The 48 Laws Of Power

4'78
LAW
47

REVE

RSAL

AsMachiavelli

says,

either

destroy

amanorleavehimalone

entirely.

In-

flicting

half

punishment

ormild

injury

will

only

createan

enemy

whose

bitternesswill

grow

with

time,

andwhowilltake

revenge.

When

you

beat

an

enemy,

then,

make

yourvictorycomplete.

Crushhimintononexis

tence.

In

themomentof

victory,you

donotrestrain

yourself

from

crushing

the

enemy you

have

defeated,

but ratherfrom

needlessly

advancing

against

others.Bemercilesswith

yourenemy,

butdonotcreatenewene-

mies

byoverreaching.

Therearesomewho

become

more

cautious

than

everafter

a

victory,

which

they

seeas

justgiving

themmore

possessions

to

wony

aboutand

protect.

Yourcautionafter

victory

shouldnevermake

you

hesitate,

orlose

momentum,

butratheractasa

safeguardagainst

rashaction.Ontheother

hand,

momentumasa

phenomenon

is

greatly

overrated.Youcreate

your

own

successes,

andif

they

followone

upon

the

other,

itis

your

own

doing.

Belief

in

momentumwill

only

make

you

emotional,

less

prone

toactstrate»

gically,

andmore

apt

to

repeat

thesamemethods.Leavemomentumfor

thosewhohave

nothing

betterto

relyupon.