### Book:small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it.


### Book:It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want


### Book:but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the


### Book:more superior you seem.


### Book:TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW


### Book:The Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa started out as the chief of a gang


### Book:of bandits, but after revolution broke out in Mexico in 1910, he became a


### Book:kind of folk hero—robbing trains and giving the money to the poor,


### Book:leading daring raids, and charming the ladies with romantic escapades.


### Book:His exploits fascinated Americans—he seemed a man from another era,


### Book:part Robin Hood, part Don Juan. After a few years of bitter fighting,


### Book:however, General Carranza emerged as the victor in the Revolution; the


### Book:defeated Villa and his troops went back home, to the northern state of


### Book:Chihuahua. His army dwindled and he turned to banditry again,


### Book:damaging his popularity. Finally, perhaps out of desperation, he began to


### Book:rail against the United States, the gringos, whom he blamed for his


### Book:troubles.


### Book:In March of 1916, Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico.


### Book:Rampaging through the town, he and his gang killed seventeen American


### Book:soldiers and civilians. President Woodrow Wilson, like many Americans,had admired Villa; now, however, the bandit needed to be punished.


### Book:Wilson’s advisers urged him to send troops into Mexico to capture Villa.


### Book:For a power as large as the United States, they argued, not to strike back


### Book:at an army that had invaded its territory would send the worst kind of


### Book:signal. Furthermore, they continued, many Americans saw Wilson as a


### Book:pacifist, a principle the public doubted as a response to violence; he


### Book:needed to prove his mettle and manliness by ordering the use of force.


### Book:The pressure on Wilson was strong, and before the month was out,


### Book:with the approval of the Carranza government, he sent an army of ten


### Book:thousand soldiers to capture Pancho Villa. The venture was called the


### Book:Punitive Expedition, and its leader was the dashing General John J.


### Book:Pershing, who had defeated guerrillas in the Philippines and Native


### Book:Americans in the American Southwest. Certainly Pershing could find


### Book:and overpower Pancho Villa.


### Book:The Punitive Expedition became a sensational story, and carloads of


### Book:U.S. reporters followed Pershing into action. The campaign, they wrote,


### Book:would be a test of American power. The soldiers carried the latest in


### Book:weaponry, communicated by radio, and were supported by


### Book:reconnaissance from the air.


### Book:In the first few months, the troops split up into small units to comb the


### Book:wilds of northern Mexico. The Americans offered a $50,000 reward for


### Book:information leading to Villa’s capture. But the Mexican people, who had


### Book:been disillusioned with Villa when he had returned to banditry, now


### Book:idolized him for facing this mighty American army. They began to give


### Book:Pershing false leads: Villa had been seen in this village, or in that


### Book:mountain hideaway, airplanes would be dispatched, troops would scurry


### Book:after them, and no one would ever see him. The wily bandit seemed to be


### Book:always one step ahead of the American military.


### Book:THE ON AND THE CRAPES


### Book:A starving fox … saw a cluster Of luscious-looking grapes of purplish


### Book:luster Dangling above him on a trellis-frame. He would have dearly


### Book:liked them for his lunch, But when he tried and failed to reach the bunch:


### Book:“Ah well, it’s more than likely they’re not sweet—Good only for green


### Book:fools to eat!”


### Book:Wasn’t he wise to say they were unripe Rather than whine and gripe?


### Book:FABLES. JEAN DE LA FONTAINE. 1621-1695Once when G. K. Chesterton’s economic views were abused in print by


### Book:George Bernard Shaw, his friends waited in vain for him to reply.


### Book:Historian Hilaire Belloc reproached him. “My dear Belloc,” Chesterton


### Book:said, “I have answered him. To a man of Shaw’s wit, silence is the one


### Book:unbearable repartee.


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


### Book:FADIMAN, ED., 1985


### Book:By the summer of that year, the expedition had swelled to 123,000


### Book:men. They suffered through the stultifying heat, the mosquitoes, the wild


### Book:terrain. Trudging over a countryside in which they were already resented,


### Book:they infuriated both the local people and the Mexican government. At


### Book:one point Pancho Villa hid in a mountain cave to recover from a gunshot


### Book:wound he received in a skirmish with the Mexican army; looking down


### Book:from his aerie, he could watch Pershing lead the exhausted American


### Book:troops back and forth across the mountains, never getting any closer to


### Book:their goal.


### Book:All the way into winter, Villa played his cat-and-mouse game.


### Book:Americans came to see the affair as a kind of slapstick farce—in fact


### Book:they began to admire Villa again, respecting his resourcefulness in


### Book:eluding a superior force. In January of 1917, Wilson finally ordered


### Book:Pershing’s withdrawal. As the troops made their way back to American


### Book:territory, rebel forces pursued them, forcing the U.S. Army to use


### Book:airplanes to protect its rear flanks. The Punitive Expedition was being


### Book:punished itself—it had turned into a retreat of the most humiliating sort.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:Woodrow Wilson organized the Punitive Expedition as a show of force:


### Book:He would teach Pancho Villa a lesson and in the process show the world


### Book:that no one, large or small, could attack the mighty United States and get


### Book:away with it. The expedition would be over in a few weeks, and Villa


### Book:would be forgotten.


### Book:That was not how it played out. The longer the expedition took, the


### Book:more it focused attention on the Americans’ incompetence and on Villa’s


### Book:cleverness. Soon what was forgotten was not Villa but the raid that had


### Book:started it all. As a minor annoyance became an international


### Book:embarrassment, and the enraged Americans dispatched more troops, the


### Book:imbalance between the size of the pursuer and the size of the pursued—


### Book:who still managed to stay free—made the affair a joke. And in the endthis white elephant of an army had to lumber out of Mexico, humiliated.


### Book:The Punitive Expedition did the opposite of what it set out to do: It left


### Book:Villa not only free but more popular than ever.


### Book:What could Wilson have done differently? He could have pressured


### Book:the Carranza government to catch Villa for him. Alternatively, since


### Book:many Mexicans had tired of Villa before the Punitive Expedition began,


### Book:he could have worked quietly with them and won their support for a


### Book:much smaller raid to capture the bandit. He could have organized a trap


### Book:on the American side of the border, anticipating the next raid. Or he


### Book:could have ignored the matter altogether for the time being, waiting for


### Book:the Mexicans themselves to do away with Villa of their own accord.


### Book:THE ASS AND THE GARDENER


### Book:An ass had once by some accident lost his tail, which was a grievous


### Book:affliction to him; and he was everywhere seeking after it, being fool


### Book:enough to think he could get it set on again. He passed through a


### Book:meadow, and afterwards got into a garden. The gardener seeing him, and


### Book:not able to endure the mischief he was doing in trampling down his


### Book:plants, fell into a violent rage, ran to the ass, and never standing on the


### Book:ceremony of a pillory, cut off both his ears, and beat him out of the


### Book:ground. Thus the ass, who bemoaned the loss of his tail, was in far


### Book:greater affliction when he saw himself without ears.


### Book:FABLES, PILPAY, INDIA, FOURTH CENTURY


### Book:THE PRODIGY OX


### Book:Once, when the Tokudaiji minister of the right was chief of the imperial


### Book:police, he was holding a meeting of his staff at the middle gate when an


### Book:ox belonging to an official named Akikane got loose and wandered into


### Book:the ministry building. It climbed up on the dais where the chief was


### Book:seated and lay there, chewing its cud. Everyone was sure that this was


### Book:some grave portent, and urged that the ox be sent to a yin-yang diviner.


### Book:However, the prime minister, the father of the minister of the right, said,


### Book:“An ox has no discrimination. It has legs—there is nowhere it won’t go.


### Book:It does not make sense to deprive an underpaid official of the wretched


### Book:ox he needs in order to attend court.” He returned the ox to its owner


### Book:and changed the matting on which it had lain. No untoward event of anykind occurred afterward. They say that if you see a prodigy and do not


### Book:treat it as such, its character as a prodigy is destroyed.


### Book:ESSAYS IN IDLENESS, KENKO, JAPAN, FOURTEENTH CENTURY


### Book:Remember: You choose to let things bother you. You can just as easily


### Book:choose not to notice the irritating offender, to consider the matter trivial


### Book:and unworthy of your interest. That is the powerful move. What you do


### Book:not react to cannot drag you down in a futile engagement. Your pride is


### Book:not involved. The best lesson you can teach an irritating gnat is to


### Book:consign it to oblivion by ignoring it. If it is impossible to ignore (Pancho


### Book:Villa had in fact killed American citizens), then conspire in secret to do


### Book:away with it, but never inadvertently draw attention to the bothersome


### Book:insect that will go away or die on its own. If you waste time and energy


### Book:in such entanglements, it is your own fault. Learn to play the card of


### Book:disdain and turn your back on what cannot harm you in the long run.


### Book:Just think—it cost your government $130 million to try to get me. I took


### Book:them


### Book:over rough, hilly country. Sometimes for fifty miles at a stretch they had


### Book:no water.


### Book:They had nothing but the sun and mosquitoes…. And nothing was


### Book:gained.


### Book:Pancho Villa, 1878-1923


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW


### Book:In the year 1527, King Henry VIII of England decided he had to find a


### Book:way to get rid of his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine had failed to


### Book:produce a son, a male heir who would ensure the continuance of his


### Book:dynasty, and Henry thought he knew why: He had read in the Bible the


### Book:passage, “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean


### Book:thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be


### Book:childless.” Before marrying Henry, Catherine had married his older


### Book:brother Arthur, but Arthur had died five months later. Henry had waited


### Book:an appropriate time, then had married his brother’s widow.


### Book:Catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of


### Book:Spain, and by marrying her Henry had kept alive a valuable alliance.


### Book:Now, however, Catherine had to assure him that her brief marriage withArthur had never been consummated. Otherwise Henry would view their


