The 48 Laws Of Power

20 LAW 3

hehad

spoken

for

peace,

madehimacabinetminister.Afew

years

laterhe

becamethePrussian

premier.

Inthisrolehe

eventually

ledhis

country

and

a.

peace-lovingking

intoawar

against

Austria,

crushing

theformer

empire

and

establishing

a German

state,

withPrussiaatitshead.

lnterpretation

At

thetimeofhis

speech

in

1850,

Bismarckmadeseveralcalculations.

First,

he

sensed

that

thePrussian

military,

whichhadnot

keptpace

with

other

European

armies,

was

unready

forwar--that

Austria,

in

fact,

might

very

well

win,

adisastrousresultforthefuture.

Second,

if

the

warwere

lost

andBismarckhad

supported

it,

hiscareerwouldbe

gravelyjeopardized.

The

king

andhis

conservativeministerswanted

peace;

Bismarckwanted

power.

Theanswerwastothrow

people

offthescent

bysupporting

acause

he

cletested,

sayingthings

hewould

laugh

atifsaid

by

another.Awhole

country

wasfooled.ItwasbecauseofBismarck’s

speech

thatthe

king

made

hima

minister,

at

position

fromwhichhe

quickly

rosetobe

prime

minister,

attaining

the

power

to

strengthen

thePrussian

military

and

accomplish

what

he

had

wanted

all

along:

thehumiliationofAustriaandtheunifica»

tionof

Germany

under

Prussia’s

leadership.

Bismarckwas

certainly

oneoftheclevereststatesmanwhoever

lived,

amasterof

strategy

and

deception.

Noone

suspected

whathewas

up

toin

thiscase.Hadheannouncedhisreal

intentions,

arguing

thatitwasbetter

to

wait

nowand

fight

later,

hewouldnothavewonthe

argument,

since

mostPrussianswantedwaratthatmomentand

mistakenly

believedthat

their

army

was

superior

totheAustrians.Hadhe

playedup

tothe

king,

asking

tobemadeaministerin

exchange

for

supportingpeace,

hewould

nothavesucceededeither:The

king

wouldhavedistrustedhisambition

anddoubtedhis

sincerity.

Bybeing

completely

insincereand

sendingmisleadingsignals,

how-

ever,

hedeceived

everyone,

concealedhis

purpose,

andattained

every-

thing

hewanted.Suchisthe

power

of

hidingyour

intentions.

KEYSTOPOWER

Most

people

are

open

books.

Theysay

what

they

feel,

blurtouttheir

opin-

ionsat

everyopportunity,

and

constantly

revealtheir

plans

andintentions.

They

dothisfor

severalreasons.

First,

it

is

easy

and

naturalto

always

want

to

talk

aboutone’s

feelings

and

plans

forthefuture.Ittakesefforttocontrol

yourtongue

andmonitorwhat

you

reveal.

Second,

many

believethat

by

being

honestand

openthey

are

winningpeople's

heartsand

showing

their

goodnature.They

are

greatly

deluded.

Honesty

is

actually

abluntinstru-

ment,

whichbloodiesmorethanitcuts.Your

honesty

is

likely

to

offend

people;

it

ismuchmore

prudent

totailor

your

words,

telling

people

what

they

wanttohearratherthanthecoarseand

ugly

truthofwhat

you

feelor

think.More

important,bybeingunabashedlyopenyou

make

yourself

so

predictable

andfamiliarthatitisalmost

impossible

to

respect

orfear

you,

and

power

willnotaccruetoa

person

whocannot

inspire

suchemotions.