### Book:on you, and you will have the best revenge of all: They are trapped in


### Book:envy while you are free in your power.


### Book:This is how Michelangelo triumphed over the venomous architect


### Book:Bramante, who turned Pope Julius against Michelangelo’s design for his


### Book:tomb. Bramante envied Michelangelo’s godlike skills, and to this one


### Book:triumph—the aborted tomb project—he thought to add another, by


### Book:pushing the pope to commission Michelangelo to paint the murals in the


### Book:Sistine Chapel. The project would take years, during which


### Book:Michelangelo would accomplish no more of his brilliant sculptures.Furthermore, Bramante considered Michelangelo not nearly as skilled in


### Book:painting as in sculpture. The chapel would spoil his image as the perfect


### Book:artist.


### Book:Michelangelo saw the trap and wanted to turn down the commission,


### Book:but he could not refuse the pope, so he accepted it without complaint.


### Book:Then, however, he used Bramante’s envy to spur him to greater heights,


### Book:making the Sistine Chapel his most perfect work of all. Every time


### Book:Bramante heard of it or saw it, he felt more oppressed by his own envy—


### Book:the sweetest and most lasting revenge you can exact on the envious.LAW 47


### Book:DO NOT GO PAST THE MARK YOU AIMED


### Book:FOR; IN VICTORY, LEARN WHEN TO STOP


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat


### Book:of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you


### Book:had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you


### Book:defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute


### Book:for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it,


### Book:stop.


### Book:TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW


### Book:In 559 B.C., a young man named Cyrus gathered an immense army from


### Book:the scattered tribes of Persia and marched against his grandfather


### Book:Astyages, king of the Medes. He defeated Astyages with ease, had


### Book:himself crowned king of Medea and Persia, and began to forge the


### Book:Persian Empire. Victory followed victory in quick succession. Cyrus


### Book:defeated Croesus, ruler of Lydia, then conquered the Ionian islands and


### Book:other smaller kingdoms; he marched on Babylon and crushed it. Now he


### Book:was known as Cyrus the Great, King of the World.


### Book:After capturing the riches of Babylon, Cyrus set his sights on the east,


### Book:on the half-barbaric tribes of the Massagetai, a vast realm on the Caspian


### Book:Sea. A fierce warrior race led by Queen Tomyris, the Massagetai lacked


### Book:the riches of Babylon, but Cyrus decided to attack them anyway,


### Book:believing himself superhuman and incapable of defeat. The Massagetai


### Book:would fall easily to his vast armies, making his empire immense.In 529 B.C., then, Cyrus marched to the wide river Araxes, gateway to


### Book:the kingdom of the Massagetai. As he set up camp on the western bank,


### Book:he received a message from Queen Tomyris: “King of the Medes,” she


### Book:told him, “I advise you to abandon this enterprise, for you cannot know


### Book:if in the end it will do you any good. Rule your own people, and try to


### Book:bear the sight of me ruling mine. But of course you will refuse my


### Book:advice, as the last thing you wish for is to live in peace.” Tomyris,


### Book:confident of her army’s strength and not wishing to delay the inevitable


### Book:battle, offered to withdraw the troops on her side of the river, allowing


### Book:Cyrus to cross its waters safely and fight her army on the eastern side, if


### Book:that was his desire.


### Book:Cyrus agreed, but instead of engaging the enemy directly he decided


### Book:to play a trick. The Massagetai knew few luxuries. Once Cyrus had


### Book:crossed the river and made his camp on the eastern side, he set the table


### Book:for an elaborate banquet, full of meat, delicacies, and strong wine. Then


### Book:he left his weakest troops in the camp and withdrew the rest of the army


### Book:to the river. A large Massagetai detachment soon attacked the camp and


### Book:killed all of the Persian soldiers in a fierce battle. Then, overwhelmed by


### Book:the fabulous feast that had been left behind, they ate and drank to their


### Book:hearts’ content. Later, inevitably, they fell asleep. The Persian army


### Book:returned to the camp that night, killing many of the sleeping soldiers and


### Book:capturing the rest. Among the prisoners was their general, a youth named


### Book:Spargapises, son of Queen Tomyris.


### Book:When the queen learned what had happened, she sent a message to


### Book:Cyrus, chiding him for using tricks to defeat her army. “Now listen to


### Book:me,” she wrote, “and I will advise you for your own good: Give me back


### Book:my son and leave my country with your forces intact, and be content


### Book:with your triumph over a third part of the Massagetai. If you refuse, I


### Book:swear by the sun our master to give you more blood than you can drink,


### Book:for all your gluttony.” Cyrus scoffed at her: He would not release her


### Book:son. He would crush these barbarians.


### Book:HELL CO


### Book:Two cockerels fought on a dungheap. One cockerel was the stronger: he


### Book:vanquished the other and drove him from the dungheap. All the hens


### Book:gathered around the cockerel, and began to laud him. The cockerel


### Book:wanted his strength and glory to be known in the next yard. He flew on


### Book:top of the barn, flapped his wings, and crowed in a load voice: “Look at


### Book:me, all of you. I am a victorious cockerel. No other cockerel in the worldhas such strength as I. ” The cockerel had not finished, when an eagle