### Book:relationship as incestuous and their marriage as null and void. Catherine


### Book:insisted that she had remained a virgin through her marriage to Arthur,


### Book:and Pope Clement VII supported her by giving his blessing to the union,


### Book:which he could not have done had he considered it incestuous. Yet after


### Book:years of marriage to Henry, Catherine had failed to produce a son, and in


### Book:the early 1520s she had entered menopause. To the king this could only


### Book:mean one thing: She had lied about her virginity, their union was


### Book:incestuous, and God had punished them.


### Book:There was another reason why Henry wanted to get rid of Catherine:


### Book:He had fallen in love with a younger woman, Anne Boleyn. Not only


### Book:was he in love with her, but if he married her he could still hope to sire a


### Book:legitimate son. The marriage to Catherine had to be annulled. For this,


### Book:however, Henry had to apply to the Vatican. But Pope Clement would


### Book:never annul the marriage.


### Book:By the summer of 1527, rumors spread throughout Europe that Henry


### Book:was about to attempt the impossible—to annul his marriage against


### Book:Clement’s wishes. Catherine would never abdicate, let alone voluntarily


### Book:enter a nunnery, as Henry had urged her. But Henry had his own strategy:


### Book:He stopped sleeping in the same bed with Catherine, since he considered


### Book:her his sister-in-law, not his lawful wife. He insisted on calling her


### Book:Princess Dowager of Wales, her title as Arthur’s widow. Finally, in 1531,


### Book:he banished her from court and shipped her off to a distant castle. The


### Book:pope ordered him to return her to court, on pain of excommunication, the


### Book:most severe penalty a Catholic could suffer. Henry not only ignored this


### Book:threat, he insisted that his marriage to Catherine had been dissolved, and


### Book:in 1533 he married Anne Boleyn.


### Book:Clement refused to recognize the marriage, but Henry did not care. He


### Book:no longer recognized the pope’s authority, and proceeded to break with


### Book:the Roman Catholic Church, establishing the Church of England in its


### Book:stead, with the king as the head of the new church. And so, not


### Book:surprisingly, the newly formed Church of England proclaimed Anne


### Book:Boleyn England’s rightful queen.


### Book:The pope tried every threat in the book, but nothing worked. Henry


### Book:simply ignored him. Clement fumed—no one had ever treated him so


### Book:contemptuously. Henry had humiliated him and he had no power of


### Book:recourse. Even excommunication (which he constantly threatened but


### Book:never carried out) would no longer matter.


### Book:Catherine too felt the devastating sting of Henry’s disdain. She tried to


### Book:fight back, but in appealing to Henry her words fell on deaf ears, andsoon they fell on no one’s. Isolated from the court, ignored by the king,


### Book:mad with anger and frustration, Catherine slowly deteriorated, and


### Book:finally died in January of 1536, from a cancerous tumor of the heart.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:When you pay attention to a person, the two of you become partners of


### Book:sorts, each moving in step to the actions and reactions of the other. In the


### Book:process you lose your initiative. It is a dynamic of all interactions: By


### Book:acknowledging other people, even if only to fight with them, you open


### Book:yourself to their influence. Had Henry locked horns with Catherine, he


### Book:would have found himself mired in endless arguments that would have


### Book:weakened his resolve and eventually worn him down. (Catherine was a


### Book:strong, stubborn woman.) Had he set out to convince Clement to change


### Book:his verdict on the marriage’s validity, or tried to compromise and


### Book:negotiate with him, he would have gotten bogged down in Clement’s


### Book:favorite tactic: playing for time, promising flexibility, but actually


### Book:getting what popes always got—their way.


### Book:Henry would have none of this. He played a devastating power game


### Book:—total disdain. By ignoring people you cancel them out. This unsettles


### Book:and infuriates them—but since they have no dealings with you, there is


### Book:nothing they can do.


### Book:And in this view it is advisable to let everyone of your acquaintance—


### Book:whether man or woman—feel now and then that you could very well


### Book:dispense with their company. This will consolidate friendship. Nay, with


### Book:most people there will be no harm in occasionally mixing a grain of


### Book:disdain with your treatment of them; that will make them value your


### Book:friendship all the more. Chi non stima vien stimato, as a subtle Italian


### Book:proverb has it—to disregard is to win regard. But if we really think very


### Book:highly of a person, we should conceal it from him like a crime. This is


### Book:not a very gratifying thing to do, but it is right. Why, a dog will not bear


### Book:being treated too kindly, let alone a man!


### Book:ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860


### Book:THE MONKEY AND THE PEAS


### Book:A monkey was carrying two handfuls of peas. One little pea dropped out.


### Book:He tried to pick it up, and spilt twenty. He tried to pick up the twenty, andspilt them all. Then he lost his temper, scattered the peas in all


### Book:directions, and ran away.


### Book:FABLES, LEO TOLSTOY, 1828-1910


### Book:This is the offensive aspect of the law. Playing the card of contempt is


### Book:immensely powerful, for it lets you determine the conditions of the


### Book:conflict. The war is waged on your terms. This is the ultimate power


### Book:pose: You are the king, and you ignore what offends you. Watch how this


### Book:tactic infuriates people—half of what they do is to get your attention, and


### Book:when you withhold it from them, they flounder in frustration.


### Book:MAN: Kick him—he’ll forgive you. Flatter him—he may or may not


### Book:see through you. But ignore him and he’ll hate you.


### Book:Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams, 1968


### Book:As some make gossip out of everything, so others make much ado about


### Book:everything. They are always talking big, [and] take everything seriously,


### Book:making a quarrel and a mystery of it. You should take very few


### Book:grievances to heart, for to do so is to give yourself groundless worry. It is


### Book:a topsyturvy way of behaving to take to heart cares which you ought to


### Book:throw over your shoulder. Many things which seemed important [at the


### Book:time] turn out to be of no account when they are ignored; and others,


### Book:which seem trifling, appear formidable when you pay attention to them.


### Book:Things can easily be settled at the outset, but not so later on. In many


### Book:cases, the remedy itself is the cause of the disease: to let things be is not


### Book:the least satisfactory of life’s rules.


### Book:BALTASAR GRACIÁN, 1601-1658


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:Desire often creates paradoxical effects: The more you want something,


### Book:the more you chase after it, the more it eludes you. The more interest you


### Book:show, the more you repel the object of your desire. This is because your


### Book:interest is too strong—it makes people awkward, even fearful.


### Book:Uncontrollable desire makes you seem weak, unworthy, pathetic.


### Book:You need to turn your back on what you want, show your contempt


### Book:and disdain. This is the kind of powerful response that will drive your


### Book:targets crazy. They will respond with a desire of their own, which is


### Book:simply to have an effect on you—perhaps to possess you, perhaps to hurtyou. If they want to possess you, you have successfully completed the


### Book:first step of seduction. If they want to hurt you, you have unsettled them


### Book:and made them play by your rules (see Laws 8 and 39 on baiting people


### Book:into action).


### Book:Contempt is the prerogative of the king. Where his eyes turn, what he


### Book:decides to see, is what has reality; what he ignores and turns his back on


### Book:is as good as dead. That was the weapon of King Louis XIV—if he did


### Book:not like you, he acted as if you were not there, maintaining his


### Book:superiority by cutting off the dynamic of interaction. This is the power


### Book:you have when you play the card of contempt, periodically showing


### Book:people that you can do without them.


### Book:If choosing to ignore enhances your power, it follows that the opposite


### Book:approach—commitment and engagement—often weakens you. By


### Book:paying undue attention to a puny enemy, you look puny, and the longer it


### Book:takes you to crush such an enemy, the larger the enemy seems. When


### Book:Athens set out to conquer the island of Sicily, in 415 B.C., a giant power


### Book:was attacking a tiny one. Yet by entangling Athens in a long-drawn-out


### Book:conflict, Syracuse, Sicily’s most important city-state, was able to grow in


### Book:stature and confidence. Finally defeating Athens, it made itself famous


### Book:for centuries to come. In recent times, President John F. Kennedy made a


### Book:similar mistake in his attitude to Fidel Castro of Cuba: His failed


### Book:invasion at the Bay of Pigs, in 1961, made Castro an international hero.


### Book:A second danger: If you succeed in crushing the irritant, or even if you


### Book:merely wound it, you create sympathy for the weaker side. Critics of


### Book:Franklin D. Roosevelt complained bitterly about the money his


### Book:administration spent on government projects, but their attacks had no


### Book:resonance with the public, who saw the president as working to end the


### Book:Great Depression. His opponents thought they had an example that


### Book:would show just how wasteful he had become: his dog, Fala, which he


### Book:lavished with favors and attention. Critics railed at his insensitivity—


### Book:spending taxpayers’ money on a dog while so many Americans were still


### Book:in poverty. But Roosevelt had a response: How dare his critics attack a


### Book:defenseless little dog? His speech in defense of Fala was one of the most


### Book:popular he ever gave. In this case, the weak party involved was the


### Book:president’s dog and the attack backfired—in the long run, it only made


### Book:the president more sympathetic, since many people will naturally side


### Book:with the “underdog,” just as the American public came to sympathize


### Book:with the wily but outnumbered Pancho Villa.


### Book:It is tempting to want to fix our mistakes, but the harder we try, the


### Book:worse we often make them. It is sometimes more politic to leave themalone. In 1971, when the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers,


### Book:a group of government documents about the history of U.S. involvement


### Book:in Indochina, Henry Kissinger erupted into a volcanic rage. Furious


### Book:about the Nixon administration’s vulnerability to this kind of damaging


### Book:leak, he made recommendations that eventually led to the formation of a


### Book:group called the Plumbers to plug the leaks. This was the unit that later


### Book:broke into Democratic Party offices in the Watergate Hotel, setting off


### Book:the chain of events that led to Nixon’s downfall. In reality the publication


### Book:of the Pentagon Papers was not a serious threat to the administration, but


### Book:Kissinger’s reaction made it a big deal. In trying to fix one problem, he


### Book:created another: a paranoia for security that in the end was much more


### Book:destructive to the government. Had he ignored the Pentagon Papers, the


### Book:scandal they had created would eventually have blown over.


### Book:Instead of inadvertently focusing attention on a problem, making it


### Book:seem worse by publicizing how much concern and anxiety it is causing


### Book:you, it is often far wiser to play the contemptuous aristocrat, not deigning


### Book:to acknowledge the problem’s existence. There are several ways to


### Book:execute this strategy.


### Book:First there is the sour-grapes approach. If there is something you want


### Book:but that you realize you cannot have, the worst thing you can do is draw


### Book:attention to your disappointment by complaining about it. An infinitely


### Book:more powerful tactic is to act as if it never really interested you in the


### Book:first place. When the writer George Sand’s supporters nominated her to


### Book:be the first female member of the Académie Française, in 1861, Sand


### Book:quickly saw that the academy would never admit her. Instead of whining,


### Book:though, she claimed she had no interest in belonging to this group of


### Book:worn-out, overrated, out-of-touch windbags. Her disdain was the perfect


### Book:response: Had she shown her anger at her exclusion, she would have


### Book:revealed how much it meant to her. Instead she branded the academy a


### Book:club of old men—and why should she be angry or disappointed at not


### Book:having to spend her time with them? Crying “sour grapes” is sometimes


### Book:seen as a reflection of the weak; it is actually the tactic of the powerful.


### Book:THE MAN AND HIS SHADOW


### Book:There was a certain original man who desired to catch his own shadow.


### Book:He makes a step or two toward it, but it moves away from him. He


### Book:quickens his pace; it does the same. At last he takes to running; but the


### Book:quicker he goes, the quicker runs the shadow also, utterly refusing to


### Book:give itself up, just as if it had been a treasure. But see! our eccentricfriend suddenly turns round, and walks away from it. And presently he


