The 48 Laws Of Power

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Now

Israel

loved

Joseph

nmrethanall

hischildren.brrattsehe

wasthe$07!

of

his

old

age;

andhemadehimit

com‘

ofnumy

colors.. ..

Ana’hisbro!/1er.v

envied

him....And

when
they
sawhim
afar

offtheymnxpirm’

against

him

to

slay

him.Andnow
they

said

tooneatzotlwr.

“Behold.

thisdrtemmrr

comclh.Comenow

therefore,

andletits

slay

him.

andrat!him

iItt17xotme

pit.

andHit’

shall

say.

mmr:cw!

boast/talhdnrottrml

him,‘

andwe‘shallsee

who!WI”become

ofhts

dreunts:

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OLD

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(§hNI:SlS37:3—20

TIN.'I‘Rt\I.‘I”.lH

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./ulius

first

saw

Mtdteltirtgelo

it

ilesig/1

‘Ior

his

tomb]

it

[7fe(l.\'(€(l

himsomuch

thatht’(H()!l(,'(’senthim

(0CarraraI0

quarry

the

nemr.rary

marhlfls.

t‘n.rtrm:tt'ng

Alamamm

Salviati,

0fFlr7rsIt(‘£',

to

pay

himathnuwnrt

duCt11S'

for

this

pttrpou-.

Mich:-,[angrelu

staywl

in

thesemountainsmore

than

eight

months

with

twoworlmtenam!his

horse,

andwtlhout

any

other

provi.\‘i()rtexcept

food.

. ..
Enough

marbles

quarried

and

chasm.hetookthemto

the

sea-coast,and

left

406 LAW 46

insidiously.They

will

put

obstaclesin

yourpath

that

you

willnot

foresee,

orthat

you

cannottracetotheirsource.Itishardtodefend

yourself

against

thiskindofattack.And

by

thetime

you

realizethat

envy

isatthe

root

ofa

person’sfeelings

about

you,

itisoftentoolate:Your

excuses,

your

falsehu-

mility,your

defensive

actions,

only

exacerbatethe

problem.

Sinceitisfar

easiertoavoid

creatingenvy

inthefirst

place

thanto

get

ridofitonceitis

there,

you

should

strategize

toforestallitbeforeit

grows.

Itisoften

your

ownactionsthatstir

upenvy,your

ownunawareness.

Bybecoming

con-

scious

of

thoseactionsand

qualities

thatcreate

envy,you

cantaketheteeth

out

of

it

before

it

nibbles

you

todeath.

Kierkegaard

believedthatthereare

types

of

people

whocreate

envy,

andareas

guilty

whenitarisesasthosewhofeelit.Themostobvious

type

weallknow:Themoment

somethinggoodhappens

to

them,

whether

by

luckor

design,they

crowaboutit.Infact

theygetpleasure

outof

making

people

feelinferior.This

type

isobviousand

beyond

hope.

Thereareoth

ers,however,

whostir

up

envy

inmoresubtleandunconscious

ways,

and

are

partly

toblamefortheirtroubles.

Envy

isoftena

problem,

forexam-

ple,

for

people

with

great

naturaltalent.

SirWalter

Raleigh

wasoneofthemostbrilliantmenatthecourtof

Queen

Elizabethof

England.

Hehadskills

asa

scientist,

wrote

poetry

still

recognized

as

among

themostbeautiful

writing

ofthe

time,

wasa

proven

leaderof

men,

an

enterprisingentrepreneur,

a

great

sea

captain,

andon

top

ofallthiswasa

handsome,

dashing

courtierwhocharmedhis

way

into

becoming

oneofthe

queen’s

favorites.Whereverhe

wenthowever,

pea

ple

blockedhis

path.Eventually

hesuffered

a

terrificfallfrom

grace,

lead-

ing

evento

prison

and

finally

theexecutioner’saxe.

Raleigh

couldnotunderstandthestubborn

opposition

hefacedfrom

theothercourtiers.Hedidnotseethathehadnot

only

madeno

attempt

to

disguise

the

degree

ofhis

skills

and

qualifies,

hehad

imposed

them

onone

and

all,

making

ashowofhis

versatility,thinking

it

impressedpeople

and

wonhimfriends.Infactitmadehimsilent

enemies,

people

whofeltinfe-

riortohimanddidall

they

couldtoruinhimthemomenthe

trippedup

or

madethe

slightest

mistake.Inthe

end,

thereasonhewasexecutedwas

ueason,

but

envy

will

use

any

cover

it

finds

to

mask

its

destructiveness.

The

envy

elicited

by

SirWalter

Raleigh

istheworstkind:Itwasin-

spiredby

hisnaturaltalentand

grace,

whichhefeltwasbest

displayed

in

itsfullflower.

Money

otherscan

attain;

power

aswell.But

superior

intelli-

gence,good

looks,

cha.rm—theseare

qualities

noonecan

acquire.

Thenat-

urallyperfect

havetoworkthemost

to

disguise

their

brilliance,

displaying

a

defectortwotodeflect

envy

before

ittakes

root.

Itisa

commonand

naivemistaketothink

you

are

charmingpeople

with

your

naturaltalents

wheninfact

they

are

coming

tohate

you.

A

greatdanger

intherealmof

power

isthesudden

improvement

infor

tune——an

unexpectedpromotion,

a

victory

or

successthatseemstocome

outofnowhere.Thisissuretostir

upenvyamongyour

former

peers.

When

Archbishop

deRetzwas

promoted

totherankof

cardinal,

in

1651,

heknewfullwellthat

many

ofhisformer

colleagues

enviedhim.