The 48 Laws Of Power

128 LAW 17

heallowedhimafairamountoflatitudein

handling

his

paintings,

thenone

day,

forno

apparent

reason,

hetoldthemanhewouldno

longergive

him

any

worktosell.AsPicasso

explained,“Rosenberg

would

spend

thenext

forty-eight

hours

trying

to

figure

out

why.

WasI

reservingthings

forsome

otherdealer?I’d

go

on

working

and

sleeping

and

Rosenberg

would

spend

histime

figuring.

Intwo

days

he’dcome

back,

nerves

jangled,

anxious,

say»

ing,

‘After

all,

dear

friend,you

wouldn’tturnmedownifIoffered

you

this

much

[naming

a

substantiallyhigherfigure]

forthose

paintings

ratherthan

the

price

Pvebeenaccustomedto

payingyou,

would

you?’

”

Unpredictability

is

not

only

a

weapon

ofterror:

Scramblingyourpat-

ternsona

day-to-day

basiswillcauseastiraround

you

andstimulateintet—

est.

People

willtalkabout

you,

ascribemotivesand

explanations

thathave

nothing

todowith

thetruth,

butthat

keepyouconstantly

intheirminds.In

the

end,

themore

capriciousyouappear,

themore

respectyou

will

garner.

Only

the

terminally

subordinateactina

predictable

manner.

Image:

The

Cyclone.

A

windthatcannotbefore-

seen.Sudden

shiftsin

the

barometer,

in—

explicable changes

in direction and

velocity.

Thereis

nodefense:

A

cyclone

sows

terror and

confusion.

Authority:

The

enlightened

rulerisso

mysterious

thatheseems

todwell

nowhere,

so

inexplicable

thatnoonecanseekhim.

He

repose-s

innonaction

above,

and

his

ministers

tremble

below.

(Han-fei-tzu,

Chinese

philosopher,

third

century

B.C.)