### Book:looks behind him; now the shadow runs after him. Ladies fair, I have


### Book:often observed… that Fortune treats us in a similar way. One man tries


### Book:with all his might to seize the goddess, and only loses his time and his


### Book:trouble. Another seems, to all appearance, to be running out of her sight;


### Book:but, no: she herself takes a pleasure in pursuing him.


### Book:FABLES, IVAN KRILOFF, 1768-1844


### Book:Second, when you are attacked by an inferior, deflect people’s


### Book:attention by making it clear that the attack has not even registered. Look


### Book:away, or answer sweetly, showing how little the attack concerns you.


### Book:Similarly, when you yourself have committed a blunder, the best


### Book:response is often to make less of your mistake by treating it lightly.


### Book:The Japanese emperor Go-Saiin, a great disciple of the tea ceremony,


### Book:owned a priceless antique tea bowl that all the courtiers envied. One day


### Book:a guest, Dainagon Tsunehiro, asked if he could carry the tea bowl into


### Book:the light, to examine it more closely. The bowl rarely left the table, but


### Book:the emperor was in good spirits and he consented. As Dainagon carried


### Book:the bowl to the railing of the verandah, however, and held it up to the


### Book:light, it slipped from his hands and fell on a rock in the garden below,


### Book:smashing into tiny fragments.


### Book:The emperor of course was furious. “It was indeed most clumsy of me


### Book:to let it drop in this way,” said Dainagon, with a deep bow, “but really


### Book:there is not much harm done. This Ido tea-bowl is a very old one and it is


### Book:impossible to say how much longer it would have lasted, but anyhow it is


### Book:not a thing of any public use, so I think it rather fortunate that it has


### Book:broken thus.” This surprising response had an immediate effect: The


### Book:emperor calmed down. Dainagon neither sniveled nor overapologized,


### Book:but signaled his own worth and power by treating his mistake with a


### Book:touch of disdain. The emperor had to respond with a similar aristocratic


### Book:indifference; his anger had made him seem low and petty—an image


### Book:Dainagon was able to manipulate.


### Book:Among equals this tactic might backfire: Your indifference could


### Book:make you seem callous. But with a master, if you act quickly and without


### Book:great fuss, it can work to great effect: You bypass his angry response,


### Book:save him the time and energy he would waste by brooding over it, and


### Book:allow him the opportunity to display his own lack of pettiness publicly.


### Book:If we make excuses and denials when we are caught in a mistake or a


### Book:deception, we stir the waters and make the situation worse. It is often


### Book:wiser to play things the opposite way. The Renaissance writer Pietro


### Book:Aretino often boasted of his aristocratic lineage, which was, of course, afiction, since he was actually the son of a shoemaker. When an enemy of


### Book:his finally revealed the embarrassing truth, word quickly spread, and


### Book:soon all of Venice (where he lived at the time) was aghast at Aretino’s


### Book:lies. Had he tried to defend himself, he would have only dragged himself


### Book:down. His response was masterful: He announced that he was indeed the


### Book:son of a shoemaker, but this only proved his greatness, since he had risen


### Book:from the lowest stratum of society to its very pinnacle. From then on he


### Book:never mentioned his previous lie, trumpeting instead his new position on


### Book:the matter of his ancestry.


### Book:Remember: The powerful responses to niggling, petty annoyances and


### Book:irritations are contempt and disdain. Never show that something has


### Book:affected you, or that you are offended—that only shows you have


### Book:acknowledged a problem. Contempt is a dish that is best served cold and


### Book:without affectation.


### Book:Image:


### Book:The Tiny


### Book:Wound.


### Book:It is small but painful and irritating. You


### Book:try all sorts of medicaments, you com


### Book:plain, you scratch and pick at the scab.


### Book:Doctors only make it worse, transforming


### Book:the tiny wound into a grave matter. If only


### Book:you had left the wound alone, letting time


### Book:heal it and freeing yourself of worry.


### Book:Authority: Know how to play the card of contempt. It is the most politic


### Book:kind of revenge. For there are many of whom we should have known


### Book:nothing if their distinguished opponents had taken no notice of them.


### Book:There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the


### Book:unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-


### Book:1658)


### Book:REVERSALYou must play the card of contempt with care and delicacy. Most small


### Book:troubles will vanish on their own if you leave them be; but some will


### Book:grow and fester unless you attend to them. Ignore a person of inferior


### Book:stature and the next time you look he has become a serious rival, and


### Book:your contempt has made him vengeful as well. The great princes of


### Book:Renaissance Italy chose to ignore Cesare Borgia at the outset of his


### Book:career as a young general in the army of his father, Pope Alexander VI.


### Book:By the time they paid attention it was too late—the cub was now a lion,


### Book:gobbling up chunks of Italy. Often, then, while you show contempt


### Book:publicly you will also need to keep an eye on the problem privately,


### Book:monitoring its status and making sure it goes away. Do not let it become


### Book:a cancerous cell.


### Book:Develop the skill of sensing problems when they are still small and


### Book:taking care of them before they become intractable. Learn to distinguish


### Book:between the potentially disastrous and the mildly irritating, the nuisance


### Book:that will quietly go away on its own. In either case, though, never


### Book:completely take your eye off it. As long as it is alive it can smolder and


### Book:spark into life.LAW 37


### Book:CREATE COMPELLING SPECTACLES


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power


### Book:—everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you,


### Book:then, full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your


### Book:presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are


### Book:really doing.


### Book:ANTONY AND CLEOPATHA


### Book:She relied above all upon her physical presence and the spell and


### Book:enchantment which it could create…. She came sailing up the river


### Book:Cydnus in a barge with a poop of gold, its purple sails billowing in the


### Book:wind, while her rowers caressed the water with oars of silver which


### Book:dipped in time to the music of the flute, accompanied by pipes and lutes.


### Book:Cleopatra herself reclined beneath a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed in


### Book:the character of Aphrodite, as we see her in paintings, while on either


### Book:side to complete the picture stood boys costumed as Cupids who cooled


### Book:her with their fans. Instead of a crew the barge was lined with the most


### Book:beautiful of her waiting-women attired as Nereids and Graces, some at


### Book:the rudders, others at the tackle of the sails, and all the while an


### Book:indescribably rich perfume, exhaled from innumerable censers, was


### Book:wafted from the vessel to the riverbanks. Great multitudes accompanied


### Book:this royal progress, some of them following the queen on both sides of


### Book:the river from its very mouth, while others hurried down from the city of


### Book:Tarsus to gaze at the sight. Gradually the crowds drifted away from the


### Book:marketplace, where Antony awaited the queen enthroned on his tribunal,


### Book:until at last he was left sitting quite alone. And the word spread on every


### Book:side that Aphrodite had come to revel with Dionysus for the happiness of


### Book:Asia. Antony then sent a message inviting Cleopatra to dine with him.


### Book:But she thought it more appropriate that he should come to her, and so,as he wished to show his courtesy and goodwill, he accepted and went.


### Book:He found the preparations made to receive him magnificent bevond


### Book:words, but what astonished him most of all was the extraordinary


### Book:number of lights. So many of these, it is said, were let down from the roof


### Book:and displayed on all sides at once, and they were arranged and grouped


### Book:in such ingenious patterns in relation to each other, some in squares and


### Book:some in circles, that they created as brilliant a spectacle as can ever


### Book:have been devised to delight the eve.


### Book:LIFE OF ANTONY. PLI [ARCH. C. A.D. 46-120


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I


### Book:In the early 1780s, word spread through Berlin of the strange and


### Book:spectacular medical practice of a Dr. Weisleder. He performed his


### Book:miracles in an enormous converted beer hall, outside which Berliners


### Book:began to notice ever longer lines of people—the blind, the lame, anyone


### Book:with an illness incurable by normal medicine. When it leaked out that the


### Book:doctor worked by exposing the patient to the rays of the moon, he soon


### Book:became dubbed The Moon Doctor of Berlin.


### Book:Sometime in 1783, it was reported that Dr. Weisleder had cured a


### Book:well-to-do woman of a terrible ailment. He suddenly became a celebrity.


### Book:Previously only the poorest Berliners had been seen waiting outside the


### Book:beer hall in their rags; now magnificent carriages were parked outside,


### Book:and gentlemen in frock coats, and ladies with enormous coiffures, lined


### Book:the street as sunset drew near. Even folk with the mildest of ailments


### Book:came, out of sheer curiosity. As they waited in line, the poorer clients


### Book:would explain to the gentlemen and ladies that the doctor only practiced


### Book:when the moon was in its increscent phase. Many would add that they


### Book:themselves had already been exposed to the healing powers he called


### Book:forth from the rays of the moon. Even those who felt cured kept coming


### Book:back, drawn by this powerful experience.


### Book:Inside the beer hall, a strange and stirring spectacle greeted the visitor:


### Book:Packed into the entrance hall was a crowd of all classes and ethnic


### Book:backgrounds, a veritable Tower of Babel. Through tall windows on the


### Book:northern side of the hall, silvery moonlight poured in at odd angles. The


### Book:doctor and his wife, who, it seemed, was also able to effect the cure,practiced on the second floor, which was reached by a stairway, at the


