The 48 Laws Of Power

arenever
neutral,
andthat
by

arguing

witha

superior

he

impugns

theintel

ligence

ofonemore

powerful

thanhe.Healsohasno

awareness

ofthe

per-

son
heis

dealing

with.Sinceeachman

believesthatheis

right,

andwords

will

rarely

convincehim

otherwise,

the

arguer’sreasoning

fallsondeaf

ears.When

cornered,

he

only

argues

more,

digging

hisown

grave.

Once

hehasmadetheother

person

feelinsecureandinferiorinhis

beliefs,

the

eloquence

ofSocratescouldnotsavethesituation.

Itisnot

simply

a

question

of

avoiding

an

argument

withthosewho

standabove

you.

We

allbelievewearemastersintherealmof

opinions

and

reasoning.

You

must

be

careful,

then:Learntodemonstratethecor-

rectnessof
your

ideas

indirectly.

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

In

1502,

in

Florence,

Italy,

anenormousblockofmarblestoodinthe

works

department

ofthechurchofSantaMariadelFiore.Ithadoncebeen

a

magnificentpiece

ofraw

stone,

butanunskillful

sculptor

had

mistakenly

boredahole

through

itwhere

thereshouldhavebeena

figure’slegs,gen-

erallymutilating

it.Piero

Soderini,

Florence’s

mayor,

had

contemplated

trying

tosavetheblock

bycommissioning

LeonardodaVincitoworkon

it,

orsomeother

master,

buthad

givenup,

since

everyoneagreed

thatthe

stonehadbeenruined.

So,

despite

the

money

thathadbeenwastedon

it,

it

gathered

dust

in

the

dark

hallsofthechurch.

Thiswaswhere

things

stooduntilsomeFlorentinefriendsofthe

great

Michelangelo

decidedtowritetothe

artist,

then

living

inRome.He

alone,

they

said,

coulddo

something

withthe

marble,

whichwasstill

magnificent

rawmaterial.

Michelangelo

traveled

to

Florence,

examinedthe

stone,

and

cametotheconclusionthathecouldin

fact

carvea

fine

figure

from

it,

by

adapting

the

pose

to

the

way

therockhadbeenmutilated.Soderini

argued

thatthiswasawasteof

time——nobody

could

salvage

suchadisasterwbut

he

finally agreed

to letthe artistworkonit.

Michelangelo

decidedhe

would

depict

a.

young

David,

sling

inhand.

Weeks

later,

as

Michelangelo

was

putting

thefinaltouches onthe

statue,

Soderinientered

the

studio.

Fancying

himselfitbitofa

connoisseur,

he.-studiedthe

huge

work,

andtold

Michelangelo

thatwhilehe

thought

it

was

magnificent,

the

nose,

he

judged,

wastoo

big.Michelangelo

realized

thatSoderiniwas

standing

in 2

placeright

underthe

giantfigure

anddid

nothavethe

properperspective.

Without

a

word,

he

gestured

forSoderini

tofollowhim

up

the

scaffolding.Reaching

the

nose,

he

pickedup

his

aswellasabitofmarbledustthat

lay

onthe

planks.

WithSodetini

just

afewfeetbelowhimonthe

scaffolding.Michelangelo

startedto

tap

lightly

with

thechisel,

letting

thebitsofdusthehad

gathered

inhishandto

falllittle

by

little.He

actually

did

nothing

to

change

the

nose,

but

gave

everyappearance

of

working

onit.Afterafewminutesofthischaradehe

stoodaside:“Lookatitnow.”“Ilikeit

better,”

replied

Soderini,

“you’ve

madeitcomealive.”

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gold_vi1>L'r'$

andsrtili.

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humslrmn

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and

for

lbw!1(’Xlrmzlavxzin-

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for

rlw

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(lay

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vizzrrwarcalled

before

1/11’

Sultan,

the

churgm

were

rcpmzted.

andthe

sultanwutclieclasthe

vizierwastied

up

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throwntolhff

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tltrzr

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him

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fins‘

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and

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LAW 9

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71