The 48 Laws Of Power

308
3
LAW 36

Image:

The

Tiny

Wound.

Itissmallbut

painful

and

irritating.

You

try

allsorts of

medicaments,

you

Corn-

plain,you

scratchand

pick

atthescab.

Doctors

only

makeit

worse,

transforming

the

tiny

woundinto

a

grave

matter.

If

only

you

hadleftthewound

alone,

letting

time

heal it and

freeing yourself

of

worry.

Authority:

Knowhowto

play

thecardof

contempt.

Itisthemost

politic

kindof

revenge.

Forthereare

many

ofwhomweshouldhaveknown

nothing

iftheir

distinguishedopponents

hadtakennonoticeofthem.

There

isno

revenge

like

oblivion,

for

itistheentombmentoftheunwor-

thy

inthedustoftheir

own

nothingness.

(BaltasarGracién,1601-1658)

REVERSAL

Youmust

play

thecardof

contempt

withcareand

delicacy.

Mostsmall

troubleswillvanishon

their

ownif

you

leavethem

be;

butsome

will

grow

andfesterunless

you

attendtothem.

Ignore

a

person

ofinferiorstatureand

thenexttime

you

lookhehasbecomeaserious

rival,

and

your

contempt

hasmadehim

vengeful

aswell.The

geatprinces

ofRenaissance

Italy

choseto

ignore

Cesare

Borgia

at

the

outsetofhiscareer

as

a

younggeneral

inthe

army

ofhis

father,

Pope

Alexander

VI.

By

the

time

they paid

a1ten~

tionitwastoolat.e——thecubwasnowa

lion,

gobblingup

chunksof

Italy.

Often,

then,

while

you

show

contemptpubliclyyou

willalsoneedto

keep

an

eye

onthe

problemprivately,monitoring

itsstatusand

making

sureit

goesaway.

Donotlet

itbecome

a

cancerouscell.

Develop

theskillof

sensingproblems

when

they

arestillsmall

and

taking

careofthembefore

they

becomeintractable.Leamto

distinguish

betweenthe

potentially

disastrousandthe

mildlyirritating,

thenuisance

thatwill

quietlygoaway

onitsown.Ineither

case,

though,

nevercom—

pletely

take

youreye

oil"

it.

As

long

asitisaliveitcan

smolder

and

spark

intolife.