The 48 Laws Of Power

36
LAW
4

mentary

satisfaction

yougain

with

yourbiting

wordswillbe

outweighedby

the

priceyoupay.

Imat

g

e 1

TheOracleat

Delphi.

Whenvisitorsconsultedthe

Oracle,

the

priestess

wouldutter

a

few

enigmatic

wordsthatseemed

fullof

meaning

and

import.

Noone

disobeyed

thewordsoftheOracle-

they

held

power

overlife and death.

Authority:

Neverstart

movingyour

own

lips

andteethbefore

thesubordinatesdo.The

longer

I

keep

quiet,

thesoonerothers

movetheir

lips

andteeth.As

they

movetheir

lips

and

teeth,

I

can

thereby

understandtheirrealintentions... .If

the

sovereign

is

not

mysterious,

the

ministerswillfind

opportunity

totake

andtake.

(Han-feivtzu,

Chinese

philosopher,

third

century

B.C.)

REVERSAL

Therearetimeswhenitisunwisetobesilent.Silencecanarouse

suspicion

andeven

insecurity,especially

in

yoursuperiors;

a

vague

or

ambiguous

commentcan

openyouup

to

interpretationsyou

hadnot

bargained

for.Si-

lenceand

saying

lessthan

necessary

mustbe

practiced

with

caution,then,

and

in

the

right

situations.Itis

occasionally

wisertoimitatethecourt

jester,

who

plays

thefoolbutknowsheissmarterthanthe

king.

Hetalksandtalks

and

entertains,

andnoone

suspects

thatheismorethan

just

afool.

Also.

wordscansometimesactasakindofsmokescreen

for

any

de-

ceptionyoumightpractice.Bybendingyour

listener’searwith

talk,

you

can

distract

and

mesmerize

them;

themore

you

talk,

in

fact,

theless

suspi-

ciousof

youthey

become.Theverbosearenot

perceived

as

sly

andma-

nipulative

butas

helpless

and

unsophisticated.

Thisisthereverseofthe

silent

policyemployedby

the

powerful:By talking

more,

and

making

yourselfappear

weakerandless

intelligent

than

your

mark,

you

can

prac-

tice

deception

with

greater

ease.