### Book:to plan for the long run. Foresee the future with as much clarity as the


### Book:gods on Mount Olympus, who look through the clouds and see the ends


### Book:of all things.


### Book:From the beginning of his career in politics, Bismarck had one goal: to


### Book:form an independent German state led by Prussia. He instigated the war


### Book:with Denmark not to conquer territory but to stir up Prussian nationalism


### Book:and unite the country. He incited the war with Austria only to gainPrussian independence. (This was why he refused to grab Austrian


### Book:territory.) And he fomented the war with France to unite the German


### Book:kingdoms against a common enemy, and thus to prepare for the


### Book:formation of a united Germany.


### Book:Once this was achieved, Bismarck stopped. He never let triumph go to


### Book:his head, was never tempted by the siren call of more. He held the reins


### Book:tightly, and whenever the generals, or the king, or the Prussian people


### Book:demanded new conquests, he held them back. Nothing would spoil the


### Book:beauty of his creation, certainly not a false euphoria that pushed those


### Book:around him to attempt to go past the end that he had so carefully


### Book:planned.


### Book:Experience shows that, if one foresees from far away the designs to be


### Book:undertaken, one can act with speed when the moment comes to execute


### Book:them.


### Book:Cardinall Richelieu, 1585-1642


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:According to the cosmology of the ancient Greeks, the gods were


### Book:thought to have complete vision into the future. They saw everything to


### Book:come, right down to the intricate details. Men, on the other hand, were


### Book:seen as victims of fate, trapped in the moment and their emotions, unable


### Book:to see beyond immediate dangers. Those heroes, such as Odysseus, who


### Book:were able to look beyond the present and plan several steps ahead,


### Book:seemed to defy fate, to approximate the gods in their ability to determine


### Book:the future. The comparison is still valid—those among us who think


### Book:further ahead and patiently bring their plans to fruition seem to have a


### Book:godlike power.


### Book:Because most people are too imprisoned in the moment to plan with


### Book:this kind of foresight, the ability to ignore immediate dangers and


### Book:pleasures translates into power. It is the power of being able to overcome


### Book:the natural human tendency to react to things as they happen, and instead


### Book:to train oneself to step back, imagining the larger things taking shape


### Book:beyond one’s immediate vision. Most people believe that they are in fact


### Book:aware of the future, that they are planning and thinking ahead. They are


### Book:usually deluded: What they are really doing is succumbing to their


### Book:desires, to what they want the future to be. Their plans are vague, basedon their imaginations rather than their reality. They may believe they are


### Book:thinking all the way to the end, but they are really only focusing on the


### Book:happy ending, and deluding themselves by the strength of their desire.


### Book:In 415 B.C., the ancient Athenians attacked Sicily, believing their


### Book:expedition would bring them riches, power, and a glorious ending to the


### Book:sixteen-year Peloponnesian War. They did not consider the dangers of an


### Book:invasion so far from home; they did not foresee that the Sicilians would


### Book:fight all the harder since the battles were in their own homeland, or that


### Book:all of Athens’s enemies would band together against them, or that war


### Book:would break out on several fronts, stretching their forces way too thin.


### Book:The Sicilian expedition was a complete disaster, leading to the


### Book:destruction of one of the greatest civilizations of all time. The Athenians


### Book:were led into this disaster by their hearts, not their minds. They saw only


### Book:the chance of glory, not the dangers that loomed in the distance.


### Book:Cardinal de Retz, the seventeenth-century Frenchman who prided


### Book:himself on his insights into human schemes and why they mostly fail,


### Book:analyzed this phenomenon. In the course of a rebellion he spearheaded


### Book:against the French monarchy in 1651, the young king, Louis XIV, and


### Book:his court had suddenly left Paris and established themselves in a palace


### Book:outside the capital. The presence of the king so close to the heart of the


### Book:revolution had been a tremendous burden on the revolutionaries, and


### Book:they breathed a sigh of relief. This later proved their downfall, however,


### Book:since the court’s absence from Paris gave it much more room to


### Book:maneuver. “The most ordinary cause of people’s mistakes,” Cardinal de


### Book:Retz later wrote, “is their being too much frightened at the present


### Book:danger, and not enough so at that which is remote.”


### Book:The dangers that are remote, that loom in the distance—if we can see


### Book:them as they take shape, how many mistakes we avoid. How many plans


### Book:we would instantly abort if we realized we were avoiding a small danger


### Book:only to step into a larger one. So much of power is not what you do but


### Book:what you do not do—the rash and foolish actions that you refrain from


### Book:before they get you into trouble. Plan in detail before you act—do not let


### Book:vague plans lead you into trouble. Will this have unintended


### Book:consequences? Will I stir up new enemies? Will someone else take


### Book:advantage of my labors? Unhappy endings are much more common than


### Book:happy ones—do not be swayed by the happy ending in your mind.


### Book:The French elections of 1848 came down to a struggle between Louis-


### Book:Adolphe Thiers, the man of order, and General Louis Eugène Cavaignac,


### Book:the rabble-rouser of the right. When Thiers realized he was hopelessly


### Book:behind in this high-stakes race, he searched desperately for a solution.His eye fell on Louis Bonaparte, grand-nephew of the great general


### Book:Napoleon, and a lowly deputy in the parliament. This Bonaparte seemed


### Book:a bit of an imbecile, but his name alone could get him elected in a


### Book:country yearning for a strong ruler. He would be Thiers’s puppet and


### Book:eventually would be pushed offstage. The first part of the plan worked to


### Book:perfection, and Napoleon was elected by a large margin. The problem


### Book:was that Thiers had not foreseen one simple fact: This “imbecile” was in


### Book:fact a man of enormous ambition. Three years later he dissolved


### Book:parliament, declared himself emperor, and ruled France for another


### Book:eighteen years, much to the horror of Thiers and his party.


### Book:The ending is everything. It is the end of the action that determines


### Book:who gets the glory, the money, the prize. Your conclusion must be crystal


### Book:clear, and you must keep it constantly in mind. You must also figure out


### Book:how to ward off the vultures circling overhead, trying to live off the


### Book:carcass of your creation. And you must anticipate the many possible


### Book:crises that will tempt you to improvise. Bismarck overcame these


### Book:dangers because he planned to the end, kept on course through every


### Book:crisis, and never let others steal the glory. Once he had reached his stated


### Book:goal, he withdrew into his shell like a turtle. This kind of self-control is


### Book:godlike.


### Book:When you see several steps ahead, and plan your moves all the way to


### Book:the end, you will no longer be tempted by emotion or by the desire to


### Book:improvise. Your clarity will rid you of the anxiety and vagueness that are


### Book:the primary reasons why so many fail to conclude their actions


### Book:successfully. You see the ending and you tolerate no deviation.


### Book:Image:


### Book:The Gods on


### Book:Mount Olympus.


### Book:Looking down on


### Book:human actions from the


### Book:clouds, they see in advance the


### Book:endings of all the great dreams that


### Book:lead to disaster and tragedy. And


### Book:they laugh at our inability to see beyond


### Book:the moment, and at how we delude ourselves.Authority: How much easier it is never to get in than to get yourself out!


### Book:We should act contrary to the reed which, when it first appears, throws


### Book:up a long straight stem but afterwards, as though it were exhausted …


### Book:makes several dense knots, indicating that it no longer has its original


### Book:vigor and drive. We must rather begin gently and coolly, saving our


### Book:breath for the encounter and our vigorous thrusts for finishing off the


### Book:job. In their beginnings it is we who guide affairs and hold them in our


### Book:power; but so often once they are set in motion, it is they which guide us


### Book:and sweep us along. (Montaigne, 1533-1592)


### Book:REVERSAL


### Book:It is a cliché among strategists that your plan must include alternatives


### Book:and have a degree of flexibility. That is certainly true. If you are locked


### Book:into a plan too rigidly, you will be unable to deal with sudden shifts of


### Book:fortune. Once you have examined the future possibilities and decided on


### Book:your target, you must build in alternatives and be open to new routes


### Book:toward your goal.


### Book:Most people, however, lose less from overplanning and rigidity than


### Book:from vagueness and a tendency to improvise constantly in the face of


### Book:circumstance. There is no real purpose in contemplating a reversal to this


### Book:Law, then, for no good can come from refusing to think far into the


### Book:future and planning to the end. If you are clear- and far-thinking enough,


### Book:you will understand that the future is uncertain, and that you must be


### Book:open to adaptation. Only having a clear objective and a far-reaching plan


### Book:allows you that freedom.LAW 30


### Book:MAKE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SEEM


### Book:EFFORTLESS


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and


### Book:practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be


### Book:concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more.


### Book:Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work—it only raises


### Book:questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.


### Book:KANO TANNYU. MASTER ARTIST


### Book:Date Masamune once sent for Tannyu to decorate a pair of gold screens


### Book:seven feet high. The artist said he thought black-and-white sketches


### Book:would suit them, and went home again after considering them carefully.


### Book:The next morning he came early and made a large quantity of ink into


### Book:which he dipped a horseshoe he had brought with him, and then


### Book:proceeded to make impressions of this all over one of the screens. Then,


### Book:with a large brush, he drew a number of lines across them. Meanwhile


### Book:Masamune had come in to watch his work, and at this he could contain


### Book:his irritation no longer, and muttering, “What a beastly mess!” he strode


### Book:away to his own apartments. The retainers told Tannyu he was in a very


### Book:bad temper indeed. “He shouldn’t look on while I am at work, then,”


### Book:replied the painter, “he should wait till it is finished.” Then he took up a


### Book:smaller brush and dashed in touches here and there, and as he did so the


### Book:prints of the horse-shoe turned into crabs, while the big broad strokes


### Book:became rushes. He then turned to the other screen and splashed drops of


### Book:ink all over it, and when he had added a few brush-strokes here and


### Book:there they became a flight of swallows over willow trees. When


### Book:Masamune saw the finished work he was as overjoyed at the artist’s skillas he had previously been annoyed at the apparent mess he was making


