The 48 Laws Of Power

3
7'4 LAW 43

strongest

motiveofall:A

great

cause

maycapture

minds,

butoncethefirs:

flushofexcitementis

over,

interestwill

flag--unless

thereis

something

to

be

gained.

Self-interest

isthe

soliderfoundation.

Thecausesthatworkbest

useanobleveneertocoverablatant

appeal

to

self-interest;

thecause

se-

ducesbuttheself-interestsecuresthedeal.

The

people

whoarebestat

appealing

to

people’s

mindsare often

artists,intellectuals,

andthoseofamore

poetic

nature.Thisisbecause

ideasaremost

easily

communicated

throughmetaphors

and

imagery.

Itis

alwaysgoodpolicy,

then,

tohavein

yourpocket

atleastoneartistorintel~

lectualwhocan

appeal

concretely

to

people’s

minds.

Kings

have

always

kept

astableofwritersintheirham:FredericktheGreathadhisVoltaire

(until

theyquaneled

and

separated),Napoleon

wonoverGoethe.Con-

versely,Napoleon

III’salienation

of

writerssuch

asVictor

Hugo,

whomhe

exiledfrom

France,

contributed

to

his

growingunpopularity

andeventual

downfall.Itis

dangerous,then,

toalienatethosewhohave

powers

ofex»

pression,

andusefulto

pacify

and

exploit

them.

Finally,

learnto

play

thenumbers

game‘

Thewider

yoursupport

base

the

strongeryourpower.Understanding

thatone

alienated,

disaffected

soulcan

spark

ablazeof

discontent,

LouisXIVmadesuretoendear

him-

selftothelowestmembersofhisstaff.Youtoomust

constantly

winover

morealliesonalllevels-wetimewill

inevitably

comewhen

you

willneed

them.

lm

age

:

The

Keyhole.

People

build

wallsto

keep

you

out;

never force

yourway

in

—-

you

willfind

only

more

walls within walls.

There are doors in

these

walls,

doorsto

theheartand

mind,

and

they

have

tiny keys

holesPeer

through

the

keyhole,

findthe

key

that

opens

the

door,

and

you

haveaccess

to

theirwillwith

no

ugly signs

of forced

entr

y.