### Book:end of the hall. As the line edged closer to the stairs, the sick would hear


### Book:shouts and cries from above, and word would spread of, perhaps, a blind


### Book:gentleman suddenly able to see.


### Book:Once upstairs, the line would fork in two directions, toward a northern


### Book:room for the doctor, a southern one for his wife, who worked only on the


### Book:ladies. Finally, after hours of anticipation and waiting in line, the


### Book:gentlemen patients would be led before the amazing doctor himself, an


### Book:elderly man with a few stalks of wild gray hair and an air of nervous


### Book:energy. He would take the patient (let us say a young boy, brought in by


### Book:his father), uncover the afflicted body part, and lift the boy up to the


### Book:window, which faced the light of the moon. He would rub the site of the


### Book:injury or illness, mumble something unintelligible, look knowingly at the


### Book:moon, and then, after collecting his fee, send the boy and his father on


### Book:their way. Meanwhile, in the south-facing room, his wife would be doing


### Book:the same with the ladies—which was odd, really, since the moon cannot


### Book:appear in two places at once; it cannot have been visible, in other words,


### Book:from both windows. Apparently the mere thought, idea, and symbol of


### Book:the moon were enough, for the ladies did not complain, and would later


### Book:remark confidently that the wife of the Moon Doctor had the same


### Book:healing powers as he.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:Dr. Weisleder may have known nothing about medicine, but he


### Book:understood human nature. He recognized that people do not always want


### Book:words, or rational explanations, or demonstrations of the powers of


### Book:science; they want an immediate appeal to their emotions. Give them that


### Book:and they will do the rest—such as imagine they can be healed by the


### Book:light reflected from a rock a quarter million miles away. Dr. Weisleder


### Book:had no need of pills, or of lengthy lectures on the moon’s power, or of


### Book:any silly gadgetry to amplify its rays. He understood that the simpler the


### Book:spectacle the better—just the moonlight pouring in from the side, the


### Book:stairway leading to the heavens, and the rays of the moon, whether


### Book:directly visible or not. Any added effects might have made it seem that


### Book:the moon was not strong enough on its own. And the moon was strong


### Book:enough—it was a magnet for fantasies, as it has been throughout history.


### Book:Simply by associating himself with the image of the moon, the doctor


### Book:gained power.Remember: Your search for power depends on shortcuts. You must


### Book:always circumvent people’s suspicions, their perverse desire to resist


### Book:your will. Images are an extremely effective shortcut: Bypassing the


### Book:head, the seat of doubt and resistance, they aim straight for the heart.


### Book:Overwhelming the eyes, they create powerful associations, bringing


### Book:people together and stirring their emotions. With the white light of the


### Book:moon in their eyes, your targets are blinded to the deceptions you


### Book:practice.


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II


### Book:In 1536 the future king Henri II of France took his first mistress, Diane


### Book:de Poitiers. Diane was thirty-seven at the time, and was the widow of the


### Book:grand seneschal of Normandy. Henri, meanwhile, was a sprightly lad of


### Book:seventeen, who was just beginning to sow his wild oats. At first their


### Book:union seemed merely platonic, with Henri showing an intensely spiritual


### Book:devotion to Diane. But it soon became clear that he loved her in every


### Book:way, preferring her bed to that of his young wife, Catherine de’ Médicis.


### Book:In 1547 King Francis died and Henri ascended to the throne. This new


### Book:situation posed perils for Diane de Poitiers. She had just turned forty-


### Book:eight, and despite her notorious cold baths and rumored youth potions,


### Book:she was beginning to show her age; now that Henri was king, perhaps he


### Book:would return to the queen’s bed, and do as other kings had done—choose


### Book:mistresses from the bevy of beauties who made the French court the


### Book:envy of Europe. He was, after all, only twenty-eight, and cut a dashing


### Book:figure. But Diane did not give up so easily. She would continue to


### Book:enthrall her lover, as she had enthralled him for the past eleven years.


### Book:In the Middle Ages the symbolist attitude was much more in evidence. …


### Book:Symbolism appears as a sort of short cut of thought. Instead of looking


### Book:for the relation between two things by following the hidden detours of


### Book:their causal connexions, thought makes a leap and discovers their


### Book:relation not in the connexion of cause and effects, but in a connexion of


### Book:signification…. Symbolist thought permits an infinity of relations


### Book:between things. Each thing may denote a number of distinct ideas by its


### Book:different special qualities, and a quality may have several symbolic


### Book:meanings. The highest conceptions have symbols by the thousand.


### Book:Nothing is too humble to represent and glory the sublime. The walnutsignifies Christ: the sweet kernel is His divine nature, the green and


### Book:pulpy outer peel is His humanity, the wooden shell between is the cross.


### Book:Thus all things raise his thoughts to the eternal…. Every precious stone,


### Book:besides its natural splendour sparkles with the brilliance of its symbolic


### Book:values. The assimilation of roses and virginity is much more than a


### Book:poetic comparison, for it reveals their common essence. As each notion


### Book:arises in the mind the logic of symbolism creates an harmony of ideas.


### Book:THE WANING OF THE MIDDLE AGES, JOHAN HUIZINGA, 1928


### Book:Diane’s secret weapons were symbols and images, to which she had


### Book:always paid great attention. Early on in her relationship with Henri, she


### Book:had created a motif by intertwining her initials with his, to symbolize


### Book:their union. The idea worked like a charm: Henri put this insignia


### Book:everywhere—on his royal robes, on monuments, on churches, on the


### Book:facade of the Louvre, then the royal palace in Paris. Diane’s favorite


### Book:colors were black and white, which she wore exclusively, and wherever


### Book:it was possible the insignia appeared in these colors. Everyone


### Book:recognized the symbol and its meaning. Soon after Henri took the throne,


### Book:however, Diane went still further: She decided to identify herself with


### Book:the Roman goddess Diana, her namesake. Diana was the goddess of the


### Book:hunt, the traditional royal pastime and the particular passion of Henri.


### Book:Equally important, in Renaissance art she symbolized chastity and purity.


### Book:For a woman like Diane to identify herself with this goddess would


### Book:instantly call up those images in the court, giving her an air of


### Book:respectability. Symbolizing her “chaste” relationship with Henri, it


### Book:would also set her apart from the adulterous liaisons of royal mistresses


### Book:past.


### Book:To effect this association, Diane began by completely transforming her


### Book:castle at Anet. She razed the building’s structure and in its place erected


### Book:a magnificent Doric-columned edifice modeled after a Roman temple. It


### Book:was made in white Normandy stone flecked with black silex,


### Book:reproducing Diane’s trademark colors of black and white. The insignia of


### Book:her and Henri’s initials appeared on the columns, the doors, the windows,


### Book:the carpet. Meanwhile, symbols of Diana—crescent moons, stags, and


### Book:hounds—adorned the gates and facade. Inside, enormous tapestries


### Book:depicting episodes in the life of the goddess lay on the floors and hung


### Book:on the walls. In the garden stood the famous Goujon sculpture Diane


### Book:Chasseresse, which is now in the Louvre, and which had an uncanny


### Book:resemblance to Diane de Poitiers. Paintings and other depictions of


### Book:Diana appeared in every corner of the castle.Anet overwhelmed Henri, who soon was trumpeting the image of


### Book:Diane de Poitiers as a Roman goddess. In 1548, when the couple


### Book:appeared together in Lyons for a royal celebration, the townspeople


### Book:welcomed them with a tableau vivant depicting a scene with Diana the


### Book:huntress. France’s greatest poet of the period, Pierre de Ronsard, began


### Book:to write verses in honor of Diana—indeed a kind of cult of Diana sprang


### Book:up, all inspired by the king’s mistress. It seemed to Henri that Diane had


### Book:given herself a kind of divine aura, and as if he were destined to worship


### Book:her for the rest of his life. And until his death, in 1559, he did remain


### Book:faithful to her—making her a duchess, giving her untold wealth, and


### Book:displaying an almost religious devotion to his first and only mistress.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:Diane de Poitiers, a woman from a modest bourgeois background,


### Book:managed to captivate Henri for over twenty years. By the time he died


### Book:she was well into her sixties, yet his passion for her only increased with


### Book:the years. She knew the king well. He was not an intellectual but a lover


### Book:of the outdoors—he particularly loved jousting tournaments, with their


### Book:bright pennants, brilliantly caparisoned horses, and beautifully dressed


### Book:women. Henri’s love of visual splendor seemed childlike to Diane, and


### Book:she played on this weakness of his at every opportunity.


### Book:Most astute of all was Diane’s appropriation of the goddess Diana.


### Book:Here she took the game beyond physical imagery into the realm of the


### Book:psychic symbol. It was quite a feat to transform a king’s mistress into an


### Book:emblem of power and purity, but she managed it. Without the resonance


### Book:of the goddess, Diane was merely an aging courtesan. With the imagery


### Book:and symbolism of Diana on her shoulders, she seemed a mythic force,


### Book:destined for greatness.


### Book:You too can play with images like these, weaving visual clues into an


### Book:encompassing gestalt, as Diane did with her colors and her insignia.


### Book:Establish a trademark like these to set yourself apart. Then take the game


### Book:further: Find an image or symbol from the past that will neatly fit your


### Book:situation, and put it on your shoulders like a cape. It will make you seem


### Book:larger than life.


### Book:There was a man named Sakamotoya Hechigwan who lived in upper


### Book:Kyoto…. When [Emperor] Hideyoshi gave his great Cha-no-yu [tea


### Book:ceremony] meeting at Kitano in the tenth month of 1588, Hechigwan set


### Book:up a great red umbrella nine feet across mounted on a stick seven feethigh. The circumference of the handle he surrounded for about two feet


### Book:by a reed fence in such a way that the rays of the sun were reflected from


### Book:it and diffused the colour of the umbrella all around. This device pleased


### Book:Hideyoshi so much that he remitted Hechigwan’s taxes as a reward.


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


### Book:1962


### Book:Because of the light it shines on the other stars which make up a kind of


### Book:court around it, because of the just and equal distribution of its rays to


### Book:all alike, because of the good it brings to all places, producing life, joy


### Book:and action, because of its constancy from which it never varies, I chose


### Book:the sun as the most magnificent image to represent a great leader.


### Book:Louis XIV, the Sun King, 1638-1715


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:Using words to plead your case is risky business: Words are dangerous