### Book:of the screens.


### Book:CHA-NO-YU: THE JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY A. L. SADLER,


### Book:1962


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I


### Book:The Japanese tea ceremony called Cha-no-yu (“Hot Water for Tea”) has


### Book:origins in ancient times, but it reached its peak of refinement in the


### Book:sixteenth century under its most renowned practitioner, Sen no Rikyu.


### Book:Although not from a noble family, Rikyu rose to great power, becoming


### Book:the preferred tea master of the Emperor Hideyoshi, and an important


### Book:adviser on aesthetic and even political matters. For Rikyu, the secret of


### Book:success consisted in appearing natural, concealing the effort behind one’s


### Book:work.


### Book:One day Rikyu and his son went to an acquaintance’s house for a tea


### Book:ceremony. On the way in, the son remarked that the lovely antique-


### Book:looking gate at their host’s house gave it an evocatively lonely


### Book:appearance. “I don’t think so,” replied his father, “it looks as though it


### Book:had been brought from some mountain temple a long way off, and as if


### Book:the labor required to import it must have cost a lot of money.” If the


### Book:owner of the house had put this much effort into one gate, it would show


### Book:in his tea ceremony—and indeed Sen no Rikyu had to leave the


### Book:ceremony early, unable to endure the affectation and effort it


### Book:inadvertently revealed.


### Book:On another evening, while having tea at a friend’s house, Rikyu saw


### Book:his host go outside, hold up a lantern in the darkness, cut a lemon off a


### Book:tree, and bring it in. This charmed Rikyu—the host needed a relish for


### Book:the dish he was serving, and had spontaneously gone outside to get one.


### Book:But when the man offered the lemon with some Osaka rice cake, Rikyu


### Book:realized that he had planned the cutting of the lemon all along, to go with


### Book:this expensive delicacy. The gesture no longer seemed spontaneous—it


### Book:was a way for the host to prove his cleverness. He had accidentally


### Book:revealed how hard he was trying. Having seen enough, Rikyu politely


### Book:declined the cake, excused himself, and left.


### Book:Emperor Hideyoshi once planned to visit Rikyu for a tea ceremony.


### Book:On the night before he was to come, snow began to fall. Thinkingquickly, Rikyu laid round cushions that fit exactly on each of the


### Book:stepping-stones that led through the garden to his house. Just before


### Book:dawn, he rose, saw that it had stopped snowing, and carefully removed


### Book:the cushions. When Hideyoshi arrived, he marveled at the simple beauty


### Book:of the sight—the perfectly round stepping stones, unencumbered by


### Book:snow—and noticed how it called no attention to the manner in which


### Book:Rikyu had accomplished it, but only to the polite gesture itself.


### Book:After Sen no Rikyu died, his ideas had a profound influence on the


### Book:practice of the tea ceremony. The Tokugawa shogun Yorinobu, son of the


### Book:great Emperor Ieyasu, was a student of Rikyu’s teachings. In his garden


### Book:he had a stone lantern made by a famous master, and Lord Sakai


### Book:Tadakatsu asked if he could come by one day to see it. Yorinobu replied


### Book:that he would be honored, and commanded his gardeners to put


### Book:everything in order for the visit. These gardeners, unfamiliar with the


### Book:precepts of Cha-no-yu, thought the stone lantern misshapen, its windows


### Book:being too small for the present taste. They had a local workman enlarge


### Book:the windows. A few days before Lord Sakai’s visit, Yorinobu toured the


### Book:garden. When he saw the altered windows he exploded with rage, ready


### Book:to impale on his sword the fool who had ruined the lantern, upsetting its


### Book:natural grace and destroying the whole purpose of Lord Sakai’s visit.


### Book:When Yorinobu calmed down, however, he remembered that he had


### Book:originally bought two of the lanterns, and that the second was in his


### Book:garden on the island of Kishu. At great expense, he hired a whale boat


### Book:and the finest rowers he could find, ordering them to bring the lantern to


### Book:him within two days—a difficult feat at best. But the sailors rowed day


### Book:and night, and with the luck of a good wind they arrived just in time. To


### Book:Yorinobu’s delight, this stone lantern was more magnificent than the


### Book:first, for it had stood untouched for twenty years in a bamboo thicket,


### Book:acquiring a brilliant antique appearance and a delicate covering of moss.


### Book:When Lord Sakai arrived, later that same day, he was awed by the


### Book:lantern, which was more magnificent than he had imagined—so graceful


### Book:and at one with the elements. Fortunately he had no idea what time and


### Book:effort it had cost Yorinobu to create this sublime effect.


### Book:THE RESILING MASTER


### Book:There was once a wrestling master who was versed in 360 feints and


### Book:holds. He took a special liking to one of his pupils, to whom he taught


### Book:359 of them over a period of time. Somehow he never got around to the


### Book:last trick. As months went by the young man became so proficient in theart that he bested everyone who dared to face him in the ring. He was so


### Book:proud of his prowess that one day he boasted before the sultan that he


### Book:could readily whip his master, were it not out of respect for his age and


### Book:gratitude for his tutelage.


### Book:The sultan became incensed at this irreverence and ordered an


### Book:immediate match with the royal court in attendance.


### Book:At the gong the youth barged forward with a lusty yell, only to be


### Book:confronted with the unfamiliar 360th feint. The master seized his former


### Book:pupil, lifted him high above his head, and flung him crashing to the


### Book:ground. The sultan and the assembly let out a loud cheer. When the


### Book:sultan asked the master how he was able to overcome such a strong


### Book:opponent, the master confessed that he had reserved a secret technique


### Book:for himself for just such a contingency. Then he related the lamentation


### Book:of a master of archery, who taught everything he knew. “No one has


### Book:learned archery from me,” the poor fellow complained, “who has not


### Book:tried to use me as a butt in the end.”


### Book:A STORY OF SAADI, AS TOLD IN THE CRAFT OF POWER, R.G.


### Book:H. SIU, 1979


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:To Sen no Rikyu, the sudden appearance of something naturally, almost


### Book:accidentally graceful was the height of beauty. This beauty came without


### Book:warning and seemed effortless. Nature created such things by its own


### Book:laws and processes, but men had to create their effects through labor and


### Book:contrivance. And when they showed the effort of producing the effect,


### Book:the effect was spoiled. The gate came from too far away, the cutting of


### Book:the lemon looked contrived.


### Book:You will often have to use tricks and ingenuity to create your effects—


### Book:the cushions in the snow, the men rowing all night—but your audience


### Book:must never suspect the work or the thinking that has gone into them.


### Book:Nature does not reveal its tricks, and what imitates nature by appearing


### Book:effortless approximates nature’s power.


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW IIThe great escape artist Harry Houdini once advertised his act as “The


### Book:Impossible Possible.” And indeed those who witnessed his dramatic


### Book:escapes felt that what he did onstage contradicted commonsense ideas of


### Book:human capacity.


### Book:One evening in 1904, an audience of 4,000 Londoners filled a theater


### Book:to watch Houdini accept a challenge: to escape from a pair of manacles


### Book:billed as the strongest ever invented. They contained six sets of locks and


### Book:nine tumblers in each cuff; a Birmingham maker had spent five years


### Book:constructing them. Experts who examined them said they had never seen


### Book:anything so intricate, and this intricacy was thought to make them


### Book:impossible to escape.


### Book:The crowd watched the experts secure the manacles on Houdini’s


### Book:wrists. Then the escape artist entered a black cabinet on stage. The


### Book:minutes went by; the more time passed, the more certain it seemed that


### Book:these manacles would be the first to defeat him. At one point he emerged


### Book:from the cabinet, and asked that the cuffs be temporarily removed so that


### Book:he could take off his coat—it was hot inside. The challengers refused,


### Book:suspecting his request was a trick to find out how the locks worked.


### Book:Undeterred, and without using his hands, Houdini managed to lift the


### Book:coat over his shoulders, turn it inside out, remove a penknife from his


### Book:vest pocket with his teeth, and, by moving his head, cut the coat off his


### Book:arms. Freed from the coat, he stepped back into the cabinet, the audience


### Book:roaring with approval at his grace and dexterity.


### Book:Finally, having kept the audience waiting long enough, Houdini


### Book:emerged from the cabinet a second time, now with his hands free, the


### Book:manacles raised high in triumph. To this day no one knows how he


### Book:managed the escape. Although he had taken close to an hour to free


### Book:himself, he had never looked concerned, had shown no sign of doubt.


### Book:Indeed it seemed by the end that he had drawn out the escape as a way to


### Book:heighten the drama, to make the audience worry—for there was no other


### Book:sign that the performance had been anything but easy. The complaint


### Book:about the heat was equally part of the act. The spectators of this and


### Book:other Houdini performances must have felt he was toying with them:


### Book:These manacles are nothing, he seemed to say, I could have freed myself


### Book:a lot sooner, and from a lot worse.


### Book:Over the years, Houdini escaped from the chained carcass of an


### Book:embalmed “sea monster” (a half octopus, half whalelike beast that had


### Book:beached near Boston); he had himself sealed inside an enormous


### Book:envelope from which he emerged without breaking the paper; he passed


### Book:through brick walls; he wriggled free from straitjackets while danglinghigh in the air; he leaped from bridges into icy waters, his hands


