The 48 Laws Of Power

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man!Whatis(heuse
of

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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