### Book:instruments, and often go astray. The words people use to persuade us


### Book:virtually invite us to reflect on them with words of our own; we mull


### Book:them over, and often end up believing the opposite of what they say.


### Book:(That is part of our perverse nature.) It also happens that words offend


### Book:us, stirring up associations unintended by the speaker.


### Book:The visual, on the other hand, short-circuits the labyrinth of words. It


### Book:strikes with an emotional power and immediacy that leave no gaps for


### Book:reflection and doubt. Like music, it leaps right over rational, reasonable


### Book:thoughts. Imagine the Moon Doctor trying to make a case for his medical


### Book:practice, trying to convince the unconverted by telling them about the


### Book:healing powers of the moon, and about his own special connection to a


### Book:distant object in the sky. Fortunately for him, he was able to create a


### Book:compelling spectacle that made words unnecessary. The moment his


### Book:patients entered the beer hall, the image of the moon spoke eloquently


### Book:enough.


### Book:Understand: Words put you on the defensive. If you have to explain


### Book:yourself your power is already in question. The image, on the other hand,


### Book:imposes itself as a given. It discourages questions, creates forceful


### Book:associations, resists unintended interpretations, communicates instantly,


### Book:and forges bonds that transcend social differences. Words stir uparguments and divisions; images bring people together. They are the


### Book:quintessential instruments of power.


### Book:The symbol has the same force, whether it is visual (the statue of


### Book:Diana) or a verbal description of something visual (the words “the Sun


### Book:King”). The symbolic object stands for something else, something


### Book:abstract (such as the image “Diana” standing for chastity). The abstract


### Book:concept—purity, patriotism, courage, love—is full of emotional and


### Book:powerful associations. The symbol is a shortcut of expression, containing


### Book:dozens of meanings in one simple phrase or object. The symbol of the


### Book:Sun King, as explained by Louis XIV, can be read on many layers, but


### Book:the beauty of it is that its associations required no explanation, spoke


### Book:immediately to his subjects, distinguished him from all other kings, and


### Book:conjured up a kind of majesty that went far beyond the words


### Book:themselves. The symbol contains untold power.


### Book:The first step in using symbols and images is to understand the


### Book:primacy of sight among the senses. Before the Renaissance, it has been


### Book:argued, sight and the other senses—taste, touch, and so on—operated on


### Book:a relatively equal plane. Since then, however, the visual has come to


### Book:dominate the others, and is the sense we most depend on and trust. As


### Book:Gracián said, “The truth is generally seen, rarely heard.” When the


### Book:Renaissance painter Fra Filippo Lippi was a captured slave among the


### Book:Moors, he won his freedom by sketching a drawing of his master on a


### Book:white wall with a piece of charcoal; when the owner saw the drawing, he


### Book:instantly understood the power of a man who could make such images,


### Book:and let Fra Lippi go. That one image was far more powerful than any


### Book:argument the artist could have made with words.


### Book:Never neglect the way you arrange things visually. Factors like color,


### Book:for example, have enormous symbolic resonance. When the con artist


### Book:Yellow Kid Weil created a newsletter touting the phony stocks he was


### Book:peddling, he called it the “Red Letter Newsletter” and had it printed, at


### Book:considerable expense, in red ink. The color created a sense of urgency,


### Book:power, and good fortune. Weil recognized details like these as keys to


### Book:deception—as do modern advertisers and mass-marketers. If you use


### Book:“gold” in the title of anything you are trying to sell, for example, print it


### Book:in gold. Since the eye predominates, people will respond more to the


### Book:color than to the word.


### Book:The visual contains great emotional power. The Roman emperor


### Book:Constantine worshipped the sun as a god for most of his life; one day,


### Book:though, he looked up at the sun, and saw a cross superimposed on it. The


### Book:vision of the cross over the sun proved to him the ascendancy of the newreligion, and he converted not just himself but the whole Roman Empire


### Book:to Christianity soon thereafter. All the preaching and proselytizing in the


### Book:world could not have been as powerful. Find and associate yourself with


### Book:the images and symbols that will communicate in this immediate way


### Book:today, and you will have untold power.


### Book:Most effective of all is a new combination—a fusion of images and


### Book:symbols that have not been seen together before, but that through their


### Book:association clearly demonstrate your new idea, message, religion. The


### Book:creation of new images and symbols out of old ones in this way has a


### Book:poetic effect—viewers’ associations run rampant, giving them a sense of


### Book:participation.


### Book:Visual images often appear in a sequence, and the order in which they


### Book:appear creates a symbol. The first to appear, for instance, symbolizes


### Book:power; the image at the center seems to have central importance.


### Book:Near the end of World War II, orders came down from General


### Book:Eisenhower that American troops were to lead the way into Paris after its


### Book:liberation from the Nazis. The French general Charles de Gaulle,


### Book:however, realized that this sequence would imply that the Americans


### Book:now commanded the fate of France. Through much manipulation, de


### Book:Gaulle made certain that he and the French Second Armored Division


### Book:would appear at the head of the liberating force. The strategy worked:


### Book:After he had successfully pulled off this stunt, the Allies started treating


### Book:him as the new leader of an independent France. De Gaulle knew that a


### Book:leader has to locate himself literally at the head of his troops. This visual


### Book:association is crucial to the emotional response that he needs to elicit.


### Book:Things change in the game of symbols: It is probably no longer


### Book:possible to pose as a “sun king,” or to wrap the mantle of Diana around


### Book:you. Yet you can associate yourself with such symbols more indirectly.


### Book:And, of course, you can make your own mythology out of figures from


### Book:more recent history, people who are comfortably dead but still


### Book:powerfully associative in the public eye. The idea is to give yourself an


### Book:aura, a stature that your normal banal appearance simply will not create.


### Book:By herself Diane de Poitiers had no such radiant powers; she was as


### Book:human and ordinary as most of us. But the symbol elevated her above the


### Book:human lot, and made her seem divine.


### Book:Using symbols also has a courtier-like effect, since they are often


### Book:gentler than brutish words. The psychotherapist Dr. Milton H. Erickson


### Book:always tried to find symbols and images that would communicate to the


### Book:patient in ways that words could not. When dealing with a severely


### Book:troubled patient, he would not question him directly but would talk aboutsomething irrelevant, such as driving through the desert in Arizona,


### Book:where he practiced in the 1950s. In describing this he would eventually


### Book:come to an appropriate symbol for what he suspected was the man’s


### Book:problem. If he felt the patient was isolated, say, Dr. Erickson would talk


### Book:of a single iron-wood tree, and how its isolation left it battered by the


### Book:winds. Making an emotional connection with the tree as a symbol, the


### Book:patient would open up more readily to the doctor’s probing.


### Book:Use the power of symbols as a way to rally, animate, and unite your


### Book:troops or team. During the rebellion against the French crown in 1648,


### Book:those loyal to the king disparaged the rebels by comparing them to the


### Book:slingshots (in French, frondes) that little boys use to frighten big boys.


### Book:Cardinal de Retz decided to turn this disparaging term into the rebels’


### Book:symbol: The uprising was now known as the Fronde, and the rebels as


### Book:frondeurs. They began to wear sashes in their hats that symbolized the


### Book:slingshot, and the word became their rallying cry. Without it the rebellion


### Book:might well have petered out. Always find a symbol to represent your


### Book:cause—the more emotional associations, the better.


### Book:The best way to use images and symbols is to organize them into a


### Book:grand spectacle that awes people and distracts them from unpleasant


### Book:realities. This is easy to do: People love what is grand, spectacular, and


### Book:larger than life. Appeal to their emotions and they will flock to your


### Book:spectacle in hordes. The visual is the easiest route to their hearts.


### Book:Image:


### Book:The Cross and the


### Book:Sun. Crucifixion and


### Book:total radiance. With one


### Book:imposed over the other, a


### Book:new reality takes shape—


### Book:a new power is in the


### Book:ascendant. The sym


### Book:bol—no explanation


### Book:necessary.


### Book:Authority: The people are always impressed by the superficial


### Book:appearance of things…. The [prince] should, at fitting times of the year,keep the people occupied and distracted with festivities and spectacles.