### Book:killed him, seized him in his claws, and carried him to his nest.


### Book:FABLES. LEO TOLSIOY. 1828-1910


### Book:The queen’s son, seeing he would not be released, could not stand the


### Book:humiliation, and so he killed himself. The news of her son’s death


### Book:overwhelmed Tomyris. She gathered all the forces that she could muster


### Book:in her kingdom, and whipping them into a vengeful frenzy, engaged


### Book:Cyrus’s troops in a violent and bloody battle. Finally, the Massagetai


### Book:prevailed. In their anger they decimated the Persian army, killing Cyrus


### Book:himself.


### Book:After the battle, Tomyris and her soldiers searched the battlefield for


### Book:Cyrus’s corpse. When she found it she cut off his head and shoved it into


### Book:a wineskin full of human blood, crying out, “Though I have conquered


### Book:you and live, yet you have ruined me by treacherously taking my son.


### Book:See now—I fulfill my threat: You have your fill of blood.” After Cyrus’s


### Book:death, the Persian Empire quickly unraveled. One act of arrogance undid


### Book:all of Cyrus’s good work.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more


### Book:dangerous.


### Book:Cyrus had built his great empire on the ruins of a previous one. A


### Book:hundred years earlier, the powerful Assyrian Empire had been totally


### Book:destroyed, its once splendid capital of Nineveh but ruins in the sand. The


### Book:Assyrians had suffered this fate because they had pushed too far,


### Book:destroying one city-state after another until they lost sight of the


### Book:purposes of their victories, and also of the costs. They overextended


### Book:themselves and made many enemies who were finally able to band


### Book:together and destroy them.


### Book:Cyrus ignored the lesson of Assyria. He paid no heed to the warnings


### Book:of oracles and advisers. He did not worry about offending a queen. His


### Book:many victories had gone to his head, clouding his reason. Instead of


### Book:consolidating his already vast empire, he pushed forward. Instead of


### Book:recognizing each situation as different, he thought each new war would


### Book:bring the same result as the one before as long as he used the methods he


### Book:knew: ruthless force and cunning.Understand: In the realm of power, you must be guided by reason. To


### Book:let a momentary thrill or an emotional victory influence or guide your


### Book:moves will prove fatal. When you attain success, step back. Be cautious.


### Book:When you gain victory, understand the part played by the particular


### Book:circumstances of a situation, and never simply repeat the same actions


### Book:again and again. History is littered with the ruins of victorious empires


### Book:and the corpses of leaders who could not learn to stop and consolidate


### Book:their gains.


### Book:THE SEQUENCE OF CROSS-EXAMINATION


### Book:In all your cross-examinations …, most important of all, let me repeat


### Book:the injunction to be ever on the alert for a good place to stop. Nothing


### Book:can be more important than to close your examination with a triumph. So


### Book:many lawyers succeed in catching a witness in a serious contradiction;


### Book:but, not satisfied with this, go on asking questions, and taper off their


### Book:examination until the effect upon the jury of their former advantage is


### Book:lost altogether.


### Book:THE ART OF CROSS-EXAMINATION, FRANCIS L. WELLMAN,


### Book:1913


### Book:THE OVERREACHING GENERAL


### Book:We read of many instances of this kind; for the general who by his valor


### Book:has conquered a state for his master, and won great glory for himself by


### Book:his victory over the enemy, and has loaded his soldiers with rich booty,


### Book:acquires necessarily with his own soldiers, as well as with those of the


### Book:enemy and with the subjects of the prince, so high a reputation, that his


### Book:very victory may become distasteful, and a cause for apprehension to his


### Book:prince. For as the nature of men is ambitious as well as suspicious, and


### Book:puts no limits to one’s good fortune, it is not impossible that the


### Book:suspicion that may suddenly be aroused in the mind of the prince by the


### Book:victory of the general may have been aggravated by some haughty


### Book:expressions or insolent acts on his part; so that the prince will naturally


### Book:be made to think of securing himself against the ambition of his general.


### Book:And to do this, the means that suggest themselves to him are either to


### Book:have the general killed, or to deprive him of that reputation which he has


### Book:acquired with the prince’s army and the people, by using every means to


### Book:prove that the general’s victory was not due to his skill and courage, butto chance and the cowardice of the enemy, or to the sagacity of the other


