The 48 Laws Of Power

Yourshortanswersandsilenceswill

put

themonthe

defensive,

and

they

will

jump

in,

nervously

filling

thesilencewithallkindsofcomments

thatwillrevealvaluableinformationaboutthemandtheir
weaknesses.

They

willleave

a

meeting

with

youfeeling

asif

they

hadbeen

robbed,

and

they

will

go

homeand

ponderyourevery

word.Thisextraattentionto

your

briefcommentswill

only

addto

yourpower.

Saying

lessthan

necessary

isnotfor

kings

andstatesmen

only.

Inmost

areasof

life,

the

less

yousay,

themore

profound

and

mysteriousyouap-

pear.

Asa

young

man,

theartist

Andy

Warholhadtherevelationthatitwas

generally

impossible

to

getpeople

todowhat

you

wantedthemtodo

by

talking

tothem.

They

wouldturn

against

you,

subvert

yourwishes,disobey

you

outofsheer

perversity.

Heoncetolda

friend,

“Ilearnedthat

you

actu~

ally

havemore

power

when

you

shut

up.”

inhislaterlifeWarhol

employed

this

strategy

with

great

success.His

interviewswereexercisesinoracular

speech:

Hewould

saysomething

vague

and

ambiguous,

andtheinterviewerwouldtwistincircles

trying

to

figure

it

out,imagining

therewas

somethingprofound

behindhisoften

meaninglessphrases.

Warhol

rarely

talkedabouthis

work;

he

let

othersdo

the

interpreting.

He

claimed

tohave

learned

this

technique

from

thatmas-

terof

enigma

Marcel

Duchamp,

another

twentieth-century

artistwhoreal-

ized

early

onthatthelesshesaidabouthis

work,

themore

people

talked

aboutit.Andthemore

they

talked,

themorevaluablehisworkbecame.

Bysaying

lessthan

necessaryyou

createthe

appearance

of

meaning

and

power.

Also,

the

less

yousay,

theless

risk

you

run

of

sayingsomething

foolish,

even

dangerous.

In

1825

anew

czar,

Nicholas

1,

ascendedthe

throneofRussia.

A

rebellion

immediately

broke

out,

led

by

liberalsde-

manding

thatthe

country

modemize~—-thatitsindustriesandcivilstruc-

turescatch

up

withtherestof

Europe.Brutallycrushing

thisrebellion

(the

Decembrist

Uprising),

NicholasIsentencedoneofits

leaders,

Kondraty

Ryleyev,

todeath.Onthe

day

oftheexecution

Ryleyev

stoodonthe

lows,

thenoosearoundhisneck.The

trapdooropened~——~but

as

Ryleyev

dangled,

the

rope

broke,dashing

himtothe

ground.

Atthe

time,

events

like

this

were

considered

signs

of

providence

or

heavenly

will,

and

aman

savedfromexecutionthis

way

was

usuallypardoned.

As

Ryleyevgot

tohis

feet,

bruised

and

dirtiedbut

believing

hisneckhad

been

saved,

hecalled

outtothe

crowd,

“You

see,

inRussia

they

don’tknowhowtodo

anything

properly,

notevenhowtomake

rope!”

A

messengerimmediately

wenttotheWinterPalacewithnewsofthe

failed

hanging.

Vexed

by

this

disappointing

turnabout,

Nicholas

1 never-

theless

began

to

sign

the

pardon.

Butthen:

“Did

Ryleyevsayanything

after

thismiracle?”theczaraskedthe

messenger.

“Sire,”

the

messengerreplied,

“hesaidthatinRussia

they

don’tevenknowhowtomake

rope.”

“Inthat

case,”

saidthe

Czar,

“letus

prove

the

contrary,”

andhetore

up

the

pardon.

Thenext

dayRyleyev

was

hangedagain.

This

timethe

rope

didnotbreak.

Learnthelesson:Oncethewordsare

out,

you

cannottakethemback.

Keep

themundercontrol.Be

particularly

carefulwithsarcasm:Themo-

LAW 4 .75