example with the youtube comment section when it changed to this Google+ then when it actually improved but people were still upset because change is generally a wish people have but dislike when it's happening ironic to say the least the world is and always has been full of insecurity and threat and we latch on to familiar faces and create habits and rituals to make the world more comfortable change can be pleasant and even sometimes desirable in the abstract but too much of it creates an anxiety that will steer and boil beneath the surface and then eventually erupt so how does one approach times of reforming change a simple gesture like using an old title or keeping the same number of a group will tie you to the past and support you with the authority of history make a loud and public display of support for the values of the past seem to be a zealot for tradition and few will notice how unconventional you really are quietly enact a radical change while appearing to safeguard tradition the changes you make must seem less innovative than they are if your reform is too far ahead of its time few will understand it and it will stir up anxiety and be hopelessly misinterpreted also if you work in a tumultuous time there is power to be gained by preaching a return to the past the come forth tradition and ritual but during a period of stagnation on the other hand play the card of reform and revolution but be aware of what you steerer those who finish a revolution are rarely those who started you will not succeed at this dangerous game unless you are willing to forestall the inevitable reaction against it by playing with appearances and building on the past as always be warned the past is a corpse to be used as you see fit if what happened in the recent past was painful and harsh it is self-destructive to associate yourself with it even an ugly recent history will seem preferable to an empty space fill that space immediately with new rituals and forms Suva and growing familiar these will secure your position among the masses the perfect example once again is as detailed in law 26 keep your hands clean Cesare Borgia who was facing a great disdain from the populace from all the gruesome actions that had come with his ascent to the throne they wanted immediate change or a revolution would have broken out Cesare picked up on that blamed Ramiro Dior Co made a public display of his spiked up head and then went on to throw many balls feeds hand out food basically appear like a Saints in short he calmed the people who had wanted his downfall with prompt change and strategic generosity as seen in law 40 with louis xiv by leaving the dark past behind and announcing the good times that lie ahead law 46 never appear to perfect appearing better than others is always dangerous but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses envy creates silent enemies it is smart to occasionally display the effects and admit to harmless vices in order to deflect Envy and appear more human and approachable only gods and the death can seem perfect with impunity law 47 in victory learn when to stop the moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril and the heat of victory arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for and by going too far you make more enemies than you defeat do not allow success to go to your head there is no substitute for strategy and careful planning set a goal and when you reach it stop no single person history has occupied a more delicate and precarious position than the King's mistress she had no real or legitimate power base to fall back on in times of trouble she was surrounded by packs of envious courtiers eagerly anticipating her fall from grace and finally since the source of her power was usually her physical beauty for most royal mistresses that fall was inevitable and unpleasant when Jean Antoinette was owned was a middle-class child of nine she had been told by a fortune-teller that she would someday be the king's favorite this seemed an absurd dream since the royal mistress almost always came from the aristocracy Jean nevertheless believed herself destined to seduce the king and doing so became her obsession she applied herself to the talents the King's favorite had to have music dancing acting horseback riding and she excelled in every one of them word quickly spread of her beauty talent charm and intelligence Jean Watson became close friends with Voltaire Montesquieu and other great minds of the time but she never lost sight of the goal she had set for herself as a girl to capture the heart of the king in 1744 Louis 15th current mistress the - Esther shutter Hall died Jean placed herself everywhere he would be at masked balls at their site at the Opera wherever their paths would cross and wherever she could display her many talents the King succumbed to her charms and in a ceremony at Versailles in September of 1745 this 24 year old daughter of a middle-class banking agent was officially inaugurated as the King's mistress from now on she would be known as Madame de Pompadour she organized elaborate hunting parties masked balls and whatever else it would take to keep the king amused and averted outside the bedroom she became a patroness of the Arts and the arbiter of taste and fashion for all of France her enemies at the court only grew in number with each new success but Madame de Pompadour thwarted them in a totally novel way for a king's mistress with extreme politeness in 1751 when Madame de Pompadour was at the height of her power she experienced her worst crisis she found it increasingly difficult and meet the Kings demands in bed this was usually the point