### Book:captains who were with him in that action.


### Book:NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, 1469-1527


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW


### Book:No single person in history has occupied a more delicate and precarious


### Book:position than the king’s mistress. She had no real or legitimate power


### Book:base to fall back on in times of trouble; she was surrounded by packs of


### Book:envious courtiers eagerly anticipating her fall from grace; and finally,


### Book:since the source of her power was usually her physical beauty, for most


### Book:royal mistresses that fall was inevitable and unpleasant.


### Book:King Louis XV of France began to keep official mistresses in the early


### Book:days of his reign, each woman’s good fortune rarely lasting more than a


### Book:few years. But then came Madame de Pompadour, who, when she was a


### Book:middle-class child of nine named Jeanne Poisson, had been told by a


### Book:fortune-teller that she would someday be the king’s favorite. This


### Book:seemed an absurd dream, since the royal mistress almost always came


### Book:from the aristocracy. Jeanne nevertheless believed herself destined to


### Book:seduce the king, and doing so became her obsession. She applied herself


### Book:to the talents the king’s favorite had to have—music, dancing, acting,


### Book:horseback riding—and she excelled in every one of them. As a young


### Book:woman, she married a man of the lower nobility, which gave her an


### Book:entrée to the best salons in Paris. Word quickly spread of her beauty,


### Book:talent, charm, and intelligence.


### Book:Jeanne Poisson became close friends with Voltaire, Montesquieu, and


### Book:other great minds of the time, but she never lost sight of the goal she had


### Book:set herself as a girl: to capture the heart of the king. Her husband had a


### Book:chateau in a forest where the king would often go hunting, and she began


### Book:to spend a lot of time there. Studying his movements like a hawk, she


### Book:would make sure he would “happen” to come upon her while she was


### Book:out walking in her most alluring dress, or riding in her splendid coach.


### Book:The king began to take note of her, making her gifts of the game he


### Book:caught in the hunt.


### Book:In 1744 Louis’s current mistress, the Duchesse de Chateauroux, died.


### Book:Jeanne went on the offensive. She placed herself everywhere he wouldbe: at masked balls at Versailles, at the opera, wherever their paths would


### Book:cross, and wherever she could display her many talents: dancing,


### Book:singing, riding, coquetry. The king finally succumbed to her charms, and


### Book:in a ceremony at Versailles in September of 1745, this twenty-four-year-


### Book:old daughter of a middle-class banking agent was officially inaugurated


### Book:as the king’s mistress. She was given her own room in the palace, a room


### Book:the king could enter at any time via a hidden stairway and back door.


### Book:And because some of the courtiers were angry that he had chosen a


### Book:woman of low origins, he made her a marquise. From now on she would


### Book:be known as Madame de Pompadour.


### Book:The king was a man whom the slightest feeling of boredom would


### Book:oppress out of proportion. Madame de Pompadour knew that keeping


### Book:him under her spell meant keeping him amused. To that end she put on


### Book:constant theatrical productions at Versailles, in which she starred. She


### Book:organized elaborate hunting parties, masked balls, and whatever else it


### Book:would take to keep him diverted outside the bedroom. She became a


### Book:patroness of the arts, and the arbiter of taste and fashion for all of France.


### Book:Her enemies at the court only grew in number with each new success,


### Book:but Madame de Pompadour thwarted them in a totally novel way for a


### Book:king’s mistress: with extreme politeness. Snobs who resented her for her


### Book:low birth she won over with charm and grace. Most unusual of all, she


### Book:befriended the queen, and insisted that Louis XV pay more attention to


### Book:his wife, and treat her more kindly. Even the royal family begrudgingly


### Book:gave her their support. To crown her glory, the king made her a duchess.


### Book:Her sway was felt even in politics: Indeed she became the untitled


### Book:minister of foreign affairs.


### Book:In 1751, when Madame de Pompadour was at the height of her power,


### Book:she experienced her worst crisis. Physically weakened by the


### Book:responsibilities of her position, she found it increasingly difficult to meet


### Book:the king’s demands in bed. This was usually the point at which the


### Book:mistress would meet her end, struggling to maintain her position as her


### Book:beauty faded. But Madame de Pompadour had a strategy: She


### Book:encouraged the king to set up a kind of brothel, Pare aux Cerfs, on the


### Book:grounds of Versailles. There the middle-aged king could have liaisons


### Book:with the most beautiful young girls in the realm.


### Book:Madame de Pompadour knew that her charm and her political acumen


### Book:had made her indispensable to the king. What did she have to fear from a


### Book:sixteen-year-old who had none of her power and presence? What did it


### Book:matter if she lost her position in the bedroom, as long as she remainedthe most powerful woman in France? To secure that position she became


### Book:still closer friends with the queen, with whom she started attending


### Book:church. Although her enemies at the court conspired to have her toppled


### Book:from her official position as king’s mistress, the king kept her on, for he


### Book:needed her calming effect. It was only when her part in the disastrous


### Book:Seven Years’ War drew much criticism on her that she slowly withdrew


### Book:from public affairs.


### Book:Madame de Pompadour’s health had always been delicate, and she


### Book:died at the age of forty-three, in 1764. Her reign as mistress had lasted an


### Book:unprecedented twenty years. “She was regretted by all,” wrote the Duc


### Book:de Croy, “for she was kindly and helpful to everyone who approached


### Book:her.”


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:Aware of the temporariness of her power, the king’s mistress would often


### Book:go into a kind of frenzy after capturing the king: She would try to


### Book:accumulate as much money as possible to protect her after her inevitable


### Book:fall. And to extend her reign as long as possible, she would be ruthless


### Book:with her enemies in the court. Her situation, in other words, seemed to


### Book:demand from her a greed and vindictiveness that would often be her


### Book:undoing. Madame de Pompadour succeeded where all others had failed


### Book:because she never pressed her good fortune. Instead of bullying the


### Book:courtiers from her powerful position as the king’s mistress, she tried to


### Book:win their support. She never revealed the slightest hint of greed or


### Book:arrogance. When she could no longer perform her physical duties as


### Book:mistress, she did not fret at the thought of someone replacing her in bed.


### Book:She simply applied some strategy—she encouraged the king to take


### Book:young lovers, knowing that the younger and prettier they were, the less


### Book:of a threat they posed, since they could not compare to her in charm and


### Book:sophistication and would soon bore the monarch.


### Book:A man who was famous as a tree climber was guiding someone in


### Book:climbing a tall tree. He ordered the man to cut the top branches, and,


### Book:during this time, when the man seemed to be in great danger, the expert


### Book:said nothing. Only when the man was coming down and had reached the


### Book:height of the eaves did the expert call out, “Be careful! Watch your step


### Book:coming down!” I asked him, “Why did you say that? At that height hecould jump the rest of the way if he chose.” “That’s the point, ”said the


