The 48 Laws Of Power

'|‘lIliLIAN

Once

upon

41 timethere

wasa

kingof/lrnvertia,

who.

beingoft:

lruriuus

mm

nfmind

andin

need

a,f's(>nw

new

aliversion,

sent

his

heralllx

tk9’()l.lg}‘IA’)llI

the

landtomake

the

following

/zm::lamnii'mz:

“Hearthis!Whatever

man

anmngyou

('10!

provehimselfthe

most

outrageous

liarin

Armeniashallrei-eivr

an

apple‘

made

ofpurc

goldfrom

thehands

of

His

.Ma;'€s!y

the

King!”

Peoplebegan

toswarrn

70 file

palacefrom

every

townandhamlrt

inthe

country,people

o/‘all

ranksand

conditions,

princux,

merclilinis,farmers‘.

priests,

richand

poor,

(alland

short,

fat

and

thin.Therewasnolack

of

liarsinthe

land,

and

eachonemidhisIaleto

the

king.

/1

ruler,

however,

hasheard

practicallyevery

sort

of

lie,

andnone

ofthoxe

nowmidhim

convincedthe

king

that

hehadIisrerxedtothe

hm

of

them.

The

king

was

begirr

ning

to

grow

tired

of

hisnew

sport

andwas

thinkingofmlling

the

wholecontest

off

with

out

declaring

a

winner,

whenthere

appeamd

before

him:2

poor,

ragged

man,

carrying

:1

large

earthenware

pitcher

underhisarm.

“Who!canIdo

for

vim?"

askedllis

Majesty.

“Sire;”'s~a§dthe

poor

man,

slightly

bewil-

256 LAW 31

February,

withmuch

celebration,

IvanreturnedtoMoscow.TheRussians

could

no

longercomplain

if

hebehaved

dictatorially-—-they

had

given

him

this

power

themselves.

Interpretation

IvantheTeniblefacedaterribledilemma:To

give

intothe

boyars

would

lead

tocertain

destruction,

but

civilwarwould

bring

adifferentkindof

ruin.Even

if

Ivancameoutof

sucha.waron

top,

the

counhy

wouldbedev-

astatedanditsdivisionswouldbe

stronger

thanever.His

weapon

ofchoice

inthe

past

hadbeentomakea

bold,

offensivemove.

Now,however,

that

kindofmovewouldturn

against

him—themore

boldly

beconfrontedhis

enemies,

theworsethereactionshewould

spark.

Themainweaknessofashowofforceisthatitstirs

up

resentment

and

eventually

leadstoa

response

that

eats

at

yourauthofity.

Ivan,

immensely

creativeintheuseof

power,

saw

clearly

thatthe

onlypath

to

thekindof

victory

hewantedwasafalsewithdrawal.Hewouldnotforcethe

country

overtohis

position,

hewould

give

it

“options”:

eitherhis

abdication,

and

certain

anarchy,

orhisaccessiontoabsolute

power.

Toback

up

his

move,

hemadeitclearthathe

preferred

toabdicate:“Call

my

bluffi”

he

said,

“andwatchwhat

happens.”

Noonecalledhisbluff.

Bywithdrawing

for

just

a

month,

heshowedthe

country

a

glimpse

ofthe

nightmares

thatwould

follow

his

abdication-—Taxtar

invasions,

civil

war,

ruin.

(All

ofthesedid

eventually

cometo

pass

after

Ivan’s

death,

in

the

infamous“Timeofthe

Troubles”)

Withdrawaland

disappearance

areclassic

ways

of

controlling

the

op»

tions.You

give

people

asenseofhow

things

willfall

apart

without

you,

and

you

offerthema“choice”:I

stayaway

and

you

sufferthe

consequences,

or

Iretumundercircumstances

thatIdictate.Inthismethodof

controlling

people’soptions,they

choosethe

option

that

givesyoupower

becausethe

alternativeis

just

too

unpleasant.

You

forcetheir

hand,

but

indirectly:They

seemtohaveachoice.Whenever

people

feel

they

havea

choice,

they

walk

into

yourtrap

thatmuchmore

easily.

OBSELRVANCEOFTHELAWII

Asa

seventeenth-century

French

courtesan,

NinondeLenclosfoundthat

herlifehadcertain

pleasures.

Herloverscamefrom

royalty

andaristoc-

racy,

and

theypaid

her

well,

entertainedherwiththeirwitand

intellect,

satisfiedherrather

demanding

sensual

needs,

andtreatedheralmostasan

equal.

Suchalifewas

infinitely

preferable

to

marriage.

In

1643,however,

Ninon’smotherdied

suddenly,

leaving

her,

atthe

age

of

twenty-three,

to

tally

aloneintheworld-«no

family,

no

dowry,nothing

tofallback

upon.

A

kindof

panic

overtookherandsheentereda

convent,

tuming

herbackon

herillustriouslovers.A

year

latershelefttheconventandmovedto

Lyons.

Whenshe

finallyreappeared

in

Paris,

in

1648,

loversandsuitorsflockedto

herdoorin

greater

numbersthanever

before,

forshewasthewittiestand