### Book:manacled and his legs in chains; he had himself submerged in glass cases


### Book:full of water, hands pad-locked, while the audience watched in


### Book:amazement as he worked himself free, struggling for close to an hour


### Book:apparently without breathing. Each time he seemed to court certain death


### Book:yet survived with superhuman aplomb. Meanwhile, he said nothing


### Book:about his methods, gave no clues as to how he accomplished any of his


### Book:tricks—he left his audiences and critics speculating, his power and


### Book:reputation enhanced by their struggles with the inexplicable. Perhaps the


### Book:most baffling trick of all was making a ten-thousand-pound elephant


### Book:disappear before an audience’s eyes, a feat he repeated on stage for over


### Book:nineteen weeks. No one has ever really explained how he did this, for in


### Book:the auditorium where he performed the trick, there was simply nowhere


### Book:for an elephant to hide.


### Book:The effortlessness of Houdini’s escapes led some to think he used


### Book:occult forces, his superior psychic abilities giving him special control


### Book:over his body. But a German escape artist named Kleppini claimed to


### Book:know Houdini’s secret: He simply used elaborate gadgets. Kleppini also


### Book:claimed to have defeated Houdini in a handcuff challenge in Holland.


### Book:Houdini did not mind all kinds of speculation floating around about


### Book:his methods, but he would not tolerate an outright lie, and in 1902 he


### Book:challenged Kleppini to a handcuff duel. Kleppini accepted. Through a


### Book:spy, he found out the secret word to unlock a pair of French


### Book:combination-lock cuffs that Houdini liked to use. His plan was to choose


### Book:these cuffs to escape from onstage. This would definitively debunk


### Book:Houdini—his “genius” simply lay in his use of mechanical gadgets.


### Book:On the night of the challenge, just as Kleppini had planned, Houdini


### Book:offered him a choice of cuffs and he selected the ones with the


### Book:combination lock. He was even able to disappear with them behind a


### Book:screen to make a quick test, and reemerged seconds later, confident of


### Book:victory.


### Book:Acting as if he sensed fraud, Houdini refused to lock Kleppini in the


### Book:cuffs. The two men argued and began to fight, even wrestling with each


### Book:other onstage. After a few minutes of this, an apparently angry, frustrated


### Book:Houdini gave up and locked Kleppini in the cuffs. For the next few


### Book:minutes Kleppini strained to get free. Something was wrong—minutes


### Book:earlier he had opened the cuffs behind the screen; now the same code no


### Book:longer worked. He sweated, racking his brains. Hours went by, the


### Book:audience left, and finally an exhausted and humiliated Kleppini gave up


### Book:and asked to be released.The cuffs that Kleppini himself had opened behind the screen with the


### Book:word “C-L-E-F-S” (French for “keys”) now clicked open only with the


### Book:word “F-R-A-U-D.” Kleppini never figured out how Houdini had


### Book:accomplished this uncanny feat.


### Book:Keep the extent of your abilities unknown. The wise man does not allow


### Book:his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to


### Book:be honored by all. He allows you to know them but not to comprehend


### Book:them. No one must know the extent of his abilities, lest he be


### Book:disappointed. No one ever has an opportunity of fathoming him entirely.


### Book:For guesses and doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more


### Book:veneration than accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great.


### Book:BALTASAR GRACIÁN. 1601-1658


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:Although we do not know for certain how Houdini accomplished many


### Book:of his most ingenious escapes, one thing is clear: It was not the occult, or


### Book:any kind of magic, that gave him his powers, but hard work and endless


### Book:practice, all of which he carefully concealed from the world. Houdini


### Book:never left anything to chance—day and night he studied the workings of


### Book:locks, researched centuries-old sleight-of-hand tricks, pored over books


### Book:on mechanics, whatever he could use. Every moment not spent


### Book:researching he spent working his body, keeping himself exceptionally


### Book:limber, and learning how to control his muscles and his breathing.


### Book:Early on in Houdini’s career, an old Japanese performer whom he


### Book:toured with taught him an ancient trick: how to swallow an ivory ball,


### Book:then bring it back up. He practiced this endlessly with a small peeled


### Book:potato tied to a string—up and down he would manipulate the potato


### Book:with his throat muscles, until they were strong enough to move it without


### Book:the string. The organizers of the London handcuff challenge had


### Book:searched Houdini’s body thoroughly beforehand, but no one could check


### Book:the inside of his throat, where he could have concealed small tools to


### Book:help him escape. Even so, Kleppini was fundamentally wrong: It was not


### Book:Houdini’s tools but his practice, work, and research that made his


### Book:escapes possible.


### Book:Kleppini, in fact, was completely outwitted by Houdini, who set the


### Book:whole thing up. He let his opponent learn the code to the French cuffs,


### Book:then baited him into choosing those cuffs onstage. Then, during the two


### Book:men’s tussle, the dexterous Houdini was able to change the code to “F-R-A-U-D.” He had spent weeks practicing this trick, but the audience


### Book:saw none of the sweat and toil behind the scenes. Nor was Houdini ever


### Book:nervous; he induced nervousness in others. (He deliberately dragged out


### Book:the time it would take to escape, as a way of heightening the drama, and


### Book:making the audience squirm.) His escapes from death, always graceful


### Book:and easy, made him look like a superman.


### Book:As a person of power, you must research and practice endlessly before


### Book:appearing in public, onstage or anywhere else. Never expose the sweat


### Book:and labor behind your poise. Some think such exposure will demonstrate


### Book:their diligence and honesty, but it actually just makes them look weaker


### Book:—as if anyone who practiced and worked at it could do what they had


### Book:done, or as if they weren’t really up to the job. Keep your effort and your


### Book:tricks to yourself and you seem to have the grace and ease of a god. One


### Book:never sees the source of a god’s power revealed; one only sees its effects.


### Book:A line [of poetry] will take us hours maybe;


### Book:Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,


### Book:Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.


### Book:Adam’s Curse, William Buller Yeats, 1865-1939


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:Humanity’s first notions of power came from primitive encounters with


### Book:nature—the flash of lightning in the sky, a sudden flood, the speed and


### Book:ferocity of a wild animal. These forces required no thinking, no planning


### Book:—they awed us by their sudden appearance, their gracefulness, and their


### Book:power over life and death. And this remains the kind of power we have


### Book:always wanted to imitate. Through science and technology we have re-


### Book:created the speed and sublime power of nature, but something is missing:


### Book:Our machines are noisy and jerky, they reveal their effort. Even the very


### Book:best creations of technology cannot root out our admiration for things


### Book:that move easily and effortlessly. The power of children to bend us to


### Book:their will comes from a kind of seductive charm that we feel in the


### Book:presence of a creature less reflective and more graceful than we are. We


### Book:cannot return to such a state, but if we can create the appearance of this


### Book:kind of ease, we elicit in others the kind of primitive awe that nature has


### Book:always evoked in hu mankind.One of the first European writers to expound on this principle came


### Book:from that most unnatural of environments, the Renaissance court. In The


### Book:Book of the Courtier, published in 1528, Baldassare Castiglione


### Book:describes the highly elaborate and codified manners of the perfect court


### Book:citizen. And yet, Castiglione explains, the courtier must execute these


### Book:gestures with what he calls sprezzatura, the capacity to make the difficult


### Book:seem easy. He urges the courtier to “practice in all things a certain


### Book:nonchalance which conceals all artistry and makes whatever one says or


### Book:does seem uncontrived and effortless.” We all admire the achievement of


### Book:some unusual feat, but if it is accomplished naturally and gracefully, our


### Book:admiration increases tenfold—“whereas … to labor at what one is doing


### Book:and … to make bones over it, shows an extreme lack of grace and causes


### Book:everything, whatever its worth, to be discounted.”


### Book:Much of the idea of sprezzatura came from the world of art. All the


### Book:great Renaissance artists carefully kept their works under wraps. Only


### Book:the finished masterpiece could be shown to the public. Michelangelo


### Book:forbade even popes to view his work in process. A Renaissance artist


### Book:was always careful to keep his studios shut to patrons and public alike,


### Book:not out of fear of imitation, but because to see the making of the works


### Book:would mar the magic of their effect, and their studied atmosphere of ease


### Book:and natural beauty.


### Book:The Renaissance painter Vasari, also the first great art critic, ridiculed


### Book:the work of Paolo Uccello, who was obsessed with the laws of


### Book:perspective. The effort Uccello spent on improving the appearance of


### Book:perspective was too obvious in his work—it made his paintings ugly and


### Book:labored, overwhelmed by the effort of their effects. We have the same


### Book:response when we watch performers who put too much effort into their


### Book:act: Seeing them trying so hard breaks the illusion. It also makes us


### Book:uncomfortable. Calm, graceful performers, on the other hand, set us at


### Book:ease, creating the illusion that they are not acting but being natural and


### Book:themselves, even when everything they are doing involves labor and


### Book:practice.


### Book:The idea of sprezzatura is relevant to all forms of power, for power


### Book:depends vitally on appearances and the illusions you create. Your public


### Book:actions are like artworks: They must have visual appeal, must create


### Book:anticipation, even entertain. When you reveal the inner workings of your


### Book:creation, you become just one more mortal among others. What is


### Book:understandable is not awe-inspiring—we tell ourselves we could do as


### Book:well if we had the money and time. Avoid the temptation of showinghow clever you are—it is far more clever to conceal the mechanisms of


### Book:your cleverness.


### Book:Talleyrand’s application of this concept to his daily life greatly


### Book:enhanced the aura of power that surrounded him. He never liked to work


### Book:too hard, so he made others do the work for him—the spying, the


### Book:research, the detailed analyses. With all this labor at his disposal, he


### Book:himself never seemed to strain. When his spies revealed that a certain


### Book:event was about to take place, he would talk in social conversation as if


### Book:he sensed its imminence. The result was that people thought he was


### Book:clairvoyant. His short pithy statements and witticisms always seemed to


### Book:summarize a situation perfectly, but they were based on much research


### Book:and thought. To those in government, including Napoleon himself,


### Book:Talleyrand gave the impression of immense power—an effect entirely


### Book:dependent on the apparent ease with which he accomplished his feats.


### Book:There is another reason for concealing your shortcuts and tricks: When


### Book:you let this information out, you give people ideas they can use against


### Book:you. You lose the advantages of keeping silent. We tend to want the


### Book:world to know what we have done—we want our vanity gratified by


### Book:having our hard work and cleverness applauded, and we may even want


### Book:sympathy for the hours it has taken to reach our point of artistry. Learn to


### Book:control this propensity to blab, for its effect is often the opposite of what


### Book:you expected. Remember: The more mystery surrounds your actions, the


### Book:more awesome your power seems. You appear to be the only one who


### Book:can do what you do—and the appearance of having an exclusive gift is


### Book:immensely powerful. Finally, because you achieve your


### Book:accomplishments with grace and ease, people believe that you could


### Book:always do more if you tried harder. This elicits not only admiration but a


### Book:touch of fear. Your powers are untapped—no one can fathom their limits.


### Book:Image: The Racehorse. From up close we would see the


### Book:strain, the effort to control the horse, the labored, painful


### Book:breathing. But from the distance where we sit and watch, it


### Book:is all gracefulness, flying through the air. Keep others at a


### Book:distance and they will only see the ease with which you move.


### Book:Authority: For whatever action [nonchalance] accompanies, no matter


### Book:how trivial it is, it not only reveals the skill of the person doing it but


### Book:also very often causes it to be considered far greater than it really is. This


### Book:is because it makes the onlookers believe that a man who performs wellwith so much facility must possess even greater skill than he does.


