The 48 Laws Of Power

for
so
many
centuries,
thatitis

trulyamazing

that

people

continuetoun

derestimatethem.Bettertobe
wary.

If

you

never

expect

gratitude

froma

friend,
you

willbe

pleasantlysurprised

when

they

do

provegrateful.

The

problem

with

using

or

hiring

friendsisthatitwill

inevitably

limit

yourpower.

Thefriendis

rarely

theonewhoismostableto

helpyou;

and

inthe

end,

skilland

competence

arefarmore

important

than

friendly

feel-

ings.

(Michael

Illhadaman

right

underhisnosewhowouldhavesteered

him
right

and

kept

himalive:Thatmanwas

Bardas.)

All

working

situations

require

akindofdistancebetween

people.

You

are
trying

to

work,

notmake

friends;

friendliness

(real

or

false)

only

ob

scoresthatfact.The

key

to

power,

then,

is

the

ability

to

judge

whoisbest

abletofurther
your

interestsinallsituations.

Keep

friendsfor

friendship,

butworkwiththeskilledand
competent.

Your

enemies,

ontheother

hand,

arean

untappedgold

minethat

you

mustlearnto

exploit.

When

Talleyrancl,Napc-leon’sforeign

minister,

de-

cided
in
1807 thathisbosswas

leading

Franceto

ruin,

andthetimehad

come
to
turn

against

him,

heunderstoodthe

dangers

of

conspiringagainst

the
emperor;

heneededa

partner,

aconfederate-——-whatfriendcouldhe

trustinsucha

project?

Hechose

Joseph

Fouché,

headofthesecret

police,

hismosthated
enemy,

amanwhohadeventriedtohavehimassassinated.

Heknewthattheirformerhatredwouldcreatean
opportunity

foranemo~

tionalreconciliation.Heknew thatFouchéwould

expectnothing

from

him,
andinfactwouldworkto
prove

thathewas

worthy

of

Talleyra.nd’s

choice;

a

person

whohas

something

to

prove

willmovemountainsfor

you.

Finally,

heknewthathis

relationship

withFouchéwouldbebased

on

mu-

tual
selfiinterest,

and

would

notbe

contaminated

bypersonalfeeling.

The

selection

provedperfect;although

the

conspirators

didnotsucceedin

top-

plingNapoleon,

theunionofsuch

powerful

but

unlikelypartnersgener-

atedmuchinterestinthe
cause;

opposition

tothe

emperorslowlybegan

to

spread.

Andfromthen

on,

Talleyi-and

andFouchéhada.

fruitful

working

relationship.

Whenever

you

can,

bury

thehatchetwithan

enemy,

and

make
a
point

of

putting

himin

your

service.

V

AsLincoln

said,

youdestroy

an

enemy

when

you

makeafriendof

him.In
1971,

during

theVietnam

War,

HenryKissinger

wasthe

target

of

anunsuccessful

kidnappingattempt,

a

conspiracyinvolving,among

others,

therenownedantiwaractivist

priests

the

Berrigan

brothers,

four more

Catholic

priests,

andfournuns.In

private,

without

informing

theSecret

Serviceorthe

justiceDepartment,

Kissinger

arranged

a

Saturday-morning

meeting

withthreeofthe

allegedkidnappers.Explaining

tohis

guests

that

hewouldhavemostAmerican

soldiersoutofVietnam

by

mid-1972,

he

completely

charmedthem.

Theygave

himsome

“KidnapKissinger”

but»

tonsandoneofthemremainedafriendofhisfor

years,

visiting

himon

severaloccasions.Thiswasnot

just

8.onetime

ploy:Kissinger

madea

pol-

icy

of

working

withthosewho

disagreed

withhim.

Colleagues

commented

thatheseemedto

getalong

betterwithhisenemiesthanwithhisfriends.

Without

enemiesaround

us,

we

growlazy.

An

enemy

atourheels

sharpens

our

wits,

keeping

usfocusedandalert.Itissometimes

better,

l‘li()l‘l'l'l\A'»l\l\'tilIf

I'.\l.\1||2$

King

Ilieroclumceri

upon

it

time.

.vpeakin_;,r

withone

()f]‘1tS

enemies.tobetoldina

rrproacliful

rmzrzrmr

thathehad

stinking

brculli.

lrV/wrc’upon

the

goodkmg,bring

some-

whrzz

di.9:rza_wd

in

Izim.ve‘I/I

assoonashe

mtlrrnmihanwchided

his

wife,

“Howdoesit

Imppm

Ihm

you

never

toldme

0/‘thispm!»

(em?

"

The

wonum.

bring

a

simple.chrlsir,

um!hrrwnivss

rlame,

Said.“Sir,

I

/um’

thought

allmax

k

lmaznizimri

smaller!so.

"

Thusitis

plain

that

faults

that

areevzdmllothe

senses.

gross‘

and

corpu/'u!,

orotherwise

noiorroustnthe

world.

weknow

by

our

e'm°mimSoonerthan

byum'frieml.s

and

familiar;

PLUTARCII.

c.A.I).46-120

LAW 2 13