### Book:expert. “As long as the man was up at a dizzy height and the branches


### Book:were threaening to break, he himself was so afraid I said nothing.


### Book:Mistakes are always made when people get to the easy places.” This


### Book:man belonged to the lowest class, but his words were in perfect accord


### Book:with the precepts of the sages. In football too, they say that after you


### Book:have kicked out of a difficult place and you think the next one will be


### Book:easier you are sure to miss the ball.


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


### Book:Success plays strange tricks on the mind. It makes you feel


### Book:invulnerable, while also making you more hostile and emotional when


### Book:people challenge your power. It makes you less able to adapt to


### Book:circumstance. You come to believe your character is more responsible


### Book:for your success than your strategizing and planning. Like Madame de


### Book:Pompadour, you need to realize that your moment of triumph is also a


### Book:moment when you have to rely on cunning and strategy all the more,


### Book:consolidating your power base, recognizing the role of luck and


### Book:circumstance in your success, and remaining vigilant against changes in


### Book:your good fortune. It is the moment of victory when you need to play the


### Book:courtier’s game and pay more attention than ever to the laws of power.


### Book:The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.


### Book:Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:Power has its own rhythms and patterns. Those who succeed at the game


### Book:are the ones who control the patterns and vary them at will, keeping


### Book:people off balance while they set the tempo. The essence of strategy is


### Book:controlling what comes next, and the elation of victory can upset your


### Book:ability to control what comes next in two ways. First, you owe your


### Book:success to a pattern that you are apt to try to repeat. You will try to keep


### Book:moving in the same direction without stopping to see whether this is still


### Book:the direction that is best for you. Second, success tends to go to your


### Book:head and make you emotional. Feeling invulnerable, you make


### Book:aggressive moves that ultimately undo the victory you have gained.The lesson is simple: The powerful vary their rhythms and patterns,


### Book:change course, adapt to circumstance, and learn to improvise. Rather


### Book:than letting their dancing feet impel them forward, they step back and


### Book:look where they are going. It is as if their bloodstream bore a kind of


### Book:antidote to the intoxication of victory, letting them control their emotions


### Book:and come to a kind of mental halt when they have attained success. They


### Book:steady themselves, give themselves the space to reflect on what has


### Book:happened, examine the role of circumstance and luck in their success. As


### Book:they say in riding school, you have to be able to control yourself before


### Book:you can control the horse.


### Book:Luck and circumstance always play a role in power. This is inevitable,


### Book:and actually makes the game more interesting. But despite what you may


### Book:think, good luck is more dangerous than bad luck. Bad luck teaches


### Book:valuable lessons about patience, timing, and the need to be prepared for


### Book:the worst; good luck deludes you into the opposite lesson, making you


### Book:think your brillliance will carry you through. Your fortune will inevitably


### Book:turn, and when it does you will be completely unprepared.


### Book:According to Machiavelli, this is what undid Cesare Borgia. He had


### Book:many triumphs, was actually a clever strategist, but had the bad luck to


### Book:have good luck: He had a pope for a father. Then, when he had bad luck


### Book:for real—his father’s death—he was unprepared for it, and the many


### Book:enemies he had made devoured him. The good luck that elevates you or


### Book:seals your success brings the moment for you to open your eyes: The


### Book:wheel of fortune will hurtle you down as easily as up. If you prepare for


### Book:the fall, it is less likely to ruin you when it happens.


### Book:People who have a run of success can catch a kind of fever, and even


### Book:when they themselves try to stay calm, the people below them often


### Book:pressure them to go past their mark and into dangerous waters. You have


### Book:to have a strategy for dealing with these people. Simply preaching


### Book:moderation will make you look weak and small-minded; seeming to fail


### Book:to follow up on a victory can lessen your power.


### Book:When the Athenian general and statesman Pericles led a series of


### Book:naval campaigns around the Black Sea in 436 B.C., his easy triumphs en-


### Book:flamed the Athenians’ desire for more. They dreamed of conquering


### Book:Egypt, overrunning Persia, sailing for Sicily. On the one hand Pericles


### Book:reined in these dangerous emotions by warning of the perils of hubris.


### Book:On the other hand he fed them by fighting small battles that he knew he


### Book:could win, creating the appearance that he was preserving the


### Book:momentum of success. The skill with which Pericles played this game is


### Book:revealed by what happened when he died: The demagogues took over,pushed Athens into invading Sicily, and in one rash move destroyed an