### Book:(Baldassare Castiglione, 1478-1529)


### Book:REVERSAL


### Book:The secrecy with which you surround your actions must seem


### Book:lighthearted in spirit. A zeal to conceal your work creates an unpleasant,


### Book:almost paranoiac impression: you are taking the game too seriously.


### Book:Houdini was careful to make the concealment of his tricks seem a game,


### Book:all part of the show. Never show your work until it is finished, but if you


### Book:put too much effort into keeping it under wraps you will be like the


### Book:painter Pontormo, who spent the last years of his life hiding his frescoes


### Book:from the public eye and only succeeded in driving himself mad. Always


### Book:keep your sense of humor about yourself.


### Book:There are also times when revealing the inner workings of your


### Book:projects can prove worthwhile. It all depends on your audience’s taste,


### Book:and on the times in which you operate. P. T. Barnum recognized that his


### Book:public wanted to feel involved in his shows, and that understanding his


### Book:tricks delighted them, partly, perhaps, because implicitly debunking


### Book:people who kept their sources of power hidden from the masses appealed


### Book:to America’s democratic spirit. The public also appreciated the


### Book:showman’s humor and honesty. Barnum took this to the extreme of


### Book:publicizing his own humbuggery in his popular autobiography, written


### Book:when his career was at its height.


### Book:As long as the partial disclosure of tricks and techniques is carefully


### Book:planned, rather than the result of an uncontrollable need to blab, it is the


### Book:ultimate in cleverness. It gives the audience the illusion of being superior


### Book:and involved, even while much of what you do remains concealed from


### Book:them.LAW 31


### Book:CONTROL THE OPTIONS: GET OTHERS TO


### Book:PLAY WITH THE CARDS YOU DEAL


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a


### Book:choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your


### Book:puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one


### Book:they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils,


### Book:both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma:


### Book:They are gored wherever they turn.


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I


### Book:From early in his reign, Ivan IV, later known as Ivan the Terrible, had to


### Book:confront an unpleasant reality: The country desperately needed reform,


### Book:but he lacked the power to push it through. The greatest limit to his


### Book:authority came from the boyars, the Russian princely class that


### Book:dominated the country and terrorized the peasantry.


### Book:In 1553, at the age of twenty-three, Ivan fell ill. Lying in bed, nearing


### Book:death, he asked the boyars to swear allegiance to his son as the new czar.


### Book:Some hesitated, some even refused. Then and there Ivan saw he had no


### Book:power over the boyars. He recovered from his illness, but he never forgot


### Book:the lesson: The boyars were out to destroy him. And indeed in the years


### Book:to come, many of the most powerful of them defected to Russia’s main


### Book:enemies, Poland and Lithuania, where they plotted their return and the


### Book:overthrow of the czar. Even one of Ivan’s closest friends, Prince Andrey


### Book:Kurbski, suddenly turned against him, defecting to Lithuania in 1564,


### Book:and becoming the strongest of Ivan’s enemies.When Kurbski began raising troops for an invasion, the royal dynasty


### Book:seemed suddenly more precarious than ever. With émigré nobles


### Book:fomenting invasion from the west, Tartars bearing down from the east,


### Book:and the boyars stirring up trouble within the country, Russia’s vast size


### Book:made it a nightmare to defend. In whatever direction Ivan struck, he


### Book:would leave himself vulnerable on the other side. Only if he had absolute


### Book:power could he deal with this many-headed Hydra. And he had no such


### Book:power.


### Book:Ivan brooded until the morning of December 3, 1564, when the


### Book:citizens of Moscow awoke to a strange sight. Hundreds of sleds filled the


### Book:square before the Kremlin, loaded with the czar’s treasures and with


### Book:provisions for the entire court. They watched in disbelief as the czar and


### Book:his court boarded the sleds and left town. Without explaining why, he


### Book:established himself in a village south of Moscow. For an entire month a


### Book:kind of terror gripped the capital, for the Muscovites feared that Ivan had


### Book:abandoned them to the bloodthirsty boyars. Shops closed up and riotous


### Book:mobs gathered daily. Finally, on January 3 of 1565, a letter arrived from


### Book:the czar, explaining that he could no longer bear the boyars’ betrayals


### Book:and had decided to abdicate once and for all.


### Book:The German Chancellor Bismarck, enraged at the constant criticisms


### Book:from Rudolf Virchow (the German pathologist and liberal politician),


### Book:had his seconds call upon the scientist to challenge him to a duel. “As


### Book:the challenged party, I have the choice of weapons,” said Virchow, “and


### Book:I choose these.” He held aloft two large and apparently identical


### Book:sausages. “One of these,” he went on, “is infected with deadly germs;


### Book:the orher is perfectly sound. Let His Excellency decide which one he


### Book:wishes to eat, and I will eat the other.” Almost immediately the message


### Book:came back that the chancellor had decided to cancel the duel.


### Book:THE LITTLE. BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES. CLIFTON


### Book:FADIMAN, FD., 1985


### Book:Read aloud in public, the letter had a startling effect: Merchants and


### Book:commoners blamed the boyars for Ivan’s decision, and took to the


### Book:streets, terrifying the nobility with their fury. Soon a group of delegates


### Book:representing the church, the princes, and the people made the journey to


### Book:Ivan’s village, and begged the czar, in the name of the holy land of


### Book:Russia, to return to the throne. Ivan listened but would not change his


### Book:mind. After days of hearing their pleas, however, he offered his subjectsa choice: Either they grant him absolute powers to govern as he pleased,


### Book:with no interference from the boyars, or they find a new leader.


### Book:Faced with a choice between civil war and the acceptance of despotic


### Book:power, almost every sector of Russian society “opted” for a strong czar,


### Book:calling for Ivan’s return to Moscow and the restoration of law and order.


### Book:In February, with much celebration, Ivan returned to Moscow. The


### Book:Russians could no longer complain if he behaved dictatorially—they had


### Book:given him this power themselves.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:Ivan the Terrible faced a terrible dilemma: To give in to the boyars would


### Book:lead to certain destruction, but civil war would bring a different kind of


### Book:ruin. Even if Ivan came out of such a war on top, the country would be


### Book:devastated and its divisions would be stronger than ever. His weapon of


### Book:choice in the past had been to make a bold, offensive move. Now,


### Book:however, that kind of move would turn against him—the more boldly he


### Book:confronted his enemies, the worse the reactions he would spark.


### Book:The main weakness of a show of force is that it stirs up resentment and


### Book:eventually leads to a response that eats at your authority. Ivan,


### Book:immensely creative in the use of power, saw clearly that the only path to


### Book:the kind of victory he wanted was a false withdrawal. He would not force


### Book:the country over to his position, he would give it “options”: either his


### Book:abdication, and certain anarchy, or his accession to absolute power. To


### Book:back up his move, he made it clear that he preferred to abdicate: “Call


### Book:my bluff,” he said, “and watch what happens.” No one called his bluff.


### Book:By withdrawing for just a month, he showed the country a glimpse of the


### Book:nightmares that would follow his abdication—Tartar invasions, civil war,


### Book:ruin. (All of these did eventually come to pass after Ivan’s death, in the


### Book:infamous “Time of the Troubles.”)


### Book:Withdrawal and disappearance are classic ways of controlling the


### Book:options. You give people a sense of how things will fall apart without


### Book:you, and you offer them a “choice”: I stay away and you suffer the


### Book:consequences, or I return under circumstances that I dictate. In this


### Book:method of controlling people’s options, they choose the option that gives


### Book:you power because the alternative is just too unpleasant. You force their


### Book:hand, but indirectly: They seem to have a choice. Whenever people feel


### Book:they have a choice, they walk into your trap that much more easily.THE I IAR


### Book:Once upon a time there was a king of Armenia, who, being of a curious


### Book:turn of mind and in need of some new diversion, sent his heralds


### Book:throughout the land to make the following proclamation: “Hear this!


### Book:Whatever man among you can prove himself the most outrageous liar in


### Book:Armenia shall receive an apple made of pure gold from the hands of His


### Book:Majesty the King!” People began to swarm to the palace from every


### Book:town and hamlet in the country, people of all ranks and conditions,


### Book:princes, merchants, farmers, priests, rich and poor, tall and short, fat


### Book:and thin. There was no lack of liars in the land, and each one told his


### Book:tale to the king. A ruler, however, has heard practically every sort of lie,


### Book:and none of those now told him convinced the king that he had listened


### Book:to the best of them. The king was beginning to grow tired of his new sport


### Book:and was thinking of calling the whole contest off without declaring a


### Book:winner, when there appeared before him a poor, ragged man, carrying a


### Book:large earthenware pitcher under his arm. “What can I do for you?”


### Book:asked His Majesty. “Sire!” said the poor man, slightly bewildered


### Book:“Surely you remember? You owe me a pot of gold, and I have come to


### Book:collect it.” “You are a pet feet liar, sir!’ exclaimed the king ”I owe you


### Book:no money’” ”A perfect liar, am I?” said the poor man. ”Then give me the


### Book:golden apple!” The king, realizing that the man was Irving to trick him.


### Book:started to hedge. ”No. no! You are not a liar!” ”Then give me the pot of


### Book:gold you owe me. sire.” said the man. The king saw the dilemma, He


### Book:handed over the golden apple.


### Book:ARMENIAN FOLK-IALES AND FABLES. REIOLD BY CAHARLES


### Book:DOWNING. 1993


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II


### Book:As a seventeenth-century French courtesan, Ninon de Lenclos found that


### Book:her life had certain pleasures. Her lovers came from royalty and


### Book:aristocracy, and they paid her well, entertained her with their wit and


### Book:intellect, satisfied her rather demanding sensual needs, and treated her


### Book:almost as an equal. Such a life was infinitely preferable to marriage. In


### Book:1643, however, Ninon’s mother died suddenly, leaving her, at the age of


### Book:twenty-three, totally alone in the world—no family, no dowry, nothing tofall back upon. A kind of panic overtook her and she entered a convent,