### Book:(Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527)


### Book:REVERSAL


### Book:No power is made available by ignoring images and symbols. There is


### Book:no possible reversal to this law.LAW 38


### Book:THINK AS YOU LIKE BUT BEHAVE LIKE


### Book:OTHERS


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your


### Book:unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you


### Book:only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a


### Book:way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in


### Book:and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant


### Book:friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.


### Book:THINK WITH THE FEW AND SPEAK WITH


### Book:THE MANY


### Book:It is easy to run into danger by trying to swim against the stream. Only a


### Book:Socrates could attempt to do that. Disagreement is regarded as offensive


### Book:because it is a condemnation of the views of others; the numbers of the


### Book:disgruntled grow, on account either of some matter that has been the


### Book:object of censure or of some person who has praised it: Truth is for the


### Book:few, error is as usual as it is vulgar. Nor is the wise man to be recognized


### Book:by what he says in the marketplace, for he speaks there not with his own


### Book:voice, but with that of universal folly, however much his inmost thoughts


### Book:may gainsay it: The wise man avoids being contradicted as sedulously as


### Book:he avoids contradicting; the publicity of censure is withheld from that


### Book:which readily provokes it. Thought is free; it cannot and should not be


### Book:coerced; retire into the sanctuary of your silence and if you sometimes


### Book:allow yourself to break it, do so under the aegis of a discreet few.


### Book:BALTASAR GRACIÁN, 1601-1658TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW


### Book:Around the year 478 B.C., the city of Sparta sent an expedition to Persia


### Book:led by the young Spartan nobleman Pausanias. The city-states of Greece


### Book:had recently fought off a mighty invasion from Persia, and now


### Book:Pausanias, along with allied ships from Athens, had orders to punish the


### Book:invaders and win back the islands and coastal towns that the Persians had


### Book:occupied. Both the Athenians and the Spartans had great respect for


### Book:Pausanias-he had proven himself as a fearless warrior, with a flair for the


### Book:dramatic.


### Book:With amazing speed, Pausanias and his troops took Cyprus, then


### Book:moved on to the mainland of Asia Minor known as the Hellespont and


### Book:captured Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul). Now master of part of the


### Book:Persian empire, Pausanias began to show signs of behavior that went


### Book:beyond his normal flamboyance. He appeared in public wearing


### Book:pomades in his hair and flowing Persian robes, and accompanied by a


### Book:bodyguard of Egyptians. He held lavish banquets in which he sat in the


### Book:Persian manner and demanded to be entertained. He stopped seeing his


### Book:old friends, entered into communication with the Persian King Xerxes,


### Book:and all in all affected the style and manner of a Persian dictator.


### Book:Clearly power and success had gone to Pausanias’s head. His army-


### Book:Athenians and Spartans alike-at first thought this a passing fancy: He had


### Book:always been a bit exaggerated in his gestures. But when he flaunted his


### Book:disdain for the Greeks’ simple way of life, and insulted the common


### Book:Greek soldier, they began to feel he had gone too far. Although there was


### Book:no concrete evidence for this, rumors spread that he had gone over to the


### Book:other side, and that he dreamed of becoming a kind of Greek Xerxes. To


### Book:quell the possibility of mutiny, the Spartans relieved Pausanias of his


### Book:command and called him home.


### Book:Pausanias, however, continued to dress in the Persian style, even in


### Book:Sparta. After a few months he independently hired a trireme and returned


### Book:to the Hellespont, telling his compatriots he was going to continue the


### Book:fight against the Persians. Actually, however, he had different plans—to


### Book:make himself ruler of all Greece, with the aid of Xerxes himself. The


### Book:Spartans declared him a public enemy and sent a ship to capture him.


### Book:Pausanias surrendered, certain that he could clear himself of the charges


### Book:of treason. It did come out during the trial that during his reign as


### Book:commander he had offended his fellow Greeks time and again, erecting


### Book:monuments, for instance, in his own name, rather than in those of thecities whose troops had fought alongside him, as was the custom. Yet


### Book:Pausanias proved right: Despite the evidence of his numerous contacts


### Book:with the enemy, the Spartans refused to imprison a man of such noble


### Book:birth, and let him go.


### Book:Now thinking himself untouchable, Pausanias hired a messenger to


### Book:take a letter to Xerxes, but the messenger instead took the letter to the


### Book:Spartan authorities. These men wanted to find out more, so they had the


### Book:messenger arrange to meet Pausanias in a temple where they could hide


### Book:and listen behind a partition. What Pausanias said shocked them-they


### Book:had never heard such contempt for their ways spoken so brazenly by one


### Book:of their own—and they made arrangements for his immediate arrest.


### Book:On his way home from the temple, Pausanias got word of what had


### Book:happened. He ran to another temple to hide, but the authorities followed


### Book:him there and placed sentries all around. Pausanias refused to surrender.


### Book:Unwilling to forcibly remove him from the sacred temple, the authorities


### Book:kept him trapped inside, until he eventually died of starvation.


### Book:Bene vixit, qui bene latuit—“He lives well who conceals himself well. ”


### Book:OVID, c. 43 B.C.-A.D. 18


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:At first glance it might seem that Pausanias simply fell in love with


### Book:another culture, a phenomenon as old as time. Never comfortable with


### Book:the asceti cism of the Spartans, he found himself enthralled by the


### Book:Persian love of luxury and sensual pleasure. He put on Persian robes and


### Book:perfumes with a sense of deliverance from Greek discipline and


### Book:simplicity.


### Book:This is how it appears when people adopt a culture in which they were


### Book:not raised. Often, however, there is also something else at play: People


### Book:who flaunt their infatuation with a different culture are expressing a


### Book:disdain and contempt for their own. They are using the outward


### Book:appearance of the exotic to separate themselves from the common folk


### Book:who unques tioningly follow the local customs and laws, and to express


### Book:their sense of superiority. Otherwise they would act with more dignity,


### Book:showing respect for those who do not share their desires. Indeed their


### Book:need to show their difference so dramatically often makes them disliked


### Book:by the people whose beliefs they challenge, indirectly and subtly,


### Book:perhaps, but offensively nonetheless.As Thucydides wrote of Pausanias, “By his contempt for the laws and


### Book:his imitation of foreign ways he had made himself very widely suspected


### Book:of being unwilling to abide by normal standards.” Cultures have norms


### Book:that reflect centuries of shared beliefs and ideals. Do not expect to scoff


### Book:at such things with impunity. You will be punished somehow, even if just


### Book:through isolation—a position of real powerlessness.


### Book:Many of us, like Pausanias, feel the siren call of the exotic, the


### Book:foreign. Measure and moderate this desire. Flaunting your pleasure in


### Book:alien ways of thinking and acting will reveal a different motive—to


### Book:demonstrate your superiority over your fellows.


### Book:Wise men [should be] like coffers with double bottoms: Which when


### Book:others look into, being opened, they see not all that they hold.


### Book:SIR WALTER RALEIGH, 1554-1618


### Book:WHEN THE WATERS WERE CHANGED


### Book:Once upon a time Khidr, the teacher of Moses, called upon mankind with


### Book:a warning. At a certain date, he said, all the water in the world which


### Book:had not been specially hoarded, would disappear. It would then be


### Book:renewed, with different water, which would drive men mad. Only one


### Book:man listened to the meaning of this advice. He collected water and went


### Book:to a secure place where he stored it, and waited for the water to change


### Book:its character. On the appointed date the streams stopped running, the


### Book:wells went dry, and the man who had listened, seeing this happening,


### Book:went to his retreat and drank his preserved water. When he saw, from his


### Book:security, the waterfalls again beginning to flow, this man descended


### Book:among the other sons of men. He found that they were thinking and


### Book:talking in an entirely different way from before; yet they had no memory


### Book:of what had happened, nor of having been warned. When he tried to talk


### Book:to them, he realized that they thought that he was mad, and they showed


### Book:hostility or compassion, not understanding. At first he drank none of the


### Book:new water, but went back to his concealment, to draw on his supplies,


### Book:every day. Finally, however, he took the decision to drink the new water


### Book:because he could not bear the loneliness of living, behaving and thinking


### Book:in a different way from everyone else. He drank the new water, and


### Book:became like the rest. Then he forgot all about his own store of special


### Book:water, and his fellows began to look upon him as a madman who had


### Book:miraculously been restored to sanity.


### Book:TALES OF THE DERVISHES, IDRIES SHAH, 1967OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW


### Book:During the late sixteenth century, a violent reaction against the Protestant


### Book:Reformation erupted in Italy. The Counter-Reformation, as it was called,


### Book:included its own version of the Inquisition to root out all deviations from


### Book:the Catholic Church. Among its victims was the scientist Galileo, but an


### Book:important thinker who suffered even greater persecution was the


### Book:Dominican monk and philosopher Tommaso Campanella.


### Book:A follower of the materialist doctrine of the Roman philosopher


### Book:Epicurus, Campanella did not believe in miracles, or in heaven and hell.


### Book:The Church had promoted such superstitions, he wrote, to control the


### Book:common folk by keeping them in fear. Such ideas verged on atheism, and


### Book:Campanella expressed them incautiously. In 1593 the Inquisition threw


### Book:him into prison for his heretical beliefs. Six years later, as a form of


### Book:partial release, he was confined to a monastery in Naples.


### Book:Southern Italy was controlled by Spain at the time, and in Naples


### Book:Campanella became involved in a plot to fight and throw out these


### Book:invaders. His hope was to establish an independent republic based on his


### Book:own ideas of utopia. The leaders of the Italian Inquisition, working with


### Book:their Spanish counterparts, had him imprisoned again. This time they


### Book:also tortured him, to discover the true nature of his impious beliefs: He


### Book:was subjected to the infamous la veglia, a torture in which he was


### Book:suspended by his arms in a squatting position a few inches above a seat


### Book:studded with spikes. The posture was impossible to sustain, and in time


### Book:the victim would end up sitting on the spikes, which would tear his flesh


### Book:at the slightest contact.


### Book:During these years, however, Campanella learned something about


### Book:power. Facing the prospect of execution for heresy, he changed his


### Book:strategy: He would not renounce his beliefs, yet he knew he had to


### Book:disguise their outward appearance.


### Book:To save his life, Campanella feigned madness. He let his inquisitors


### Book:imagine that his beliefs stemmed from an incontrollable unsoundness of


### Book:mind. For a while the tortures continued, to see if his insanity was faked,


### Book:but in 1603 his sentence was commuted to life in prison. The first four


### Book:years of this he spent chained to a wall in an underground dungeon.


### Book:Despite such conditions, he continued to write—although no longer


### Book:would he be so foolish as to express his ideas directly.


### Book:One book of Campanella’s, The Hispanic Monarchy, promoted the


### Book:idea that Spain had a divine mission to expand its powers around theworld, and offered the Spanish king practical, Machiavelli-type advice


### Book:for achieving this. Despite his own interest in Machiavelli, the book in


### Book:general presented ideas completely the opposite to his own. The


### Book:Hispanic Monarchy was in fact a ploy, an attempt to show his conversion


### Book:to orthodoxy in the boldest manner possible. It worked: In 1626, six


### Book:years after its publication, the pope finally let Campanella out of prison.


### Book:Shortly after gaining his freedom, Campanella wrote Atheism


### Book:Conquered, a book attacking free-thinkers, Machiavellians, Calvinists,


### Book:and heretics of all stripes. The book is written in the form of debates in


### Book:which heretics express their beliefs and are countered by arguments for


### Book:the superiority of Catholicism. Campanella had obviously reformed—his


### Book:book made that clear. Or did it?


### Book:The arguments in the mouths of the heretics had never before been


### Book:expressed with such verve and freshness. Pretending to present their side


### Book:only to knock it down, Campanella actually summarized the case against


### Book:Catholicism with striking passion. When he argued the other side,


### Book:supposedly his side, on the other hand, he resorted to stale clichés and


### Book:convoluted rationales. Brief and eloquent, the heretics’ arguments


### Book:seemed bold and sincere. The lengthy arguments for Catholicism seemed


### Book:tiresome and unconvincing.


### Book:Catholics who read the book found it disturbing and ambiguous, but


### Book:they could not claim it was heretical, or that Campanella should be


### Book:returned to prison. His defense of Catholicism, after all, used arguments


### Book:they had used themselves. Yet in the years to come, Atheism Conquered


### Book:became a bible for atheists, Machiavellians and libertines who used the


### Book:arguments Campanella had put in their mouths to defend their dangerous


### Book:ideas. Combining an outward display of conformity with an expression


### Book:of his true beliefs in a way that his sympathizers would understand,


### Book:Campanella showed that he had learned his lesson.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:In the face of awesome persecution, Campanella devised three


