The 48 Laws Of Power

Prussian

independence.

(This

was

why

herefusedto

grab

Austrianterri-

tory.)

AndhefomentedthewarwithFrancetounitetheGerman

king-

doms

against

acommon

enemy,

andthusto

prepare

for

the

formation

ofa

united

Germany.

Oncethiswas

achieved,

Bismarck

stopped.

Heneverlet

triumph

go

tohis

head,

wasnever

temptedby

thesirencallofmore.Heheldtherei.ns

tightly,

andwheneverthe

generals,

orthe

king,

orthePrussian

people

de-

manded

new

conquests,

heheld

them

back.Nothing

would

spoil

the

beauty

ofhis

creation,

certainly

notafalse

euphoria

that

pushed

those

aroundhimto

attempt

to

gopast

theendthathehadso

carefullyplanned.

Experience

shows

that,

ifanef0Teset4.9_f1“amfaTaway

the

designs

tobe

undertaken,

onecanactwith

speed

whenthemomentcomestoexecutethem.

Cardimzfftichelieru,1585-1642

KEYS

TOPOWER

According

tothe

cosmology

oftheancient

Greeks,

the

gods

were

thought

tohave

complete

visionintothe

future.

They

saw

everything

to

come,

right

downtotheintricatedetails.

Men,

ontheother

hand,

wereseenas

victimsof

fate,

trapped

inthemomentandtheir

emotions,

unabletosee

beyond

immediate

dangers.

Those

heroes,

suchas

Odysseus,

whowere

abletolook

beyond

the

present

and

plan

several

steps

ahead,

seemed

to

defy

fate,

to

approximate

the

gods

intheir

ability

todeterminethefuture.

The

comparison

is

stillva.1id—those

among

us

whothinkfurtherahead

and

patiently

bring

their

plans

tofruitionseemtohavea

godlike

power.

Becausemost

people

aretoo

imprisoned

inthemomentto

plan

with

thiskindof

foresight,

the

ability

to

ignore

immediate

dangers

and

plea-

surestranslatesinto

power.

Itisthe

power

of

being

able

toovercomethe

naturalhuman

tendency

to

reactto

things

as

theyhappen,

andinstead

to

trainoneselfto

step

back,

imagining

the

largerthingstaking

shapebeyond

one’simmediatevision.Most

people

believethat

they

areinfactawareof

the

future,

that

they

are

planning

and

thinking

ahead.

They

are

usually

de-

luded:

What

they

are

reallydoing

is

succumbing

totheir

desires,

to

what

they

wantthefuturetobe.Their

plans

are

vague,

basedontheir

imagina-

tionsratherthantheir

reality.Theymay

believe

they

are

thinking

allthe

way

tothe

end,

but

they

are

reallyonlyfocusing

onthe

happyending,

and

deluding

themselves

by

the

strength

oftheirdesire.

In 415

B.C.,

theancientAtheniansattacked

Sicily,believing

theirex-

pedition

would

bring

them

riches,

power,

and

a

gloriousending

tothe

six-

teen-year

Peloponnesian

War.

They

didnotconsiderthe

dangers

ofan

invasionsofarfrom

home;they

didnotforeseethattheSicilianswould

light

allthehardersincethebattleswereintheirown

homeland,

orthat

allofAthens’s

enemies

wouldband

togetheragainst

them,

or

that

war

wouldbreakout

on

several

fronts,

stretching

theirforces

way

toothin.

TheSicilian

expedition

wasa

complete

disaster,

leading

tothedestruction

LAW

2!)

.24!