The 48 Laws Of Power

(Utkarsh JhaWsTmab) #1
Always
setinwork

without
rnisgivrngs

on

the
.cmreu/’i1npru-

dcncc.Fear
affailure

inthemind
ufu

pcrfnrrmar
is,
for

an

onlimkrrr,
alrmriy

evidemse
of/kzilure.
...

Actions’are
dangerous

whenthereisdoubtas

totheirwi.\'zlorn.,'

itwouldbe
safer

to
do
rzotliirzg.

llAi:rA$AR
(‘vRAL‘1A,~‘.

l60l 1658

‘IHI-ZS‘l(>I{\M-

|ll»|IEz\l.\l.

Ina
lowly
thatched

outrage
in(heNorman

Valley

lll(’r(’lived(1

[marL:nu[rle_


Mr.and

Mrs.lluh
Sacng.

Thehmhaml
mm,/inn!

/1iI?1.§¢’l/ft)?’


.s‘r:v(‘.n
years

and
nnly
rmdImnkxin

Ills
cold
room.
...

Um’
duv
his
wife,

allin

tears,
Mildtohim:

“look
lwre,mygoml

man!Whatis(heuse
of


all
your

book
reading?

lhnvo
spentmyyouth

in
washing

and
sewing

for
other
people

and

yet

Ihaveno
.\'pan*

jackrrr
orxkirttowear

andIImvehadno
fowl


tocut
duringllzepusl

Ihrec11m/5.
Ium
hungry

and
cold,
Icanstand

itnomonhl"

..
.1IearingIhese

wants,
the
ntiddln-aged

xclzolurcloser]his

Imuk...raveIn


hixfeel

and.
.
.witlwur
suyirzg

urmrlwr
wrml,
hr’wrnl

(mt
oftlmms:

..../lrriv-


/rig

inthe
heart
Ufihe

230 LAW 23


Suddenly,

however,

herealizedthatthedirectorhad

changed

histone.

Insteadof

talking

aboutthe
tower,

hewas

complaining

about hislow

salary,

about
his
wife’sdesire
forafur
coat,
about
how

galling

it
wasto

workhardandbe

unappreciated.

ItdawnedonMonsieurP.thatthis


high

government

officialwas

asking

forabribe.Theeffecton
him,

though,

was

not
outrage

butrelief.Nowhewassurethat

Lustig

wasfor

real,

sinceinall

ofhis

previous

encounterswithFrench
bureaucrats,

they

had

inevitably

asked
foralittle

greasing

of
the

palm.

His
confidence
restored,
Monsieur
P.

slipped

thedirectorseveralthousandfrancsin
bills,
thenhandedhimthe

certifiedcheck.Inreturnhereceivedthe
documentation,

including

anim-

pressive—looking

billofsale.Heleftthe
hotel,

dreaming

ofthe

profits

and

fametocome.

Overthenextfew

days,

however,

as
MonsieurP.waitedforcorre-

spondence

fromthe
government,

he

began

torealizethat

something

was

amiss.Afew

telephone

callsmadeitclearthattherewasno

deputy

direc-

tor

general

Lustig,

andtherewereno

plans

to

destroy

theEiffelTower:He

hadbeenbilkedofover
250,000

francs!

MonsieurP.neverwenttothe

police.

Heknewwhatkindof
reputa-

tion
hewould
get

ifword
got

outthat
he
had
fallen
foroneofthemostab

surdly

audaciouscons
in

history.

Besidesthe
public
humiliation,

it
would

havebeenbusinesssuicide.

Interpretation

HadCountVictor

Lustig,

conartist
extraordinaire,

triedtoselltheArcde

Triomphe,

a

bridge

overthe
Seine,

a
statue
of

Balzac,

noone
wouldhave

believedhim.ButtheEiffelTowerwas
just

too

large,

too

improbable

tobe

part

ofacon

job.

Infactitwasso

improbable

that

Lustig

wasabletoreturn

toParissixmonthslaterand“resell”theEiffelTowertoadifferent
scrap-

iron

dealer,

andfora

higherprice-—a

suminfrancs

equivalenttoday

to

over

$1,500,000!

Largeness

ofscaledeceivesthehuman
eye.

Itdistractsandawes
us,

andissoself-evidentthatwecarmot
imagine

thereis
any

illusionor
decep-

tionafoot.Arm

yourself

with

bigness

andboldness—stretch
yourdecep-

tionsasfaras

they

will
go

andthen
go

further.If
you

sensethatthesucker

has

suspicions,

doasthe

intrepidLustig

did:Insteadof

backing

down,
or

lowering

his

price,

he

simply

raisedhis
price

higher,

by

asking

forand
get-

ting

abribe.

Asking

formore
puts

theother
person

onthe

defensive,

cuts

outthe
nibbling

effectof
compromise

and
doubt,

andoverwhelmswithits

boldness.

ObservanceII

Onhisdeathbedin
1533,

Vasily

III,

theGrandDukeofMoscowandruler

ofasemi-united
Russia,

proclaimed

his

three-year-old

son,

Ivan
IV,

ashis

successor.
He

appointed

his
young
wife, Helena,

as
regent

until Ivan

reachedhis
majority

andcouldruleonhisown.
The

aristocracy—the

bo-

yars—secretlyrejoiced:

For
years

thedukesofMoscowhadbeen
trying

to

extendtheir

authority

overthe

boyars’

turf.With

Vasily

dead,

hisheira

merethree
years
old,

anda
young

womanin

charge

ofthe
dukedom,

the
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