The 48 Laws Of Power

I60
3
LAW2]

sign

a

certain

treaty.

The

treaty

was

totally

intheinterests

of

Prussiaand

against

the

interests

of

Austria,

andBismarckwouldhaveto

strategize

to

get

theAusmansto

agree

toitButtheAustrian

negotiator,

Count

Blorne,

wasanavid

cardplayer.

His

particulargame

was

quinze,

and heoftensaid

thathecould

judge

aman’scharacter

by

the

way

he

playedquinze.

Bis-

marck

knew

of

this

saying

ofBlome’s.

The

night

beforethe

negotiations

wereto

begin,

Bismarck

innocently

engaged

Blomeina

game

of

quinze.

ThePrussianwouldlater

write,

“That

wasthe

very

lasttimeIever

playedquinze.

I

played

so

recklessly

that

everyone

wasastonished.Ilostseveralthousandtalers

[the

currency

of

the

time],

butIsucceededin

fooling

[Blome],

forhe

believed

metobe

more

venturesomethanIamandI

gaveway.”

Besides

appearing

reckless,

Bis-

marckalso

played

thewitless

fool,

saying

ridiculous

things

and

bumbling

aboutwitha

surplus

ofnervous

energy.

AllthismadeBlomefeelhehad

gadiered

valuable

information.

He

knewthatBismarckwas

aggressive———the

Prussian

already

hadthat

reputa-

tion,

andthe

way

he

played

had

confirmedit.And

aggressive

men,

Blome

knew,

canbefoolishandrash.

Accordingly,

whenthetimecameto

Sign

the

treaty,

Blome

thought

hehadthe

advantage.

AheedlessfoollikeBis-

marck,

he

thought,

is

incapable

ofcold—bloodedcalculationand

deception,

so

he

onlyglanced

atthe

treaty

before

signing

it—he

failedtoreadthefine

print.

Assoonastheinkwas

dry,

a

joyous

Bismarckexclaimedinhis

face,

“Well,

IcouldneverhavebelievedthatIshouldfindanAustrian

diplomat

willing

to

sign

thatdocument!”

TheChinesehavea

phrase,“Masqueracling

asaswine tokill the

tiger.”

Thisreferstoanancient

huntingtechnique

in

whichthehunter

clotheshimself

in

thehideandsnoutofa

pig,

andmimicsits

grunting.

The

mightytiger

thinksa

pig

is

coming

his

way,

andletsit

get

close,savoring

the

prospect

ofan

easy

meal.Butitisthehunterwhohasthe

last

laugh.

Masquerading

asaswineworkswondersonthose

who,

like

tigers,

are

arrogant

andoverconfident:Theeasier

they

thinkitisto

prey

on

you,

the

more

easilyyou

canturnthetables.Thistrickisalsousefulif

you

areambi-

tious

yet

find

yourself

lowinthe

hierarchy:Appearing

less

intelligent

than

you

are,

evenabitofa

fool,

isthe

perfectdisguise.

Looklikeaharmless

pig

andnoonewillbelieve

you

harbor

dangerous

ambitions.

Theymay

even

promoteyou

since

you

seemso

likable,

andsubservient.Claudiusbefore

he

became

emperor

of

Rome,

andthe

prince

ofFrancewholaterbecame

Louis

XIII,

usedthistacticwhenthoseabovethem

suspectedtheymight

have

designs

onthethrone.

Byplaying

thefoolas

young

men,

they

were

left

alone.

Whenthetimecameforthemto

strike,

and

to

actwith

vigor

and

decisiveness,

theycaughteveryoneoi?-guard.

Intelligence

isthe

obvious

quality

to

downplay,

but

whystop

there?

Tasteand

sophistication

rankcloseto

intelligence

on the

vanity

scale;

make

people

feel

they

aremore

sophisticated

than

you

areandtheir

guard

willcomedown.AsArnoldand

Slack

knew,

anairof

complete

naivetécan

workwonders.Those

fancy

financierswere

laughing

atthembehindtheir