at which the mistress would meet her end struggling to maintain her position as her beauty faded but Madame de Pompadour encouraged the King to set up a brothel on the grounds of Versailles there the middle aged king could have liaisons with the most beautiful young girls in the realm her rhiness mistress had lasted an unprecedented twenty years she was regretted by all wrote the duke de quoi for she was kindly and helpful to everyone who approached her Madame de Pompadour was aware of the temporariness of her power she succeeded where all others had failed because she never pressed her good fortune instead of bullying the quarters from her powerful position as the King's mistress she tried to win their support she never revealed the slightest hint of greed or arrogance when she could no longer perform her physical duties as mistress she did not fret at the fault of someone replacing her in bed she simply encouraged the king to take young lovers knowing that the younger and prettier they were the less of a threat they posed since they could not compare to her in charm and sophistication and would soon bore the monarch notice how Shan Antoinette wausau aside from her origins appeared to be perfect and still managed not to stir up too much Envy and where there was trouble brewing she dealt with it with extreme kindness law 48 assumed formlessness by taking a shape by having a visible plan you open yourself to attack instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp keep yourself adaptable and on the move accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed the best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water never bet on stability or lasting order everything changes when a sportin boy reached the age of seven he was taken from his mother and placed in a military Club where he was trained to fight and underwent the strictest discipline the boy slept on beds of reeds they were allotted only one outer garment to wear for an entire year they studied none of the arts music was banned and only slaves were permitted to practice the crafts that were necessary to sustain them the only skills the Spartans thought were dose of warfare children seen as weaklings were left to die in a cavern in the mountains no system of money or trading was allowed in Sparta acquired wealth they believed with so selfishness and dissension weakening their warrior discipline Sparta was a society dedicated to the art of war Spartans would be tougher stronger and fiercer than their neighbors this was the only way they could ensure their stability and survival the spartans single-mindedness allowed them to forged the most powerful infantry in the world they marched in perfect order and fought with incomparable bravery their tight-knit phalanxes could vanquish an army ten times their size as they proved in defeating the at Thermopylae a Spartan column on the March would strike terror in the enemy it seemed to have no weaknesses yet although the Spartans proved themselves mighty warriors they had no interest in creating an empire they only wanted to keep what they had already conquered and to defended against invaders decades would pass without a single change in the system that had succeeded so well in preserving Sparta status quo at the same time that the Spartans were evolving their warlike culture Athens was rising to equal prominence they took the sea became great merchants and spread their currency throughout the Mediterranean unlike the rigid Spartans the Athenians responded to every problem with consume at creativity adapting to the occasion and creating new social forms the new arts at an incredible pace their society was in constant flux in 431 BC the war that had been brewing between Athens and Sparta for so long finally erupted it lasted 27 years but after many twists affords you in the Spartan war machine finally emerged victorious Sparta had defeated Athens but the fluid Athenian way of life was slowly breaking down its discipline and loosening its rigid order they were adapting to losing their empire managing to thrive as a cultural and economic center meanwhile Sparta grew weaker and weaker some 30 years after defeating Athens it lost an important battle with the city-state of Thebes almost overnight this once mighty nation collapsed and would never recover [Music] [Music] [Music] in facing a serious problem controlling superior numbers sparta reacted like an animal that develops the shell to protect itself from the environment but like a turtle the spartans sacrificed mobility for safety they had no culture beyond warfare no arts to relieve the tension a constant anxiety about the status quo victory would mean new lands to govern which they did not want defeat would mean the end of their military machine which they didn't want either only stasis allowed them to survive but nothing in the world can remain stable forever and the sheller system you evolved for your protection will someday prove your undoing it is best to adapt and overcome instead when you want to fight us we don't let you and you can't find us but when we want to fight you we make sure that you can't get away and we hit you squarely and wipe you out the enemy advances we retreat the enemy camps we her ass the enemy tires we attack the enemy retreats we pursue wasallam tab Salima valleys a paris fax the pests dr. Shapiro deep deserve a Sevilla LG poverty response in Palma [Music]

Channel: illacertus

Views: 1,839,043

Rating: 4.873374 out of 5

Keywords: 48 laws of power, 48 laws of power summary, robert greene

Id: LLB4UrCXOq0

Length: 206min 58sec (12418 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 28 2019