### Book:turning her back on her illustrious lovers. A year later she left the


### Book:convent and moved to Lyons. When she finally reappeared in Paris, in


### Book:1648, lovers and suitors flocked to her door in greater numbers than ever


### Book:before, for she was the wittiest and most spirited courtesan of the time


### Book:and her presence had been greatly missed.


### Book:Ninon’s followers quickly discovered, however, that she had changed


### Book:her old way of doing things, and had set up a new system of options. The


### Book:dukes, seigneurs, and princes who wanted to pay for her services could


### Book:continue to do so, but they were no longer in control—she would sleep


### Book:with them when she wanted, according to her whim. All their money


### Book:bought them was a possibility. If it was her pleasure to sleep with them


### Book:only once a month, so be it.


### Book:Those who did not want to be what Ninon called a payeur could join


### Book:the large and growing group of men she called her martyrs—men who


### Book:visited her apartment principally for her friendship, her biting wit, her


### Book:lute-playing, and the company of the most vibrant minds of the period,


### Book:including Molière, La Rochefoucauld, and Saint-Évremond. The


### Book:martyrs, too, however, entertained a possibility: She would regularly


### Book:select from them a favori, a man who would become her lover without


### Book:having to pay, and to whom she would abandon herself completely for as


### Book:long as she so desired—a week, a few months, rarely longer. A payeur


### Book:could not become a favori, but a martyr had no guarantee of becoming


### Book:one, and indeed could remain disappointed for an entire lifetime. The


### Book:poet Charleval, for example, never enjoyed Ninon’s favors, but never


### Book:stopped coming to visit—he did not want to do without her company.


### Book:As word of this system reached polite French society, Ninon became


### Book:the object of intense hostility. Her reversal of the position of the


### Book:courtesan scandalized the queen mother and her court. Much to their


### Book:horror, however, it did not discourage her male suitors—indeed it only


### Book:increased their numbers and intensified their desire. It became an honor


### Book:to be a payeur, helping Ninon to maintain her lifestyle and her glittering


### Book:salon, accompanying her sometimes to the theater, and sleeping with her


### Book:when she chose. Even more distinguished were the martyrs, enjoying her


### Book:company without paying for it and maintaining the hope, however


### Book:remote, of some day becoming her favori. That possibility spurred on


### Book:many a young nobleman, as word spread that none among the courtesans


### Book:could surpass Ninon in the art of love. And so the married and the single,


### Book:the old and the young, entered her web and chose one of the two options


### Book:presented to them, both of which amply satisfied her.Interpretation


### Book:The life of the courtesan entailed the possibility of a power that was


### Book:denied a married woman, but it also had obvious perils. The man who


### Book:paid for the courtesan’s services in essence owned her, determining when


### Book:he could possess her and when, later on, he would abandon her. As she


### Book:grew older, her options narrowed, as fewer men chose her. To avoid a life


### Book:of poverty she had to amass her fortune while she was young. The


### Book:courtesan’s legendary greed, then, reflected a practical necessity, yet also


### Book:lessened her allure, since the illusion of being desired is important to


### Book:men, who are often alienated if their partner is too interested in their


### Book:money. As the courtesan aged, then, she faced a most difficult fate.


### Book:Ninon de Lenclos had a horror of any kind of dependence. She early


### Book:on tasted a kind of equality with her lovers, and she would not settle into


### Book:a system that left her such distasteful options. Strangely enough, the


### Book:system she devised in its place seemed to satisfy her suitors as much as it


### Book:did her. The payeurs may have had to pay, but the fact that Ninon would


### Book:only sleep with them when she wanted to gave them a thrill unavailable


### Book:with every other courtesan: She was yielding out of her own desire. The


### Book:martyrs’ avoidance of the taint of having to pay gave them a sense of


### Book:superiority; as members of Ninon’s fraternity of admirers, they also


### Book:might some day experience the ultimate pleasure of being her favori.


### Book:Finally, Ninon did not force her suitors into either category. They could


### Book:“choose” which side they preferred—a freedom that left them a vestige


### Book:of masculine pride.


### Book:Such is the power of giving people a choice, or rather the illusion of


### Book:one, for they are playing with cards you have dealt them. Where the


### Book:alternatives set up by Ivan the Terrible involved a certain risk—one


### Book:option would have led to his losing his power—Ninon created a situation


### Book:in which every option redounded to her favor. From the payeurs she


### Book:received the money she needed to run her salon. And from the martyrs


### Book:she gained the ultimate in power: She could surround herself with a bevy


### Book:of admirers, a harem from which to choose her lovers.


### Book:The system, though, depended on one critical factor: the possibility,


### Book:however remote, that a martyr could become a favori. The illusion that


### Book:riches, glory, or sensual satisfaction may someday fall into your victim’s


### Book:lap is an irresistible carrot to include in your list of choices. That hope,


### Book:however slim, will make men accept the most ridiculous situations,


### Book:because it leaves them the all-important option of a dream. The illusionof choice, married to the possibility of future good fortune, will lure the


### Book:most stubborn sucker into your glittering web.


### Book:J. P. Morgan Sr. once told a jeweler of his acquaintance that he was


### Book:interested in buying a pearl scarf-pin. Just a few weeks later, the jeweler


### Book:happened upon a magnificent pearl. He had it mounted in an


### Book:appropriate setting and sent it to Morgan, together with a bill for $5,000.


### Book:The following day the package was returned. Morgan’s accompanying


### Book:note read: “I like the pin, but I don’t like the price. If you will accept the


### Book:enclosed check for $4,000, please send back the box with the seal


### Book:unbroken.” The enraged jeweler refused the check and dismissed the


### Book:messenger in disgust. He opened up the box to reclaim the unwanted pin,


### Book:only to find that it had been removed. In its place was a check for


### Book:$5,000.


### Book:THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES. CLIFTON


### Book:FADIMAN, ED.. 1985


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:Words like “freedom,” “options,” and “choice” evoke a power of


### Book:possibility far beyond the reality of the benefits they entail. When


### Book:examined closely, the choices we have—in the marketplace, in elections,


### Book:in our jobs—tend to have noticeable limitations: They are often a matter


### Book:of a choice simply between A and B, with the rest of the alphabet out of


### Book:the picture. Yet as long as the faintest mirage of choice flickers on, we


### Book:rarely focus on the missing options. We “choose” to believe that the


### Book:game is fair, and that we have our freedom. We prefer not to think too


### Book:much about the depth of our liberty to choose.


### Book:This unwillingness to probe the smallness of our choices stems from


### Book:the fact that too much freedom creates a kind of anxiety. The phrase


### Book:“unlimited options” sounds infinitely promising, but unlimited options


### Book:would actually paralyze us and cloud our ability to choose. Our limited


### Book:range of choices comforts us.


### Book:This supplies the clever and cunning with enormous opportunities for


### Book:deception. For people who are choosing between alternatives find it hard


### Book:to believe they are being manipulated or deceived; they cannot see that


### Book:you are allowing them a small amount of free will in exchange for a


### Book:much more powerful imposition of your own will. Setting up a narrowrange of choices, then, should always be a part of your deceptions. There


### Book:is a saying: If you can get the bird to walk into the cage on its own, it


### Book:will sing that much more prettily.


### Book:The following are among the most common forms of “controlling the


### Book:options”:


### Book:Color the Choices. This was a favored technique of Henry Kissinger. As


### Book:President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, Kissinger considered


### Book:himself better informed than his boss, and believed that in most


### Book:situations he could make the best decision on his own. But if he tried to


### Book:determine policy, he would offend or perhaps enrage a notoriously


### Book:insecure man. So Kissinger would propose three or four choices of action


### Book:for each situation, and would present them in such a way that the one he


### Book:preferred always seemed the best solution compared to the others. Time


### Book:after time, Nixon fell for the bait, never suspecting that he was moving


### Book:where Kissinger pushed him. This is an excellent device to use on the


### Book:insecure master.


### Book:Force the Resister. One of the main problems faced by Dr. Milton H.


### Book:Erickson, a pioneer of hypnosis therapy in the 1950s, was the relapse.


### Book:His patients might seem to be recovering rapidly, but their apparent


### Book:susceptibility to the therapy masked a deep resistance: They would soon


### Book:relapse into old habits, blame the doctor, and stop coming to see him. To


### Book:avoid this, Erickson began ordering some patients to have a relapse, to


### Book:make themselves feel as bad as when they first came in—to go back to


### Book:square one. Faced with this option, the patients would usually “choose”


### Book:to avoid the relapse—which, of course, was what Erickson really


### Book:wanted.


### Book:This is a good technique to use on children and other willful people


### Book:who enjoy doing the opposite of what you ask them to: Push them to


### Book:“choose” what you want them to do by appearing to advocate the


### Book:opposite.


### Book:Alter the Playing Field. In the 1860s, John D. Rockefeller set out to


### Book:create an oil monopoly. If he tried to buy up the smaller oil companies


### Book:they would figure out what he was doing and fight back. Instead, he


### Book:began secretly buying up the railway companies that transported the oil.


### Book:When he then attempted to take over a particular company, and met with


### Book:resistance, he reminded them of their dependence on the rails. Refusingthem shipping, or simply raising their fees, could ruin their business.


