The 48 Laws Of Power

68 LAW 8

REVERSAL

Although

itis

generally

thewiser

policy

tomake

othersexhaust

themselves

chasingyou,

thereare

opposite

caseswhere

strildngsuddenly

and

aggres-

sively

atthe

enemy

sodemoralizeshimthathis

energies

sink.Insteadof

making

otherscometo

you,you

go

to

them,

forcethe

issue,

takethelead.

Fastattackcanbeanawesome

weapon,

foritforcestheother

person

to

reactwithoutthetimetothinkor

plan.

Withnotimeto

think,

people

make

errorsof

judgment,

andare

thrown

on

thedefensive.

Thistacticistheob-

verseof

waiting

and

baiting,

butitservesthe samefunction:Youmake

yourenemyrespond

on

your

terms.

MenlikeCesare

Borgia

and

Napoleon

usedtheelementof

speed

toin-

timidateanclcontrol.

A

rapid

andunforeseenmove

is

terrifying

andde-

moralizing.

Youmustchoose

your

tactics

depending

on

the

situation.

If

you

havetimeon

your

side,

andknowthat

you

and

your

enemiesareat

leastat

equalstrength,

then

deplete

their

strengthbymaking

themcometo

you.

Iftimeis

againstyou—-your

enemiesare

weaker,

and

waiting

will

only

give

themthechanceto

recover—-give

themnosuchchance.Strike

quickly

and

they

havenowhereto

go.

Astheboxer

Joe

Louis

put

it,

“Hecan

run,

buthecan’thide.”