### Book:empire.


### Book:The rhythm of power often requires an alternation of force and


### Book:cunning. Too much force creates a counterreaction; too much cunning,


### Book:no matter how cunning it is, becomes predictable. Working on behalf of


### Book:his master, the shogun Oda Nobunaga, the great sixteenth-century


### Book:Japanese general (and future emperor) Hideyoshi once engineered a


### Book:stunning victory over the army of the formidable General Yoshimoto.


### Book:The shogun wanted to go further, to take on and crush yet another


### Book:powerful enemy, but Hideyoshi reminded him of the old Japanese


### Book:saying: “When you have won a victory, tighten the strings of your


### Book:helmet.” For Hideyoshi this was the moment for the shogun to switch


### Book:from force to cunning and indirection, setting his enemies against one


### Book:another through a series of deceptive alliances. In this way he would


### Book:avoid stirring up needless opposition by appearing overly aggressive.


### Book:When you are victorious, then, lie low, and lull the enemy into inaction.


### Book:These changes of rhythm are immensely powerful.


### Book:People who go past the mark are often motivated by a desire to please


### Book:a master by proving their dedication. But an excess of effort exposes you


### Book:to the risk of making the master suspicious of you. On several occasions,


### Book:generals under Philip of Macedon were disgraced and demoted


### Book:immediately after leading their troops to a great victory; one more such


### Book:victory, Philip thought, and the man might become a rival instead of an


### Book:underling. When you serve a master, it is often wise to measure your


### Book:victories carefully, let ting him get the glory and never making him


### Book:uneasy. It is also wise to establish a pattern of strict obedience to earn his


### Book:trust. In the fourth century B.C., a captain under the notoriously severe


### Book:Chinese general Wu Ch‘i charged ahead before a battle had begun and


### Book:came back with several enemy heads. He thought he had shown his fiery


### Book:enthusiasm, but Wu Ch’i was unimpressed. “A talented officer,” the


### Book:general said with a sigh as he ordered the man beheaded, “but a


### Book:disobedient one.”


### Book:Another moment when a small success can spoil the chances for a


### Book:larger one may come if a master or superior grants you a favor: It is a


### Book:dangerous mistake to ask for more. You will seem insecure—perhaps


### Book:you feel you did not deserve this favor, and have to grab as much as you


### Book:can when you have the chance, which may not come again. The proper


### Book:response is to accept the favor graciously and withdraw. Any subsequent


### Book:favors you should earn without having to ask for them.Finally, the moment when you stop has great dramatic import. What


### Book:comes last sticks in the mind as a kind of exclamation point. There is no


### Book:better time to stop and walk away than after a victory. Keep going and


### Book:you risk lessening the effect, even ending up defeated. As lawyers say of


### Book:cross-examination, “Always stop with a victory.”


### Book:Image: Icarus Falling


### Book:from the Sky. His father


### Book:Daedalus fashions wings


### Book:of wax that allow the


### Book:two men to fly out of


### Book:the labyrinth and


### Book:escape the Minotaur.


### Book:Elated by the tri


### Book:umphant escape


### Book:and the feeling of


### Book:flight, Icarus soars


### Book:higher and high


### Book:er, until the sun


### Book:melts the wings


### Book:and he hurtles


### Book:to his death.


### Book:Authority: Princes and republics should content themselves with victory,


### Book:for when they aim at more, they generally lose. The use of insulting


### Book:language toward an enemy arises from the insolence of victory, or from


### Book:the false hope of victory, which latter misleads men as often in their


### Book:actions as in their words; for when this false hope takes possession of the


### Book:mind, it makes men go beyond the mark, and causes them to sacrifice a


### Book:certain good for an uncertain better. (Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527)


### Book:REVERSAL


### Book:As Machiavelli says, either destroy a man or leave him alone entirely.


### Book:Inflicting half punishment or mild injury will only create an enemy


### Book:whose bitterness will grow with time, and who will take revenge. When


### Book:you beat an enemy, then, make your victory complete. Crush him into


### Book:nonexis tence. In the moment of victory, you do not restrain yourselffrom crushing the enemy you have defeated, but rather from needlessly


