The 48 Laws Of Power

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SIRWAl'I‘liRRA|,FI{jH.

1554--1618

34 LAW 4

everyone

would

argue

somemore:

Howshould

theissueshe

phrased?

What

would

appeal

to

Louis,

what

would

annoy

him?

At

whatfimeof

day

shouldthe

representativesapproach

him,

andinwhat

part

oftheVersailles

palace?

What

expression

should

they

haveontheirfaces?

Finally,

afterallthiswas

settled,

thefatefulmomentwould

finally

at»

rive.Thetwomenwould

approachLouis—always

adelicatematterwand

when

theyfinally

had

his

ear,

they

wouldtalkabouttheissue

at

hand,

spelling

outthe

options

in

detail.

Louiswouldlistenin

silence,

amost

enigmatic

lookonhisface.Fi-

nally,

wheneachhadfinishedhis

presentation

andhadaskedforthe

king’s

opinion,

he

would

look

atthemboth

and

say,

“Ishallsee.”Thenhewould

walk

away‘

Theministersandcourtierswouldneverhearanotherwordonthis

subject

fromthe

king——they

would

simply

seethe

result,

weeks

later,

when

hewouldcometoadecisionandact.Hewouldneverbothertoconsult

themonthematter

again.

lnterpretation

LouisXIVwasaman of

very

fewwords.Hismostfamousremarkis

"

‘fiat,

c’estmoi”

(“I

amthe

state”);nothing

couldbemore

pithy

yet

more

eloquent.

His

infamous

“Ishallsee”wasone

of

several

extremely

short

phrases

thathewould

apply

to

all

mannerof

requests.

Louiswasnot

always

this

way;

asa

young

manhewasknownfortalk-

ing

at

length,delighting

inhisown

eloquence.

Hislater

taciturnity

wasself-

imposed,

an

act,

amaskheusedto

keepeverybody

belowhimoff-balance.

Nooneknew

exactly

wherehe

stood,

orcould

predict

hisreactions.No

onecould

try

todeceivehim

bysaying

what

theythought

hewantedto

hear,

because

nooneknewwhathewantedtohear.As

they

talked

on

and

ontothe

silent

Louis,

they

revealedmore

and

moreabout

themselves,

in-

formationhewouldlateruse

against

themto

great

effect.

Inthe

end,

Louis’ssilence

kept

thosearoundhimterrifiedandunder

histhumb.Itwasoneofthefoundationsofhis

power.

As Saint—Simon

wrote,

“No

oneknewas

wellas

he

howto

sellhis

words,

his

smile,

even

his

glances.Everything

inhimwasvaluablebecausehecreated

differences,

andhis

majesty

wasenhanced

by

the

sparseness

ofhiswords.”

Itisevmmore

damagingfor

aministerto

sayfoalishthings

thantodothem.

(Ianlimzlde

Rm,

16131679

KEYST0POWER

Powerisin

manyways

a

game

of

appearances,

andwhen

yousay

lessthan

necessary,youinevitablyappeargreater

andmore

powerful

than

you

are.

Yoursilence

will

makeother

people

uncomfortable.Humansaremachines

of

interpretation

and

explanation;they

havetoknowwhat

you

arethink»

ing.

When

youcarefully

controlwhat

you

reveal,

they

cannot

pierceyour

intentions

or

yourmeaning.