The 48 Laws Of Power

MAN:Kick

him.—Iae’l€forrg£veyou.

Flatterhim-~51:

may

or

may

not

see

throughyou.

But

igrzore

himandhe'llhate

you.

Idries

Shah,

Caravan

ol"Dreams.

I968

KEYSTOPOWER

Desireoftencreates

paradoxical

effects:Themore

you

want

something,

themore
you

chaseafter

it,

themoreiteludes

you.

Themoreinterest

you

show,
the
more

yourepel

the

object

of

your

desire.

Thisisbecause

your

in«

terestistoo
su~ong—--it

makes

people

awkward,

even

fearful.Uncontrol-

labledesiremakes
you

seem

weak,unworthy,

pathetic.

Youneedtoturn

your

backonwhat

you

want.

show

yourcontempt

anddisdain.Thisisthekindof

powerfulresponse

thatwilldrive

your

tar-

gets

crazy.They

will

respond

witha

desireoftheir

own,

whichis

simply

to

haveaneffecton

you—perhaps

to

possessyou,perhaps

tohurt

you.

If

they

wantto

possessyou,you

have

successfullycompleted

thefirst

step

ofse-

duction.If

they

wanttohurt

you,you

haveunsettledthem

and

madethem

playbyyour

rules

(see

Laws 8 and 39 on

baitingpeople

into

action).

Contempt

isthe

prerogative

ofthe

king.

Wherehis

eyes

turn,

whathe

decidesto

see,

iswhathas

reality;

whathe

ignores

andturnshisbackonis

as

good

asdead.Thatwasthe

weapon

of

King

LouisXlV—-ifhedidnot

like

you,

heactedasif

you

werenot

there,

maintaining

his

superiorityby

cutting

off

the

dynamic

ofinteraction.

Thisisthe

poweryou

havewhen

youplay

thecardof

contempt,periodicallyshowingpeople

that

you

can

dowithoutthem.

If

choosing

to

ignore

enhances

yourpower,

itfollowsthatthe

opposite

approach-—commitment

and

engagement--ofien

weakens

you.Bypaying

undue

attentiontoa

punyenemy,you

look

puny,

andthe

longer

ittakes

you

tocrushsuchan

enemy,

the

larger

the

enemy

seems.WhenAthensset

outto

conquer

theislandof

Sicily,

in 415

B.C.,

3,

giantpower

was

attacking

a

tiny

one.Yet

byentangling

Athensina

long—drawn—out

conflict,

Syracuse,

Sicily’s

most

importantcity-state,

was

able

to

grow

instatureandconfi»

dence.

Finallydefeating

Athens,

itmadeitselffamousforcenturies to

come.Inrecent

times,

President

john

F.

Kennedy

madeasimilarmistake

inhisattitudetoFidelCastroofCuba:Hisfailedinvasionatthe

Bay

of

Pigs,

in

1961,

madeCastroaninternationalhero.

Asecond

danger:

If

you

succeedin

crushing

the

irritant,

orevenif

you

merely

wound

it,

you

create

sympathy

for

theweakerside.

Critics

of

FranklinD.Roosevelt

complainedbitterly

aboutthe

money

hisadminis-

tration

spent

on

government

projects,

buttheirattackshadnoresonance

withthe

public,

whosawthe

president

as

working

toend theGreatDe~

pression.

His

opponentsthoughtthey

hadan

example

that

wouldshow

just

howwasteful

hehad

become:

his

dog,

Fala,

which

he

lavishedwithfavors

and attention. Critics railed at his

insensifivitywspendmg taxpayers‘

money

ona

dog

whileso

many

Americanswerestillin

poverty.

ButRoo-

sevelt

hada

response:

Howdarehiscriticsattackadefenselesslittle

dog?

As‘somerrzake

g()S.\‘.'{I

out

ofever_va‘hing,

so

othersmake muchado

about

everything.

They

am‘

alwaysmlkingbig,

[and]

lake

tcvcryrhing

.verir)u.x'i'y,making

(1

quarrel

anda

mystery

ofil.

Youshouldmke

wryfew

grievances

tn

/mart‘

for

todo

soisto

gr‘

W

yourselfgmzmat

less

worry.

I!isa

mp5):-

Iurvywayufbelzaving

toraketohear!care-;

which

youought

£0

throwover

your

shoal’

der.Man

V

1}:

ings

which

scented

imporiam[at

the

rimrtj

turnoutinhe

ofno

rwrvuurwhat:

they

are

lg/lured;

and

01/1!-r.\',

whirhseem

trifling,appear

formi-

dablewhen

you

/my

rmenIx'r.mtotliem,

‘I'll/rig»:

can

wlxily

be

settledatflu.’

olcfset,

hm

notA!)lateron.In

many

miss,

the

rctnect‘_r

itself

is

Ihe

cause

of

she

disease.‘to11'!

rlzingx

E3.’

isnottheleast

saIi.r_{ac—

wry(lflifek

rules:

BALMSARGnA<‘iA~,

l 601

—

1658

LAW 36 305