### Book:strategic moves that saved his hide, freed him from prison, and allowed


### Book:him to continue to express his beliefs. First he feigned madness—the


### Book:medieval equivalent of disavowing responsibility for one’s actions, like


### Book:blaming one’s parents today. Next he wrote a book that expressed the


### Book:exact opposite of his own beliefs. Finally, and most brilliantly of all, he


### Book:disguised his ideas while insinuating them at the same time. It is an oldbut powerful trick: You pretend to disagree with dangerous ideas, but in


### Book:the course of your disagreement you give those ideas expression and


### Book:exposure. You seem to conform to the prevailing orthodoxy, but those


### Book:who know will understand the irony involved. You are protected.


### Book:It is inevitable in society that certain values and customs lose contact


### Book:with their original motives and become oppressive. And there will


### Book:always be those who rebel against such oppression, harboring ideas far


### Book:ahead of their time. As Campanella was forced to realize, however, there


### Book:is no point in making a display of your dangerous ideas if they only bring


### Book:you suffering and persecution. Martyrdom serves no purpose—better to


### Book:live on in an oppressive world, even to thrive in it. Meanwhile find a way


### Book:to express your ideas subtly for those who understand you. Laying your


### Book:pearls before swine will only bring you trouble.


### Book:Never combat any man‘s opinion; for though you reached the age of


### Book:Methuselah, you would never have done setting him right upon all the


### Book:absurd things that he believes.


### Book:It is also well to avoid correcting people’s mistakes in conversation,


### Book:however good your intentions may be; for it is easy to offend people, and


### Book:difficult, if not impossible to mend them.


### Book:If you feel irritated by the absurd remarks of two people whose


### Book:conversation you happen to overhear, you should imagine that you are


### Book:listening to the dialogue of two fools in a comedy. Probatum est.


### Book:The man who comes into the world with the notion that he is really going


### Book:to instruct it in matters of the highest importance, may thank his stars if


### Book:he escapes with a whole skin.


### Book:ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860


### Book:For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe


### Book:what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth,


### Book:I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find.


### Book:Niccolò Machiavelli, in a letter to Francesco Gnicciardini, May 17, 1521


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:We all tell lies and hide our true feelings, for complete free expression is


### Book:a social impossibility. From an early age we learn to conceal our


### Book:thoughts, telling the prickly and insecure what we know they want tohear, watching carefully lest we offend them. For most of us this is


### Book:natural—there are ideas and values that most people accept, and it is


### Book:pointless to argue. We believe what we want to, then, but on the outside


### Book:we wear a mask.


### Book:There are people, however, who see such restraints as an intolerable


### Book:infringement on their freedom, and who have a need to prove the


### Book:superiority of their values and beliefs. In the end, though, their


### Book:arguments convince only a few and offend a great deal more. The reason


### Book:arguments do not work is that most people hold their ideas and values


### Book:without thinking about them. There is a strong emotional content in their


### Book:beliefs: They really do not want to have to rework their habits of


### Book:thinking, and when you challenge them, whether directly through your


### Book:arguments or indirectly through your behavior, they are hostile.


### Book:Wise and clever people learn early on that they can display


### Book:conventional behavior and mouth conventional ideas without having to


### Book:believe in them. The power these people gain from blending in is that of


### Book:being left alone to have the thoughts they want to have, and to express


### Book:them to the people they want to express them to, without suffering


### Book:isolation or ostracism. Once they have established themselves in a


### Book:position of power, they can try to convince a wider circle of the


### Book:correctness of their ideas—perhaps working indirectly, using


### Book:Campanella’s strategies of irony and insinuation.


### Book:In the late fourteenth century, the Spanish began a massive persecution


### Book:of the Jews, murdering thousands and driving others out of the country.


### Book:Those who remained in Spain were forced to convert. Yet over the next


### Book:three hundred years, the Spanish noticed a phenomenon that disturbed


### Book:them: Many of the converts lived their outward lives as Catholics, yet


### Book:somehow managed to retain their Jewish beliefs, practicing the religion


### Book:in private. Many of these so-called Marranos (originally a derogatory


### Book:term, being the Spanish for “pig”) attained high levels of government


### Book:office, married into the nobility, and gave every appearance of Christian


### Book:piety, only to be discovered late in life as practicing Jews. (The Spanish


### Book:Inquisition was specifically commissioned to ferret them out.) Over the


### Book:years they mastered the art of dissimulation, displaying crucifixes


### Book:liberally, giving generous gifts to churches, even occasionally making


### Book:anti-Semitic remarks—and all the while maintaining their inner freedom


### Book:and beliefs.


### Book:In society, the Marranos knew, outward appearances are what matter.


### Book:This remains true today. The strategy is simple: As Campanella did in


### Book:writing Atheism Conquered, make a show of blending in, even going sofar as to be the most zealous advocate of the prevailing orthodoxy. If you


### Book:stick to conventional appearances in public few will believe you think


### Book:differently in private.


### Book:THE CITIZEN AND THE TRAVELLER


### Book:“Look around you,” said the citizen. “This is the largest market in the


### Book:world.” “Oh surely not,” said the traveller. “Well, perhaps not the


### Book:largest,” said the citizen, “but much the best.” “You are certainly wrong


### Book:there,” said the traveller. “I can tell you….” They buried the stranger in


### Book:the dusk.


### Book:FABLES, ROBERT Louis STEVENSON, 1850-1894


### Book:If Machiavelli had had a prince for disciple, the first thing he would have


### Book:recommended him to do would have been to write a book against


### Book:Machiavellism.


### Book:VOLTAIRE, 1694-1778


### Book:Do not be so foolish as to imagine that in our own time the old


### Book:orthodoxies are gone. Jonas Salk, for instance, thought science had


### Book:gotten past politics and protocol. And so, in his search for a polio


### Book:vaccine, he broke all the rules—going public with a discovery before


### Book:showing it to the scientific community, taking credit for the vaccine


### Book:without acknowledging the scientists who had paved the way, making


### Book:himself a star. The public may have loved him but scientists shunned


### Book:him. His disrespect for his community’s orthodoxies left him isolated,


### Book:and he wasted years trying to heal the breach, and struggling for funding


### Book:and cooperation.


### Book:Bertolt Brecht underwent a modem form of Inquisition—the House


### Book:Un-American Activities Committee—and approached it with


### Book:considerable canniness. Having worked off and on in the American film


### Book:industry during World War II, in 1947 Brecht was summoned to appear


### Book:before the committee to answer questions on his suspected Communist


### Book:sympathies. Other writers called before the committee made a point of


### Book:attacking its members, and of acting as belligerently as possible in order


### Book:to gain sympathy for themselves. Brecht, on the other hand, who had


### Book:actually worked steadfastly for the Communist cause, played the


### Book:opposite game: He answered questions with ambiguous generalities that


### Book:defied easy interpretation. Call it the Campanella strategy. Brecht even


### Book:wore a suit—a rare event for him-and made a point of smoking a cigar


### Book:during the proceedings, knowing that a key committee member had apassion for cigars. In the end he charmed the committee members, who