### Book:Rockefeller altered the playing field so that the only options the small oil


### Book:producers had were the ones he gave them.


### Book:In this tactic your opponents know their hand is being forced, but it


### Book:doesn’t matter. The technique is effective against those who resist at all


### Book:costs.


### Book:The Shrinking Options. The late-nineteenth-century art dealer


### Book:Ambroise Vollard perfected this technique.


### Book:Customers would come to Vollard’s shop to see some Cézannes. He


### Book:would show three paintings, neglect to mention a price, and pretend to


### Book:doze off. The visitors would have to leave without deciding. They would


### Book:usually come back the next day to see the paintings again, but this time


### Book:Vollard would pull out less interesting works, pretending he thought they


### Book:were the same ones. The baffled customers would look at the new


### Book:offerings, leave to think them over, and return yet again. Once again the


### Book:same thing would happen: Vollard would show paintings of lesser quality


### Book:still. Finally the buyers would realize they had better grab what he was


### Book:showing them, because tomorrow they would have to settle for


### Book:something worse, perhaps at even higher prices.


### Book:A variation on this technique is to raise the price every time the buyer


### Book:hesitates and another day goes by. This is an excellent negotiating ploy


### Book:to use on the chronically indecisive, who will fall for the idea that they


### Book:are getting a better deal today than if they wait till tomorrow.


### Book:The Weak Man on the Precipice. The weak are the easiest to maneuver


### Book:by controlling their options. Cardinal de Retz, the great seventeenth-


### Book:century provocateur, served as an unofficial assistant to the Duke of


### Book:Orléans, who was notoriously indecisive. It was a constant struggle to


### Book:convince the duke to take action—he would hem and haw, weigh the


### Book:options, and wait till the last moment, giving everyone around him an


### Book:ulcer. But Retz discovered a way to handle him: He would describe all


### Book:sorts of dangers, exaggerating them as much as possible, until the duke


### Book:saw a yawning abyss in every direction except one: the one Retz was


### Book:pushing him to take.


### Book:This tactic is similar to “Color the Choices,” but with the weak you


### Book:have to be more aggressive. Work on their emotions—use fear and terror


### Book:to propel them into action. Try reason and they will always find a way to


### Book:procrastinate.Brothers in Crime. This is a classic con-artist technique: You attract


### Book:your victims to some criminal scheme, creating a bond of blood and guilt


### Book:between you. They participate in your deception, commit a crime (or


### Book:think they do—see the story of Sam Geezil in Law 3), and are easily


### Book:manipulated. Serge Stavisky, the great French con artist of the 1920s, so


### Book:entangled the government in his scams and swindles that the state did not


### Book:dare to prosecute him, and “chose” to leave him alone. It is often wise to


### Book:implicate in your deceptions the very person who can do you the most


### Book:harm if you fail. Their involvement can be subtle—even a hint of their


### Book:involvement will narrow their options and buy their silence.


### Book:The Horns of a Dilemma. This idea was demonstrated by General


### Book:William Sherman’s infamous march through Georgia during the


### Book:American Civil War. Although the Confederates knew what direction


### Book:Sherman was heading in, they never knew if he would attack from the


### Book:left or the right, for he divided his army into two wings—and if the


### Book:rebels retreated from one wing they found themselves facing the other.


### Book:This is a classic trial lawyer’s technique: The lawyer leads the witnesses


### Book:to decide between two possible explanations of an event, both of which


### Book:poke a hole in their story. They have to answer the lawyer’s questions,


### Book:but whatever they say they hurt themselves. The key to this move is to


### Book:strike quickly: Deny the victim the time to think of an escape. As they


### Book:wriggle between the horns of the dilemma, they dig their own grave.


### Book:Understand: In your struggles with your rivals, it will often be necessary


### Book:for you to hurt them. And if you are clearly the agent of their


### Book:punishment, expect a counterattack—expect revenge. If, however, they


### Book:seem to themselves to be the agents of their own misfortune, they will


### Book:submit quietly. When Ivan left Moscow for his rural village, the citizens


### Book:asking him to return agreed to his demand for absolute power. Over the


### Book:years to come, they resented him less for the terror he unleashed on the


### Book:country, because, after all, they had granted him his power themselves.


### Book:This is why it is always good to allow your victims their choice of


### Book:poison, and to cloak your involvement in providing it to them as far as


### Book:possible.


### Book:Image: The Horns of the Bull. The bull backs you into the corner with its


### Book:horns—not a single horn, which you might be e able to escape, but a pair


### Book:of horns that trap you within their hold. Run right or run left—either way


### Book:you move into their piercing ends and are gored.Authority: For the wounds and every other evil that men inflict upon


### Book:themselves spontaneously, and of their own choice, are in the long run


### Book:less painful than those inflicted by others. (Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-


### Book:1527)


### Book:REVERSAL


### Book:Controlling the options has one main purpose: to disguise yourself as the


### Book:agent of power and punishment. The tactic works best, then, for those


### Book:whose power is fragile, and who cannot operate too openly without


### Book:incurring suspicion, resentment, and anger. Even as a general rule,


### Book:however, it is rarely wise to be seen as exerting power directly and


### Book:forcefully, no matter how secure or strong you are. It is usually more


### Book:elegant and more effective to give people the illusion of choice.


### Book:On the other hand, by limiting other people’s options you sometimes


### Book:limit your own. There are situations in which it is to your advantage to


### Book:allow your rivals a large degree of freedom: As you watch them operate,


### Book:you give yourself rich opportunities to spy, gather information, and plan


### Book:your deceptions. The nineteenth-century banker James Rothschild liked


### Book:this method: He felt that if he tried to control his opponents’ movements,


### Book:he lost the chance to observe their strategy and plan a more effective


### Book:course. The more freedom he allowed them in the short term, the more


### Book:forcefully he could act against them in the long run.LAW 32


### Book:PLAY TO PEOPLE’S FANTASIES


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never


### Book:appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that


### Book:comes from disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people


### Book:who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the


### Book:desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the


### Book:fantasies of the masses.


### Book:THE FUNERAL OF THE LIONESS


### Book:The lion having suddenly lost his queen, every one hastened to show


### Book:allegiance to the monarch, by offering consolation. These compliments,


### Book:alas, served but to increase the widower’s affliction. Due notice was


### Book:given throughout the kingdom that the funeral would be performed at a


### Book:certain time and place; the lion’s officers were ordered to be in


### Book:attendance, to regulate the ceremony, and place the company according


### Book:to their respective rank. One may well judge no one absented himself.


### Book:The monarch gave way to his grief, and the whole cave, lions having no


### Book:other temples, resounded with his cries. After his example, all the


### Book:courtiers roared in their different tones. A court is the sort of place


### Book:where everyone is either sorrowful, gay, or indifferent to everything, just


### Book:as the reigning prince may think fit; or if any one is not actually, he at


### Book:least tries to appear so; each endeavors to mimic the master. It is truly


### Book:said that one mind animates a thousand bodies, clearly showing that


### Book:human beings are mere machines. But let us return to our subject. The


### Book:stag alone shed no tears. How could he, forsooth? The death of the


### Book:queen avenged him; she had formerly strangled his wife and son. A


### Book:courtier thought fit to inform the bereaved monarch, and even affirmed


### Book:that he had seen the stag laugh. The rage of a king, says Solomon, is


### Book:terrible, and especially that of a lion-king. “Pitiful forester!” heexclaimed, “darest thou laugh when all around are dissolved in tears?


### Book:We will not soil our royal claws with thy profane blood! Do thou, brave


### Book:wolf, avenge our queen, by immolating this traitor to her august manes.


### Book:”


### Book:Hereupon the stag replied: “Sire, the time for weeping is passed; grief is


### Book:here superfluous. Your revered spouse appeared to me but now, reposing


### Book:on a bed of roses; I instantly recognized her. ‘Friend,’ said she to me,


### Book:‘have done with this funereal pomp, cease these useless tears. I have


### Book:tasted a thousand delights in the Elysian fields, conversing with those


### Book:who are saints like myself. Let the king’s despair remain for some time


### Book:unchecked, it gratifies me.’” Scarcely had he spoken, when every one


### Book:shouted: “A miracle! a miracle!” The stag, instead of being punished,


### Book:received a handsome gift. Do but entertain a king with dreams, flatter


### Book:him, and tell him a few pleasant fantastic lies: whatever his indignation


### Book:against you may be, he will swallow the bait, and make you his dearest


### Book:friend.


### Book:FABLES, JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 1621-1695


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW


### Book:The city-state of Venice was prosperous for so long that its citizens felt


### Book:their small republic had destiny on its side. In the Middle Ages and High


### Book:Renaissance, its virtual monopoly on trade to the east made it the


### Book:wealthiest city in Europe. Under a beneficent republican government,


### Book:Venetians enjoyed liberties that few other Italians had ever known. Yet in


### Book:the sixteenth century their fortunes suddenly changed. The opening of


### Book:the New World transferred power to the Atlantic side of Europe—to the


### Book:Spanish and Portuguese, and later the Dutch and English. Venice could


### Book:not compete economically and its empire gradually dwindled. The final


### Book:blow was the devastating loss of a prized Mediterranean possession, the


### Book:island of Cyprus, captured from Venice by the Turks in 1570.


### Book:Now noble families went broke in Venice, and banks began to fold. A


### Book:kind of gloom and depression settled over the citizens. They had known


### Book:a glittering past—had either lived through it or heard stories about it


### Book:from their elders. The closeness of the glory years was humiliating. The


### Book:Venetians half believed that the goddess Fortune was only playing a jokeon them, and that the old days would soon return. For the time being,


### Book:though, what could they do?


### Book:In 1589 rumors began to swirl around Venice of the arrival not far


### Book:away of a mysterious man called “Il Bragadino,” a master of alchemy, a


### Book:man who had won incredible wealth through his ability, it was said, to


### Book:multiply gold through the use of a secret substance. The rumor spread


### Book:quickly because a few years earlier, a Venetian nobleman passing


### Book:through Poland had heard a learned man prophesy that Venice would


### Book:recover her past glory and power if she could find a man who understood


### Book:the alchemic art of manufacturing gold. And so, as word reached Venice


### Book:of the gold this Bragadino possessed—he clinked gold coins


### Book:continuously in his hands, and golden objects filled his palace—some


### Book:began to dream: Through him, their city would prosper again.


### Book:Members of Venice’s most important noble families accordingly went


### Book:together to Brescia, where Bragadino lived. They toured his palace and


### Book:watched in awe as he demonstrated his gold-making abilities, taking a


### Book:pinch of seemingly worthless minerals and transforming it into several


### Book:ounces of gold dust. The Venetian senate prepared to debate the idea of


### Book:extending an official invitation to Bragadino to stay in Venice at the


### Book:city’s expense, when word suddenly reached them that they were


### Book:competing with the Duke of Mantua for his services. They heard of a


### Book:magnificent party in Bragadino’s palace for the duke, featuring garments


### Book:with golden buttons, gold watches, gold plates, and on and on. Worried


### Book:they might lose Bragadino to Mantua, the senate voted almost


### Book:unanimously to invite him to Venice, promising him the mountain of


### Book:money he would need to continue living in his luxurious style—but only


### Book:if he came right away.


### Book:Late that year the mysterious Bragadino arrived in Venice. With his


### Book:piercing dark eyes under thick brows, and the two enormous black


### Book:mastiffs that accompanied him everywhere, he was forbidding and


### Book:impressive. He took up residence in a sumptuous palace on the island of


### Book:the Giudecca, with the republic funding his banquets, his expensive


### Book:clothes, and all his other whims. A kind of alchemy fever spread through


### Book:Venice. On street corners, hawkers would sell coal, distilling apparatus,


### Book:bellows, how-to books on the subject. Everyone began to practice


### Book:alchemy—everyone except Bragadino.


### Book:The alchemist seemed to be in no hurry to begin manufacturing the


### Book:gold that would save Venice from ruin. Strangely enough this only


### Book:increased his popularity and following; people thronged from all over


### Book:Europe, even Asia, to meet this remarkable man. Months went by, withgifts pouring in to Bragadino from all sides. Still he gave no sign of the


