The 48 Laws Of Power

60‘ LAW 7

knowledge

and

wisdom.Isaac

Newtoncalledthis

“standing

onthe

shoul-

dersof

giants.”

He

meantthatin

making

his

discoveries

hehadbuiltonthe

achievementsofothers.A

greatpart

ofhis

auraof

genius,

he

knew,

wasat-

tributabletohisshrewd

ability

tomakethemostofthe

insights

of

ancient,

medieval,

andRenaissancescientists.

Shakespeare

borrowed

plots,

charac-

terizations,

andeven

dialogue

from

Plutarch,

among

other

writers,

forhe

knewthat

nobodysurpassed

Plutarchinthe

writing

ofsubtle

psychology

and

wittyquotes.

How

many

laterwritershaveintheir

turn

borrowed

from-~plagz'anlzed——Shakespeare?

Weallknowhowfewof

today’spoliticians

writetheirown

speeches.

Theirownwordswouldnotwinthema

single

vote;

their

eloquence

and

wit,

whateverthereisof

it,

they

owetoa

speech

writer.Other

people

do

the

work,

they

takethecredit.

The

upside

of

thisisthatitisa.kind

of

power

thatisavailableto

everyone.

Learntousethe

knowledge

ofthe

past

and

you

willlooklikea

genius,

evenwhen

you

are

reallyjust

aclever

borrower,

Writerswhohave

delved

intohuman

nature,

ancientmastersofstrat-

egy,

historiansofhuman

stupidity

and

folly,kings

and

queens

whohave

leamed

thehard

way

howtohandle

the

burdensof

power—-their

knowl-

edge

is

gathering

dust,

waiting

for

you

tocomeandstandontheirshoul-

ders.Theirwitcanbe

your

wit,

theirskillcanbe

your

skill,

and

they

will

nevercomearoundtotell

people

how

unoriginalyoureally

are.Youcan

slogthrough

life,

making

endless

mistakes,

wasting

timeand

energytrying

todo

things

from

your

own

experience.

Or

you

canusethearmiesofthe

past.

AsBismarckonce

said,

“Fools

say

that

they

learn

byexperience.

I

prefer

to

profitby

others’

experience.”

Image:

TheVulture. Ofallthecreaturesin

the

jungle,

he has

it the

easiest.

The

hardworkofothersbecomeshis

work;

theirfailuretosurvivebecomeshis

nourishment.

Keep

an

eye

on

the

Vulture—while

you

are

hardat

work,

heiscir-

cling

above.Donot

fight

him,

join

him.

Authority:

There

is

muchtobe

known,

life

is

short,

andlifeisnot

life

without

knowledge.

It is therefore an excellent device to

acquire

knowledge

from

everybody.

Thus,

by

thesweatof2mother’s

brow,

you

winthe

reputation

of

being

anoracle.

(Baltasar

Gracién,

1601-1658)