The 48 Laws Of Power

2.94

resz's1zzm‘e.themore

respeci

wedemaml

of

him.WeH’IJl«tl{lwill-

ingly

.s'u_v

lo

you

man:

"Ali,in

pi!)/3

namedo

not

.~'uppo.rc

ustolmso

very

virtuous;

you

are

fgmmg

u,.\‘tohavetun

much

ofil.

.

.

Wt’are

continually

xmtggling

tohidethe

[act

(ha!wefutvrv

p('rmf!te(l

tzurxelvexto

ho(overt.Put:1wrmmn

inr:

posiiizm

to

say

that

slurhas

}rieirl:>a'only

to

at
.s'pecie.ofw'(.>lem:e,
or

to

surprise:perszmrle

her{hat

you

donot

mzdcrmlm:

her,

andI

will

r1lI,S'!1'€7f()r

her

heart.

A

littlemore

boldnesson

yourpan

would

putyou

bothat

your

case.Do

you

I‘t?rIl¢‘rI1l1(rrwhatM.de

la

Rochcfoucauld

{old

youImely.‘

“Areason-

ablemaninlaw?

may

actlikeav

mmlman,

bu!heslwultlmu

am!cmmmnotlike

anidiot.

"

1

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ANT}

I-‘m('m<F,A.~1vuu,os0m4r

orNINONmi1.1-;

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16204705

LAW 2 B

ticularly

those

discussionsinwhich

you

are

askedtoset

your

own

price.

How

ofienwe

put

ourselves

down

byasking

fortoolittle.WhenChrista

pher

Columbus

proposed

thatthe

Spanish

courtfinancehis

voyage

tothe

Americas,

he alsomadethe

insanely

bolddemandthathe becalled

“GrandAdmiraloftheOcean.”Thecourt

agreed.

The

price

heset

wasthe

price

hereceived--hedemandedtobetreatedwith

respect,

andso

he

was.

HenryKissinger

tooknew

thatin

negotiation,

bolddemandsworkbetter

than

starting

offwith

piecemeal

concessionsand

trying

tomeettheother

personhalfway.

Set

your

value

high,

and

then,

asCount

Lusfig

did,

setit

higher.

~

Understand:Ifboldnessisnot

natural,

neitheris

timidity.

Itisanac-

quired

habit,

picked

up

outofa.desiretoavoidconflict.If

timidity

has

takenholdof

you,

then,

rootitoutYourfearsofthe

consequences

ofa

boldactionare

way

outof

proportion

to

reality,

andinfacttheconse

quences

of

timidity

areworse.Yourvalueisloweredand

you

createaself~

fulfillingcycle

ofdoubtanddisaster.Remember:The

problems

created

by

anaudaciousmovecanbe

disguised,

even

remedied,

by

moreand

greater

audacity.

Image:

TheLionandthe

Hare.Thelion

creates

no

gaps

in

his

way——his

movements are too

swift,

hisjaws

too

quick

and

powerful.

The

timidharewilldo

any-

thing

to

escapedanger,

but in its haste to

retreatand

flee,

itbacks

into

traps,hops

smack

into itsenemies’

jaws.

Authority:

I

certainly

thinkthatitis

bettertobe

impetuous

than

cautious,

forfortuneisa

woman,

anditis

necessary,

if

you

wishto

master

her,

to

conquer

her

by

force;

anditcanbeseenthatshelets

herselfbeovercome

by

theboldratherthan

by

thosewho

proceed

coldly.

And

therefore,

like a

woman,

sheis

always

afriendto

the

young,

because

they

areless

cautious, fiercer,

andmaster

herwith

greateraudacity. (Niccolo

Machiavelli, 1469-1527)