### Book:miracle that the Venetians confidently expected him to produce.


### Book:Eventually the citizens began to grow impatient, wondering if he would


### Book:wait forever. At first the senators warned them not to hurry him—he was


### Book:a capricious devil, who needed to be cajoled. Finally, though, the nobility


### Book:began to wonder too, and the senate came under pressure to show a


### Book:return on the city’s ballooning investment.


### Book:Bragadino had only scorn for the doubters, but he responded to them.


### Book:He had, he said, already deposited in the city’s mint the mysterious


### Book:substance with which he multiplied gold. He could use this substance up


### Book:all at once, and produce double the gold, but the more slowly the process


### Book:took place, the more it would yield. If left alone for seven years, sealed


### Book:in a casket, the substance would multiply the gold in the mint thirty times


### Book:over. Most of the senators agreed to wait to reap the gold mine


### Book:Bragadino promised. Others, however, were angry: seven more years of


### Book:this man living royally at the public trough! And many of the common


### Book:citizens of Venice echoed these sentiments. Finally the alchemist’s


### Book:enemies demanded he produce a proof of his skills: a substantial amount


### Book:of gold, and soon.


### Book:Lofty, apparently devoted to his art, Bragadino responded that Venice,


### Book:in its impatience, had betrayed him, and would therefore lose his


### Book:services. He left town, going first to nearby Padua, then, in 1590, to


### Book:Munich, at the invitation of the Duke of Bavaria, who, like the entire city


### Book:of Venice, had known great wealth but had fallen into bankruptcy


### Book:through his own profligacy, and hoped to regain his fortune through the


### Book:famous alchemist’s services. And so Bragadino resumed the comfortable


### Book:arrangement he had known in Venice, and the same pattern repeated


### Book:itself.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:The young Cypriot Mamugna had lived in Venice for several years


### Book:before reincarnating himself as the alchemist Bragadino. He saw how


### Book:gloom had settled on the city, how everyone was hoping for a


### Book:redemption from some indefinite source. While other charlatans


### Book:mastered everyday cons based on sleight of hand, Mamugnà mastered


### Book:human nature. With Venice as his target from the start, he traveled


### Book:abroad, made some money through his alchemy scams, and then returned


### Book:to Italy, setting up shop in Brescia. There he created a reputation that heknew would spread to Venice. From a distance, in fact, his aura of power


### Book:would be all the more impressive.


### Book:At first Mamugna did not use vulgar demonstrations to convince


### Book:people of his alchemic skill. His sumptuous palace, his opulent garments,


### Book:the clink of gold in his hands, all these provided a superior argument to


### Book:anything rational. And these established the cycle that kept him going:


### Book:His obvious wealth confirmed his reputation as an alchemist, so that


### Book:patrons like the Duke of Mantua gave him money, which allowed him to


### Book:live in wealth, which reinforced his reputation as an alchemist, and so


### Book:on. Only once this reputation was established, and dukes and senators


### Book:were fighting over him, did he resort to the trifling necessity of a


### Book:demonstration. By then, however, people were easy to deceive: They


### Book:wanted to believe. The Venetian senators who watched him multiply


### Book:gold wanted to believe so badly that they failed to notice the glass pipe


### Book:up his sleeve, from which he slipped gold dust into his pinches of


### Book:minerals. Brilliant and capricious, he was the alchemist of their fantasies


### Book:—and once he had created an aura like this, no one noticed his simple


### Book:deceptions.


### Book:Such is the power of the fantasies that take root in us, especially in


### Book:times of scarcity and decline. People rarely believe that their problems


### Book:arise from their own misdeeds and stupidity. Someone or something out


### Book:there is to blame—the other, the world, the gods—and so salvation


### Book:comes from the outside as well. Had Bragadino arrived in Venice armed


### Book:with a detailed analysis of the reasons behind the city’s economic


### Book:decline, and of the hard-nosed steps that it could take to turn things


### Book:around, he would have been scorned. The reality was too ugly and the


### Book:solution too painful—mostly the kind of hard work that the citizens’


### Book:ancestors had mustered to create an empire. Fantasy, on the other hand—


### Book:in this case the romance of alchemy—was easy to understand and


### Book:infinitely more palatable.


### Book:To gain power, you must be a source of pleasure for those around you


### Book:—and pleasure comes from playing to people’s fantasies. Never promise


### Book:a gradual improvement through hard work; rather, promise the moon, the


### Book:great and sudden transformation, the pot of gold.


### Book:No man need despair of gaining converts to the most extravagant


### Book:hypothesis who has art enough to represent it in favorable colors.


### Book:David Hume, 1711-1776


### Book:If you want to tell lies that will be believed, don’t tell the truth that won’t.EMPEROR TOKUGAWA IEYASU OF JAPAN, SEVENTEENTH


### Book:CENTURY


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:Fantasy can never operate alone. It requires the backdrop of the


### Book:humdrum and the mundane. It is the oppressiveness of reality that allows


### Book:fantasy to take root and bloom. In sixteenth-century Venice, the reality


### Book:was one of decline and loss of prestige. The corresponding fantasy


### Book:described a sudden recovery of past glories through the miracle of


### Book:alchemy. While the reality only got worse, the Venetians inhabited a


### Book:happy dream world in which their city restored its fabulous wealth and


### Book:power overnight, turning dust into gold.


### Book:The person who can spin a fantasy out of an oppressive reality has


### Book:access to untold power. As you search for the fantasy that will take hold


### Book:of the masses, then, keep your eye on the banal truths that weigh heavily


### Book:on us all. Never be distracted by people’s glamorous portraits of


### Book:themselves and their lives; search and dig for what really imprisons


### Book:them. Once you find that, you have the magical key that will put great


### Book:power in your hands.


### Book:Although times and people change, let us examine a few of the


### Book:oppressive realities that endure, and the opportunities for power they


### Book:provide:


### Book:The Reality: Change is slow and gradual. It requires hard work, a bit of


### Book:luck, a fair amount of self-sacrifice, and a lot of patience.


### Book:The Fantasy: A sudden transformation will bring a total change in one’s


### Book:fortunes, bypassing work, luck, self-sacrifice, and time in one fantastic


### Book:stroke.


### Book:This is of course the fantasy par excellence of the charlatans who


### Book:prowl among us to this day, and was the key to Bragadino’s success.


### Book:Promise a great and total change—from poor to rich, sickness to health,


### Book:misery to ecstasy—and you will have followers.


### Book:How did the great sixteenth-century German quack Leonhard


### Book:Thurneisser become the court physician for the Elector of Brandenburgwithout ever studying medicine? Instead of offering amputations,


### Book:leeches, and foul-tasting purgatives (the medicaments of the time),


### Book:Thurneisser offered sweet-tasting elixirs and promised instant recovery.


### Book:Fashionable courtiers especially wanted his solution of “drinkable gold,”


### Book:which cost a fortune. If some inexplicable illness assailed you,


### Book:Thurneisser would consult a horoscope and prescribe a talisman. Who


### Book:could resist such a fantasy—health and well-being without sacrifice and


### Book:pain!


### Book:The Reality: The social realm has hard-set codes and boundaries. We


### Book:understand these limits and know that we have to move within the same


### Book:familiar circles, day in and day out.


### Book:The Fantasy: We can enter a totally new world with different codes and


### Book:the promise of adventure.


### Book:In the early 1700s, all London was abuzz with talk of a mysterious


### Book:stranger, a young man named George Psalmanazar. He had arrived from


### Book:what was to most Englishmen a fantastical land: the island of Formosa


### Book:(now Taiwan), off the coast of China. Oxford University engaged


### Book:Psalmanazar to teach the island’s language; a few years later he


### Book:translated the Bible into Formosan, then wrote a book—an immediate


### Book:best-seller—on Formosa’s history and geography. English royalty wined


### Book:and dined the young man, and everywhere he went he entertained his


### Book:hosts with wondrous stories of his homeland, and its bizarre customs.


### Book:After Psalmanazar died, however, his will revealed that he was in fact


### Book:merely a Frenchman with a rich imagination. Everything he had said


### Book:about Formosa—its alphabet, its language, its literature, its entire culture


### Book:—he had invented. He had built on the English public’s ignorance of the


### Book:place to concoct an elaborate story that fulfilled their desire for the exotic


### Book:and strange. British culture’s rigid control of people’s dangerous dreams


### Book:gave him the perfect opportunity to exploit their fantasy.


### Book:The fantasy of the exotic, of course, can also skirt the sexual. It must


### Book:not come too close, though, for the physical hinders the power of


### Book:fantasy; it can be seen, grasped, and then tired of—the fate of most


### Book:courtesans. The bodily charms of the mistress only whet the master’s


### Book:appetite for more and different pleasures, a new beauty to adore. To


### Book:bring power, fantasy must remain to some degree unrealized, literally


### Book:unreal. The dancer Mata Hari, for instance, who rose to public


### Book:prominence in Paris before World War I, had quite ordinary looks. Herpower came from the fantasy she created of being strange and exotic,