### Book:advancing against others. Be merciless with your enemy, but do not


### Book:create new enemies by overreaching.


### Book:There are some who become more cautious than ever after a victory,


### Book:which they see as just giving them more possessions to worry about and


### Book:protect. Your caution after victory should never make you hesitate, or


### Book:lose momentum, but rather act as a safeguard against rash action. On the


### Book:other hand, momentum as a phenomenon is greatly overrated. You create


### Book:your own successes, and if they follow one upon the other, it is your own


### Book:doing. Belief in momentum will only make you emotional, less prone to


### Book:act strategically, and more apt to repeat the same methods. Leave


### Book:momentum for those who have nothing better to rely upon.LAW 48


### Book:ASSUME FORMLESSNESS


### Book:JUDGMENT


### Book:By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack.


### Book:Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself


### Book:adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no


### Book:law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and


### Book:formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything


### Book:changes.


### Book:In martial arts, it is important that strategy be unfathomable, that form


### Book:be concealed, and that movements be unexpected, so that preparedness


### Book:against them be impossible. What enables a good general to win without


### Book:fail is always having unfathomable wisdom and a modus operandi that


### Book:leaves no tracks. Only the formless cannot be affected. Sages hide in


### Book:unfathomability, so their feelings cannot be observed; they operate in


### Book:formlessness, so their lines cannot be crossed.


### Book:THE BOOK OF THE HUAINAN MASTERS, CHINA, SECOND


### Book:CENTURY B.C.


### Book:TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW


### Book:By the eighth century B.C., the city-states of Greece had grown so large


### Book:and prosperous that they had run out of land to support their expanding


### Book:populations. So they turned to the sea, establishing colonies in Asia


### Book:Minor, Sicily, the Italian peninsula, even Africa. The city-state of Sparta,


### Book:however, was landlocked and surrounded by mountains. Lacking access


### Book:to the Mediterranean, the Spartans never became a seafaring people;


### Book:instead they turned on the cities around them, and, in a series of brutal,violent conflicts lasting more than a hundred years, managed to conquer


### Book:an immense area that would provide enough land for their citizens. This


### Book:solution to their problem, however, brought a new, more formidable one:


### Book:How could they maintain and police their conquered territories? The


### Book:subordinate peoples they ruled now outnumbered them ten to one. Surely


### Book:this horde would take a horrible revenge on them.


### Book:Sparta’s solution was to create a society dedicated to the art of war.


### Book:Spartans would be tougher, stronger, and fiercer than their neighbors.


### Book:This was the only way they could ensure their stability and survival.


### Book:When a Spartan boy reached the age of seven, he was taken from his


### Book:mother and placed in a military club where he was trained to fight and


### Book:underwent the strictest discipline. The boys slept on beds of reeds; they


### Book:were allotted only one outer garment to wear for an entire year. They


### Book:studied none of the arts; indeed, the Spartans banned music, and


### Book:permitted only slaves to practice the crafts that were necessary to sustain


### Book:them. The only skills the Spartans taught were those of warfare. Children


### Book:seen as weaklings were left to die in a cavern in the mountains. No


### Book:system of money or trading was allowed in Sparta; acquired wealth, they


### Book:believed, would sow selfishness and dissension, weakening their warrior


### Book:discipline. The only way a Spartan could earn a living was through


### Book:agriculture, mostly on state-owned lands, which slaves, called helots,


### Book:would work for him.


### Book:The Spartans’ single-mindedness allowed them to forge the most


### Book:powerful infantry in the world. They marched in perfect order and fought


### Book:with incomparable bravery. Their tight-knit phalanxes could vanquish an


### Book:army ten times their size, as they proved in defeating the Persians at


### Book:Thermopylae. A Spartan column on the march would strike terror in the


### Book:enemy; it seemed to have no weaknesses. Yet although the Spartans


### Book:proved themselves mighty warriors, they had no interest in creating an


### Book:empire. They only wanted to keep what they had already conquered and


### Book:to defend it against invaders. Decades would pass without a single


### Book:change in the system that had succeeded so well in preserving Sparta’s


### Book:status quo.


### Book:THE DOC WITH THE CROPPED EARS


### Book:“What crime have I committed that I should be thus mutilated by my own


### Book:master?” pensively exclaimed Jowler, a young mastiff. “Here’s a pretty


### Book:condition for a dog of my pretentions! How can I show my face among


### Book:my friends? Oh! king of beasts, or rather their tyrant, who would dare totreat you thus?” His complaints were not unfounded, for that very


