The 48 Laws Of Power

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104 LAW 14

ThroughoutTalleyrand’s

life,

people

saidhewasa

superb

conversa-

tionalist—yet

he

actually

said

very

little.Henevertalkedabouthisown

ideas;

he

got

otherstorevealtheirs.Hewould

organizefriendlygames

of

charades for

foreign

diplomats,

social

gatherings

where, however,

he

would

carefullyweigh

their

words,

cajole

confidencesoutof

them,

and

gather

informationinvaluabletohisworkasFrance’s

foreign

minister.At

the

Congress

of

Vienna

(1814-1815)

he

didhis

spying

inother

ways:

He

wouldblurt

out

whatseemed

to

be

a

secret

(actuallysomething

hehad

made

up),

thenwatchhislisteners’reactions.He

might

tella

gathering

of

diplomats,

for

instance,

thatareliablesourcehadrevealedtohimthatthe

czar

of

Russia

was

planning

toarresthis

topgeneral

fortreason.

By

watch-

ing

the

diplomats’

reactionstothis

madealpstory,

hewouldknowwhich

onesweremostexcited

by

the

weakening

oftheRussian

army—~perhaps

their

goverments

had

designs

on Russia? As BaronVon Stetten

said,

“Monsieur

Talleyrand

firesa

pistol

intotheairtoseewhowill

jump

outthe

window.”

During

social

gatherings

andinnocuous

encounters,

pay

attention.

Thisiswhen

people’sguards

aredown.

Bysuppressingyour

own

personal-

ity,you

canmakethemreveal

things.

Thebrillianceofthemaneuveris

that

they

willmistake

your

interestinthemfor

friendship,

sothat

you

not

only

learn,

you

malceallies.

Nevertheless,

you

should

practice

thistactic

with

caution

andcare.If

peoplebegin

to

suspectyou

are

worming

secretsoutofthemunderthe

coverof

conversation,

they

will

strictly

avoid

you.Emphasize friendly

chatter,

notvaluableinformation.Yoursearchfor

gems

ofinformationcan-

notbetoo

obvious,

or

yourprobingquestions

willrevealmoreabout

your

selfand

your

intentionsthanabouttheinformation

youhope

to

find.

Atrickto

try

in

spying

comesfromLa

Rochefoucauld,

who

wrote,

“Sincerity

isfoundin

very

few

men,

andisoftenthecleverestofruses——

oneissincereinordertodrawouttheconfidenceandsecretsoftheother.”

By

pretending

tobare

your

hearttoanother

person,

inother

words,

you

makethemmore

likely

torevealtheirownsecrets.Givethem

a

false

con‘

fessionand

they

will

giveyou

arealone.Anothertrickwasidentified

by

the

philosopher

Arthur

Schopenhauer,

who

suggestedvehemently

contra-

dictingpeopleyou’re

inconversation

withasa

way

of

irritating

them,

stir—

ring

them

up

so

that

they

losesomeofthecontrolovertheirwords.

Intheir

emotionalreaction

they

willrevealallkindsoftruthsabout

themselves,

truths

you

canlateruse

against

them.

Anothermethodof

indirect

spying

istotest

people,

to

lay

little

traps

thatmakethemreveal

things

about

themselves.Chosroes

II,

a

notoriously

clever

seventlrcentury king

ofthe

Persians,

had

manyways

of

seeing

through

his

subjects

without

raising

suspicion.

Ifhe

noticed,

for

instance,

thattwoofhiscouruershadbecome

particularlyfriendly,

hewouldcall

oneofthemasideand

say

he

hadinformationthattheotherwasa

traitor,

andwouldsoonbekilled.The

king

wouldtellthecourtierhe

tmsted

him

morethan

anyone,

andthathemust

keep

thisinformationsecret.Thenhe