### Book:unknowable and indecipherable. The taboo she worked with was less sex


### Book:itself than the breaking of social codes.


### Book:Another form of the fantasy of the exotic is simply the hope for relief


### Book:from boredom. Con artists love to play on the oppressiveness of the


### Book:working world, its lack of adventure. Their cons might involve, say, the


### Book:recovery of lost Spanish treasure, with the possible participation of an


### Book:alluring Mexican señorita and a connection to the president of a South


### Book:American country—anything offering release from the humdrum.


### Book:The Reality: Society is fragmented and full of conflict.


### Book:The Fantasy: People can come together in a mystical union of souls.


### Book:In the 1920s the con man Oscar Hartzell made a quick fortune out of


### Book:the age-old Sir Francis Drake swindle—basically promising any sucker


### Book:who happened to be surnamed “Drake” a substantial share of the long-


### Book:lost “Drake treasure,” to which Hartzell had access. Thousands across


### Book:the Midwest fell for the scam, which Hartzell cleverly turned into a


### Book:crusade against the government and everyone else who was trying to


### Book:keep the Drake fortune out of the rightful hands of its heirs. There


### Book:developed a mystical union of the oppressed Drakes, with emotional


### Book:rallies and meetings. Promise such a union and you can gain much


### Book:power, but it is a dangerous power that can easily turn against you. This


### Book:is a fantasy for demagogues to play on.


### Book:The Reality: Death. The dead cannot be brought back, the past cannot be


### Book:changed. The Fantasy: A sudden reversal of this intolerable fact.


### Book:This con has many variations, but requires great skill and subtlety.


### Book:The beauty and importance of the art of Vermeer have long been


### Book:recognized, but his paintings are small in number, and are extremely


### Book:rare. In the 1930s, though, Vermeers began to appear on the art market.


### Book:Experts were called on to verify them, and pronounced them real.


### Book:Possession of these new Vermeers would crown a collector’s career. It


### Book:was like the resurrection of Lazarus: In a strange way, Vermeer had been


### Book:brought back to life. The past had been changed.


### Book:Only later did it come out that the new Vermeers were the work of a


### Book:middle-aged Dutch forger named Han van Meegeren. And he had chosenVermeer for his scam because he understood fantasy: The paintings


### Book:would seem real precisely because the public, and the experts as well, so


### Book:desperately wanted to believe they were.


### Book:Remember: The key to fantasy is distance. The distant has allure and


### Book:promise, seems simple and problem free. What you are offering, then,


### Book:should be ungraspable. Never let it become oppressively familiar; it is


### Book:the mirage in the distance, withdrawing as the sucker approaches. Never


### Book:be too direct in describing the fantasy—keep it vague. As a forger of


### Book:fantasies, let your victim come close enough to see and be tempted, but


### Book:keep him far away enough that he stays dreaming and desiring.


### Book:Image: The


### Book:Moon. Unattainable,


### Book:always changing shape,


### Book:disappearing and reappear


### Book:ing. We look at it, imagine,


### Book:wonder, and pine—never fa


### Book:miliar, continuous provoker


### Book:of dreams. Do not offer


### Book:the obvious. Promise


### Book:the moon.


### Book:Authority: A lie is an allurement, a fabrication, that can be embellished


### Book:into a fantasy. It can be clothed in the raiments of a mystic conception.


### Book:Truth is cold, sober fact, not so comfortable to absorb. A lie is more


### Book:palatable. The most detested person in the world is the one who always


### Book:tells the truth, who never romances…. I found it far more interesting and


### Book:profitable to romance than to tell the truth. (Joseph Weil, a.k.a. “The


### Book:Yellow Kid,” 1875-1976)REVERSAL


### Book:If there is power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses, there is also


### Book:danger. Fantasy usually contains an element of play—the public half


### Book:realizes it is being duped, but it keeps the dream alive anyway, relishing


### Book:the entertainment and the temporary diversion from the everyday that


### Book:you are providing. So keep it light—never come too close to the place


### Book:where you are actually expected to produce results. That place may


### Book:prove extremely hazardous.


### Book:After Bragadino established himself in Munich, he found that the


### Book:sober-minded Bavarians had far less faith in alchemy than the


### Book:temperamental Venetians. Only the duke really believed in it, for he


### Book:needed it desperately to rescue him from the hopeless mess he was in. As


### Book:Bragadino played his familiar waiting game, accepting gifts and


### Book:expecting patience, the public grew angry. Money was being spent and


### Book:was yielding no results. In 1592 the Bavarians demanded justice, and


### Book:eventually Bragadino found himself swinging from the gallows. As


### Book:before, he had promised and had not delivered, but this time he had


### Book:misjudged the forbearance of his hosts, and his inability to fulfill their


### Book:fantasy proved fatal.


### Book:One last thing: Never make the mistake of imagining that fantasy is


### Book:always fantastical. It certainly contrasts with reality, but reality itself is


### Book:sometimes so theatrical and stylized that fantasy becomes a desire for


### Book:simple things. The image Abraham Lincoln created of himself, for


### Book:example, as a homespun country lawyer with a beard, made him the


### Book:common man’s president.


### Book:P. T. Barnum created a successful act with Tom Thumb, a dwarf who


### Book:dressed up as famous leaders of the past, such as Napoleon, and


### Book:lampooned them wickedly. The show delighted everyone, right up to


### Book:Queen Victoria, by appealing to the fantasy of the time: Enough of the


### Book:vainglorious rulers of history, the common man knows best. Tom Thumb


### Book:reversed the familiar pattern of fantasy in which the strange and


### Book:unknown becomes the ideal. But the act still obeyed the Law, for


### Book:underlying it was the fantasy that the simple man is without problems,


### Book:and is happier than the powerful and the rich.


### Book:Both Lincoln and Tom Thumb played the commoner but carefully


### Book:maintained their distance. Should you play with such a fantasy, you too


### Book:must carefully cultivate distance and not allow your “common” persona


### Book:to become too familiar or it will not project as fantasy.LAW 33


### Book:DISCOVER EACH MAN’S THUMBSCREW


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is


### Book:usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a


### Book:small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can


### Book:turn to your advantage.


### Book:FINDING THE THUMBSCREW: A Strategic


### Book:Plan of Action


### Book:We all have resistances. We live with a perpetual armor around ourselves


### Book:to defend against change and the intrusive actions of friends and rivals.


### Book:We would like nothing more than to be left to do things our own way.


### Book:Constantly butting up against these resistances will cost you a lot of


### Book:energy. One of the most important things to realize about people, though,


### Book:is that they all have a weakness, some part of their psychological armor


### Book:that will not resist, that will bend to your will if you find it and push on


### Book:it. Some people wear their weaknesses openly, others disguise them.


### Book:Those who disguise them are often the ones most effectively undone


### Book:through that one chink in their armor.


### Book:THE LION. THE CHAMOIS. AND THE FOX


### Book:A lion was chasing a chamois along a valley. He had all but caught it,


### Book:and with longing eyes was anticipating a certain and a satisfying repast.


### Book:It seemed as if it were utterly impossible for the victim to escape; for a


### Book:deep ravine appeared to bar the way for both the hunter and the hunted.


### Book:But the nimble chamois, gathering together all its strength, shot like anarrow from a bow across the chasm, and stood still on the rocky cliff on


### Book:the other side. Our lion pulled up short. But at that moment a friend of


### Book:his happened to be near at hand. That friend was the fox. “What!” said


### Book:he, “with your strength and agility, is it possible that you will yield to a


### Book:feeble chamois? You have only to will, and you will be able to work


### Book:wonders. Though the abyss be deep, yet, if you are only in earnest, I am


### Book:certain you will clear it. Surely you can confide in my disinterested


### Book:friendship. I would not expose your life to danger if I were not so well


### Book:aware of your strength and dexterity. ” The lion’s blood waxed hot, and


### Book:began to boil in his veins. He flung himself with all his might into space.


### Book:But he could not clear the chasm; so down he tumbled headlong, and


### Book:was killed by the fall. Then what did his dear friend do? He cautiously


### Book:made his way down to the bottom of the ravine. and there, out in the


### Book:open space and the free air, seeing that the lion wanted neither flattery


### Book:nor obedience now, he set to work to pay the last sad rites to his dead


### Book:friend, and in a month picked his bones clean.


### Book:FABLES, IVAN KRILOFF, 1768-1844


### Book:In planning your assault, keep these principles in mind:


### Book:Pay Attention to Gestures and Unconscious Signals. As Sigmund


### Book:Freud remarked, “No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he


### Book:chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”


### Book:This is a critical concept in the search for a person’s weakness—it is


### Book:revealed by seemingly unimportant gestures and passing words.


### Book:The key is not only what you look for but where and how you look.


### Book:Everyday conversation supplies the richest mine of weaknesses, so train


### Book:yourself to listen. Start by always seeming interested—the appearance of


### Book:a sympathetic ear will spur anyone to talk. A clever trick, often used by


### Book:the nineteenth-century French statesman Talleyrand, is to appear to open


### Book:up to the other person, to share a secret with them. It can be completely


### Book:made up, or it can be real but of no great importance to you—the


### Book:important thing is that it should seem to come from the heart. This will


### Book:usually elicit a response that is not only as frank as yours but more


### Book:genuine—a response that reveals a weakness.


### Book:If you suspect that someone has a particular soft spot, probe for it


### Book:indirectly. If, for instance, you sense that a man has a need to be loved,


### Book:openly flatter him. If he laps up your compliments, no matter how


### Book:obvious, you are on the right track. Train your eye for details—howsomeone tips a waiter, what delights a person, the hidden messages in


### Book:clothes. Find people’s idols, the things they worship and will do anything


### Book:to get—perhaps you can be the supplier of their fantasies. Remember:


### Book:Since we all try to hide our weaknesses, there is little to be learned from


### Book:our conscious behavior. What oozes out in the little things outside our


### Book:conscious control is what you want to know.


### Book:Find the Helpless Child. Most weaknesses begin in childhood, before


### Book:the self builds up compensatory defenses. Perhaps the child was


### Book:pampered or indulged in a particular area, or perhaps a certain emotional


### Book:need went unfulfilled; as he or she grows older, the indulgence or the


### Book:deficiency may be buried but never disappears. Knowing about a


### Book:childhood need gives you a powerful key to a person’s weakness.


### Book:One sign of this weakness is that when you touch on it the person will


### Book:often act like a child. Be on the lookout, then, for any behavior that


### Book:should have been outgrown. If your victims or rivals went without


### Book:something important, such as parental support, when they were children,


### Book:supply it, or its facsimile. If they reveal a secret taste, a hidden


### Book:indulgence, indulge it. In either case they will be unable to resist you.


### Book:Look for Contrasts. An overt trait often conceals its opposite. People


### Book:who thump their chests are often big cowards; a prudish exterior may


### Book:hide a lascivious soul; the uptight are often screaming for adventure; the


### Book:shy are dying for attention. By probing beyond appearances, you will


### Book:often find people’s weaknesses in the opposite of the qualities they


### Book:reveal to you.


### Book:Find the Weak Link. Sometimes in your search for weaknesses it is not


### Book:what but who that matters. In today’s versions of the court, there is often


### Book:someone behind the scenes who has a great deal of power, a tremendous