### Book:morning his master, despite the piercing shrieks of our young friend, had


### Book:barbarously cut off his long pendent ears. Jowler expected nothing less


### Book:than to give up the ghost. As he advanced in years, he perceived that he


### Book:gained more than he had lost by his mutilation; for, being naturally


### Book:inclined to fight with others, he would often have returned home with this


### Book:part disfigured in a hundred places. A quarrelsome dog always has his


### Book:ears lacerated. The less we leave others to lay hold of the better. When


### Book:one has but one point to defend, it should be protected for fear of


### Book:accident. Take for example Master Jowler, who, being armed with a


### Book:spiked collar, and having about as much ear as a bird, a wolf would be


### Book:puzzled to know where to tackle him.


### Book:FABLES. JEAN DE LA FOMTAINE, 1621-1695


### Book:At the same time that the Spartans were evolving their warlike culture,


### Book:another city-state was rising to equal prominence: Athens. Unlike Sparta,


### Book:Athens had taken to the sea, not so much to create colonies as for


### Book:purposes of trade. The Athenians became great merchants; their


### Book:currency, the famous “owl coins,” spread throughout the Mediterranean.


### Book:Unlike the rigid Spartans, the Athenians responded to every problem


### Book:with consummate creativity, adapting to the occasion and creating new


### Book:social forms and new arts at an incredible pace. Their society was in


### Book:constant flux. And as their power grew, they came to pose a threat to the


### Book:defense-minded Spartans.


### Book:In 431 B.C., the war that had been brewing between Athens and


### Book:Sparta for so long finally erupted. It lasted twenty-seven years, but after


### Book:many twists of fortune, the Spartan war machine finally emerged


### Book:victorious. The Spartans now commanded an empire, and this time they


### Book:could not stay in their shell. If they gave up what they had gained, the


### Book:beaten Athenians would regroup and rise against them, and the long war


### Book:would have been fought for naught.


### Book:After the war, Athenian money poured into Sparta. The Spartans had


### Book:been trained in warfare, not politics or economics; because they were so


### Book:unaccustomed to it, wealth and its accompanying ways of life seduced


### Book:and overwhelmed them. Spartan governors were sent to rule what had


### Book:been Athenian lands; far from home, they succumbed to the worst forms


### Book:of corruption. Sparta had defeated Athens, but the fluid Athenian way of


### Book:life was slowly breaking down its discipline and loosening its rigid order.


### Book:And Athens, meanwhile, was adapting to losing its empire, managing to


### Book:thrive as a cultural and economic center.Confused by a change in its status quo, Sparta grew weaker and


### Book:weaker. Some thirty years after defeating Athens, it lost an important


### Book:battle with the city-state of Thebes. Almost overnight, this once mighty


### Book:nation collapsed, never to recover.


### Book:Interpretation


### Book:In the evolution of species, protective armor has almost always spelled


### Book:disaster. Although there are a few exceptions, the shell most often


### Book:becomes a dead end for the animal encased in it; it slows the creature


### Book:down, making it hard for it to forage for food and making it a target for


### Book:fast-moving predators. Animals that take to the sea or sky, and that move


### Book:swiftly and unpredictably, are infinitely more powerful and secure.


### Book:In facing a serious problem—controlling superior numbers—Sparta


### Book:reacted like an animal that develops a shell to protect itself from the


### Book:environment. But like a turtle, the Spartans sacrificed mobility for safety.


### Book:They managed to preserve stability for three hundred years, but at what


### Book:cost? They had no culture beyond warfare, no arts to relieve the tension,


### Book:a constant anxiety about the status quo. While their neighbors took to the


### Book:sea, learning to adapt to a world of constant motion, the Spartans


### Book:entombed themselves in their own system. Victory would mean new


### Book:lands to govern, which they did not want; defeat would mean the end of


### Book:their military machine, which they did not want, either. Only stasis


### Book:allowed them to survive. But nothing in the world can remain stable


### Book:forever, and the shell or system you evolve for your protection will


### Book:someday prove your undoing.


### Book:In the case of Sparta, it was not the armies of Athens that defeated it,


### Book:but the Athenian money. Money flows everywhere it has the opportunity


### Book:to go; it cannot be controlled, or made to fit a prescribed pattern. It is


### Book:inherently chaotic. And in the long run, money made Athens the


### Book:conqueror, by infiltrating the Spartan system and corroding its protective


### Book:armor. In the battle between the two systems, Athens was fluid and


### Book:creative enough to take new forms, while Sparta could grow only more


### Book:rigid until it cracked.


### Book:This is the way the world works, whether for animals, cultures, or


### Book:individuals. In the face of the world’s harshness and danger, organisms


### Book:of any kind develop protection—a coat of armor, a rigid system, a


### Book:comforting ritual. For the short term it may work, but for the long term it


### Book:spells disaster. People weighed down by a system and inflexible ways ofdoing things cannot move fast, cannot sense or adapt to change. They


### Book:lumber around more and more slowly until they go the way of the


### Book:brontosaurus. Learn to move fast and adapt or you will be eaten.


### Book:The best way to avoid this fate is to assume formlessness. No predator


### Book:alive can attack what it cannot see.


### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW


### Book:When World War II ended and the Japanese, who had invaded China in


### Book:1937, had finally been thrown out, the Chinese Nationalists, lead by


### Book:Chiang Kai-shek, decided the time had come to annihilate the Chinese


### Book:Communists, their hated rivals, once and for all. They had almost


### Book:succeeded in 1935, forcing the Communists into the Long March, the


### Book:grueling retreat that had greatly diminished their numbers. Although the


### Book:Communists had recovered somewhat during the war against Japan, it


### Book:would not be difficult to defeat them now. They controlled only isolated


### Book:areas in the countryside, had unsophisticated weaponry, lacked any


### Book:military experience or training beyond mountain fighting, and controlled


### Book:no important parts of China, except areas of Manchuria, which they had


### Book:managed to take after the Japanese retreat. Chiang decided to commit his


### Book:best forces in Manchuria. He would take over its major cities and from


### Book:those bases would spread through this northern industrial region,


### Book:sweeping the Communists away. Once Manchuria had fallen the


### Book:Communists would collapse.


### Book:In 1945 and ’46 the plan worked perfectly: The Nationalists easily


### Book:took the major Manchurian cities. Puzzlingly, though, in the face of this


### Book:critical campaign, the Communist strategy made no sense. When the


### Book:Nationalists began their push, the Communists dispersed to Manchuria’s


### Book:most out-of-the-way comers. Their small units harassed the Nationalist


### Book:armies, ambushing them here, retreating unexpectedly there, but these


### Book:dispersed units never linked up, making them hard to attack. They would


### Book:seize a town only to give it up a few weeks later. Forming neither rear


### Book:guards nor vanguards, they moved like mercury, never staying in one


### Book:place, elusive and formless.


### Book:One seductive and ultimately always fatal path has been the development


### Book:of protective armor. An organism can protect itself by concealment, by


### Book:swiftness in flight, by effective counterattack, by uniting for attack anddefense with other individuals of its species and also by encasing itself