### Book:let him go scot-free.


### Book:Brecht then moved to East Germany, where he encountered a different


### Book:kind of Inquisition. Here the Communists were in power, and they


### Book:criticized his plays as decadent and pessimistic. He did not argue with


### Book:them, but made small changes in the performance scripts to shut them


### Book:up. Meanwhile he managed to preserve the published texts as written.


### Book:His outward conformity in both cases gave him the freedom to work


### Book:unhindered, without having to change his thinking. In the end, he made


### Book:his way safely through dangerous times in different countries through the


### Book:use of little dances of orthodoxy, and proved he was more powerful than


### Book:the forces of repression.


### Book:Not only do people of power avoid the offenses of Pausanias and Salk,


### Book:they also learn to play the clever fox and feign the common touch. This


### Book:has been the ploy of con artists and politicians throughout the centuries.


### Book:Leaders like Julius Caesar and Franklin D. Roosevelt have overcome


### Book:their natural aristocratic stance to cultivate a familiarity with the


### Book:common man. They have expressed this familiarity in little gestures,


### Book:often symbolic, to show the people that their leaders share popular


### Book:values, despite their different status.


### Book:The logical extension of this practice is the invaluable ability to be all


### Book:things to all people. When you go into society, leave behind your own


### Book:ideas and values, and put on the mask that is most appropriate for the


### Book:group in which you find yourself. Bismarck played this game


### Book:successfully for years—there were people who vaguely understood what


### Book:he was up to, but not clearly enough that it mattered. People will


### Book:swallow the bait because it flatters them to believe that you share their


### Book:ideas. They will not take you as a hypocrite if you are careful—for how


### Book:can they accuse you of hypocrisy if you do not let them know exactly


### Book:what you stand for? Nor will they see you as lacking in values. Of course


### Book:you have values—the values you share with them, while in their


### Book:company.


### Book:Authority: Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls


### Book:before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.


### Book:(Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:6)


### Book:Image: The Black The herd shuns the Sheep. black sheep, uncertain


### Book:whether or not it belongs with them. So it straggles behind, or wanders


### Book:away from the herd, where it is cornered by wolves and promptly


### Book:devoured. Stay with the herd—there is safety in numbers. Keep your


### Book:differences in your thoughts and not in your fleece.REVERSAL


### Book:The only time it is worth standing out is when you already stand out—


### Book:when you have achieved an unshakable position of power, and can


### Book:display your difference from others as a sign of the distance between


### Book:you. As president of the United States, Lyndon Johnson would


### Book:sometimes hold meetings while he sat on the toilet. Since no one else


### Book:either could or would claim such a “privilege,” Johnson was showing


### Book:people that he did not have to observe the protocols and niceties of


### Book:others. The Roman emperor Caligula played the same game: He would


### Book:wear a woman’s negligee, or a bathrobe, to receive important visitors. He


### Book:even went so far as to have his horse elected consul. But it backfired, for


### Book:the people hated Caligula, and his gestures eventually brought his


### Book:overthrow. The truth is that even those who attain the heights of power


### Book:would be better off at least affecting the common touch, for at some


### Book:point they may need popular support.


### Book:Finally, there is always a place for the gadfly, the person who


### Book:successfully defies custom and mocks what has grown lifeless in a


### Book:culture. Oscar Wilde, for example, achieved considerable social power


### Book:on this foundation: He made it clear that he disdained the usual ways of


### Book:doing things, and when he gave public readings his audiences not only


### Book:expected him to insult them but welcomed it. We notice, however, that


### Book:his eccentric role eventually destroyed him. Even had he come to a better


### Book:end, remember that he possessed an unusual genius: Without his gift to


### Book:amuse and delight, his barbs would simply have offended people.LAW 39


### Book:STIR UP WATERS TO CATCH FISH


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always


### Book:stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while


### Book:staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies


### Book:off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle


### Book:them and you hold the strings.


### Book:ITAKURA SHICEMUNE GRINDS HIS OWN


### Book:TEA


### Book:The Kyoto Shoshidai ltakura Suwo-no-kami Shigemune was very fond of


### Book:Cha-no-yu (the tea ceremony), and used to grind his own tea while


### Book:sitting in the court as judge. And the reason was this. He once asked a


### Book:friend of his who was his companion in Cha-no-yu, a tea merchant


### Book:named Eiki, to tell him frankly what was the public opinion about him.


### Book:“Well,” said Eiki, “they say that you get irritated with those who don’t


### Book:give their evidence very clearly and scold them, and so people are afraid


### Book:to bring lawsuits before you and if they do, the truth does not come out.”


### Book:“Ah, I am glad you have told me that,” replied Shigemune, “for now that


### Book:I consider it, I have fallen into the habit of speaking sharply to people in


### Book:this way, and no doubt humble folk and those who are not ready in


### Book:speech get flurried and are unable to put their case in the best light. I


### Book:will see to it that this does not occur in the future.” So after this he had a


### Book:tea mill placed before him in court and in front of it the paper-covered


### Book:shoji were drawn to, and Shigemune sat behind them and ground the tea


### Book:and thus kept his mind calm while he heard the cases. And he could


### Book:easily see whether his composure was ruffied or not by looking at the


### Book:tea, which would not fall evenly ground to the proper consistency if hegot excited. And so justice was done impartially and people went away


### Book:from his court satisfied.


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


### Book:1962


### Book:TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW


### Book:In January of 1809, an agitated and anxious Napoleon hurried back to


### Book:Paris from his Spanish wars. His spies and confidants had confirmed a


### Book:rumor that his foreign minister Talleyrand had conspired against him


### Book:with Fouché, the minister of police. Immediately on arriving in the


### Book:capital the shocked emperor summoned his ministers to the palace.


### Book:Following them into the meeting right after their arrival, he began pacing


### Book:up and down, and started rambling vaguely about plotters working


### Book:against him, speculators bringing down the stock market, legislators


### Book:delaying his policies—and his own ministers undermining him.


### Book:As Napoleon talked, Talleyrand leaned on the mantelpiece, looking


### Book:completely indifferent. Facing Talleyrand directly, Napoleon announced,


### Book:“For these ministers, treason has begun when they permit themselves to


### Book:doubt.” At the word “treason” the ruler expected his minister to be


### Book:afraid. But Talleyrand only smiled, calm and bored.


### Book:The sight of a subordinate apparently serene in the face of charges that


### Book:could get him hanged pushed Napoleon to the edge. There were


### Book:ministers, he said, who wanted him dead, and he took a step closer to


### Book:Talleyrand—who stared back at him unfazed. Finally Napoleon


### Book:exploded. “You are a coward,” he screamed in Talleyrand’s face, “a man


### Book:of no faith. Nothing is sacred to you. You would sell your own father. I


### Book:have showered you with riches and yet there is nothing you would not do


### Book:to hurt me.” The other ministers looked at each other in disbelief—they


### Book:had never seen this fearless general, the conqueror of most of Europe, so


### Book:unhinged.


### Book:“You deserve to be broken like glass,” Napoleon continued, stamping.


### Book:“I have the power to do it, but I have too much contempt for you to


### Book:bother. Why didn’t I have you hanged from the gates of the Tuileries?


### Book:But there is still time for that.” Yelling, almost out of breath, his face red,


### Book:his eyes bulging, he went on, “You, by the way, are nothing but shit in a


### Book:silk stocking…. What about your wife? You never told me that SanCarlos was your wife’s lover?” “Indeed, sire, it did not occur to me that


### Book:this information had any bearing on Your Majesty’s glory or my own,”


### Book:said Talleyrand calmly, completely unflustered. After a few more insults,


### Book:Napoleon walked away. Talleyrand slowly crossed the room, moving


### Book:with his characteristic limp. As an attendant helped him with his cloak,


### Book:he turned to his fellow ministers (all afraid they would never see him


### Book:again), and said, “What a pity, gentlemen, that so great a man should


### Book:have such bad manners.”


### Book:Despite his anger, Napoleon did not arrest his foreign minister. He


### Book:merely relieved him of his duties and banished him from the court,


### Book:believing that for this man humiliation would be punishment enough. He


### Book:did not realize that word had quickly spread of his tirade—of how the


### Book:emperor had completely lost control of himself, and how Talleyrand had


### Book:essentially humiliated him by maintaining his composure and dignity. A


### Book:page had been turned: For the first time people had seen the great


### Book:emperor lose his cool under fire. A feeling spread that he was on the way


### Book:down. As Talleyrand later said, “This is the beginning of the end.”


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:This was indeed the beginning of the end. Waterloo was still six years


### Book:ahead, but Napoleon was on a slow descent to defeat, crystallizing in


### Book:1812 with his disastrous invasion of Russia. Talleyrand was the first to


### Book:see the signs of his decline, especially in the irrational war with Spain.


### Book:Sometime in 1808, the minister decided that for the future peace of


### Book:Europe, Napoleon had to go. And so he conspired with Fouché.


### Book:It is possible that the conspiracy was never anything more than a ploy


### Book:—a device to push Napoleon over the edge. For it is hard to believe that


### Book:two of the most practical men in history would only go halfway in their


### Book:plotting. They may have been only stirring the waters, trying to goad


### Book:Napoleon into a misstep. And indeed, what they got was the tantrum that


### Book:laid out his loss of control for all to see. In fact, Napoleon’s soon-famous


### Book:blowup that afternoon had a profoundly negative effect on his public


### Book:image.


### Book:This is the problem with the angry response. At first it may strike fear


### Book:and terror, but only in some, and as the days pass and the storm clears,


### Book:other responses emerge—embarrassment and uneasiness about the


### Book:shouter’s capacity for going out of control, and resentment of what has


### Book:been said. Losing your temper, you always make unfair and exaggeratedaccusations. A few such tirades and people are counting the days until


### Book:you are gone.


### Book:In the face of a conspiracy against him, a conspiracy between his two


### Book:most important ministers, Napoleon certainly had a right to feel angry


### Book:and anxious. But by responding so angrily, and so publicly, he only


### Book:demonstrated his frustration. To show your frustration is to show that


### Book:you have lost your power to shape events; it is the helpless action of the


### Book:child who resorts to a hysterical fit to get his way. The powerful never


### Book:reveal this kind of weakness.


### Book:There were a number of things Napoleon could have done in this


### Book:situation. He could have thought about the fact that two eminently


### Book:sensible men had had reason to turn against him, and could have listened


### Book:and learned from them. He could have tried to win them back to him. He


### Book:could even have gotten rid of them, making their imprisonment or death


### Book:an ominous display of his power. No tirades, no childish fits, no


### Book:embarrassing after-effects—just a quiet and definitive severing of ties.


### Book:Remember: Tantrums neither intimidate nor inspire loyalty. They only


### Book:create doubts and uneasiness about your power. Exposing your


### Book:weakness, these stormy eruptions often herald a fall.


### Book:If possible, no animosity should be felt for anyone…. To speak angrily to


### Book:a person, to show your hatred by what you say or by the way you look, is


### Book:an unnecessary proceeding-dangerous, foolish, ridiculous, and vulgar.


### Book:Anger or hatred should never be shown otherwise than in what you do;


### Book:and feelings will be all the more effective in action. in so far as you avoid


### Book:the exhibition of them in any other way. It is only the cold-blooded


### Book:animals whose bite is poisonous.


### Book:ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER. 1788-1860


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW


### Book:By the late 1920s, Haile Selassie had nearly achieved his goal of


### Book:assuming total control over Ethiopia, a country he felt needed strong and


### Book:unified leadership. As regent to the empress Zauditu (stepdaughter of the


### Book:late queen) and heir to the throne, Selassie had spent several years


### Book:weakening the power of Ethiopia’s various warlords. Now only one real


### Book:obstacle stood in his way: the empress and her husband, Ras Gugsa.


### Book:Selassie knew the royal couple hated him and wanted to get rid of him,so to cut short their plotting he made Gugsa the governor of the northern


### Book:province of Begemeder, forcing him to leave the capital, where the


### Book:empress lived.


### Book:For several years Gugsa played the loyal administrator. But Selassie


### Book:did not trust him: He knew that Gugsa and the empress were plotting


### Book:revenge. As time passed and Gugsa made no move, the chances of a plot


### Book:only increased. Selassie knew what he had to do: draw Gugsa out, get


### Book:under his skin, and push him into action before he was ready.


### Book:For several years, a northern tribe, the Azebu Gallas, had been in


### Book:virtual rebellion against the throne, robbing and pillaging local villages


### Book:and refusing to pay taxes. Selassie had done nothing to stop them, letting


### Book:them grow stronger. Finally, in 1929, he ordered Ras Gugsa to lead an


### Book:army against these disobedient tribesmen. Gugsa agreed, but inwardly he


### Book:seethed—he had no grudge against the Azebu Gallas, and the demand


### Book:that he fight them hurt his pride. He could not disobey the order, but as


### Book:he worked to put together an army, he began to spread an ugly rumor—


### Book:that Selassie was in cahoots with the pope, and planned to convert the


### Book:country to Roman Catholicism and make it a colony of Italy. Gugsa’s