### Book:within bony plates and spines…. Almost always the experiment of armor


### Book:failed. Creatures adopiing it tended to become unwieldy. They had to


### Book:move relatively slowly. Hence they were forced to live mainly on


### Book:vegetable food; and thus in general they were at a disadvantage as


### Book:compared with foes living on more rapidly “profitable” animal food:


### Book:The repeated failure of protective armor shows that, even at a somewhat


### Book:low evolutionary level, mind triumphed over mere matter. It is this sort of


### Book:triumph which has been supremely exemplified in Man.


### Book:SCIENI IFIC THEORY AND RELIGION, E. W. BARNES, 1933


### Book:The Nationalists ascribed this to two things: cowardice in the face of


### Book:superior forces and inexperience in strategy. Mao Tse-tung, the


### Book:Communist leader, was more a poet and philosopher than a general,


### Book:whereas Chiang had studied warfare in the West and was a follower of


### Book:the German military writer Carl von Clausewitz, among others.


### Book:Yet a pattern did eventually emerge in Mao’s attacks. After the


### Book:Nationalists had taken the cities, leaving the Communists to occupy what


### Book:was generally considered Manchuria’s useless space, the Communists


### Book:started using that large space to surround the cities. If Chiang sent an


### Book:army from one city to reinforce another, the Communists would encircle


### Book:the rescuing army. Chiang’s forces were slowly broken into smaller and


### Book:smaller units, isolated from one another, their lines of supply and


### Book:communication cut. The Nationalists still had superior firepower, but if


### Book:they could not move, what good was it?


### Book:A kind of terror overcame the Nationalist soldiers. Commanders


### Book:comfortably remote from the front lines might laugh at Mao, but the


### Book:soldiers had fought the Communists in the mountains, and had come to


### Book:fear their elusiveness. Now these soldiers sat in their cities and watched


### Book:as their fast-moving enemies, as fluid as water, poured in on them from


### Book:all sides. There seemed to be millions of them. The Communists also


### Book:encircled the soldiers’ spirits, bombarding them with propaganda to


### Book:lower their morale and pressure them to desert.


### Book:The Nationalists began to surrender in their minds. Their encircled and


### Book:isolated cities started collapsing even before being directly attacked; one


### Book:after another fell in quick succession. In November of 1948, the


### Book:Nationalists surrendered Manchuria to the Communists—a humiliating


### Book:blow to the technically superior Nationalist army, and one that proved


### Book:decisive in the war. By the following year the Communists controlled all


### Book:of China.Interpretation


### Book:The two board games that best approximate the strategies of war are


### Book:chess and the Asian game of go. In chess the board is small. In


### Book:comparison to go, the attack comes relatively quickly, forcing a decisive


### Book:battle. It rarely pays to withdraw, or to sacrifice your pieces, which must


### Book:be concentrated at key areas. Go is much less formal. It is played on a


### Book:large grid, with 361 intersections—nearly six times as many positions as


### Book:in chess. Black and white stones (one color for each side) are placed on


### Book:the board’s intersections, one at a time, wherever you like. Once all your


### Book:stones (52 for each side) are on the board, the object is to isolate the


### Book:stones of your opponent by encircling them.


### Book:The sage neither seeks to follow the ways of the ancients nor estahlishes


### Book:any fixed standard for all times but examines the things of his age and


### Book:then prepares to deal with them. There was in Sung a man, who tilled a


### Book:field in which there stood the trunk of a tree. Once a hare, while running


### Book:fast, rushed against the trunk, broke its neck, and died. Thereupon the


### Book:man cast his plough aside and watched that tree, hoping that he would


### Book:get another hare. Yet he never caught another hare and was himself


### Book:ridiculed by the people of Sung. Now supposing somebody wanted to


### Book:govern the people of the present age with the policies of the early kings,


### Book:he would be doing exactly the same thing as that man who watched the


### Book:tree.


### Book:HAN-FEI-TZU, CHINESE PHILOSOPHFR, THIRD CENTURY B.C.


### Book:A game of go—called wei-chi in China—can last up to three hundred


### Book:moves. The strategy is more subtle and fluid than chess, developing


### Book:slowly; the more complex the pattern your stones initially create on the


### Book:board, the harder it is for your opponent to understand your strategy.


### Book:Fighting to control a particular area is not worth the trouble: You have to


### Book:think in larger terms, to be prepared to sacrifice an area in order


### Book:eventually to dominate the board. What you are after is not an


### Book:entrenched position but mobility. With mobility you can isolate the


### Book:opponent in small areas and then encircle them. The aim is not to kill off


### Book:the opponent’s pieces directly, as in chess, but to induce a kind of


### Book:paralysis and collapse. Chess is linear, position oriented, and aggressive;


### Book:go is nonlinear and fluid. Aggression is indirect until the end of the


### Book:game, when the winner can surround the opponent’s stones at an


### Book:accelerated pace.Chinese military strategists have been influenced by go for centuries.


### Book:Its proverbs have been applied to war time and again; Mao Tse-tung was


### Book:an addict of wei-chi, and its precepts were ingrained in his strategies. A


### Book:key wei-chi concept, for example, is to use the size of the board to your


### Book:advantage, spreading out in every direction so that your opponent cannot


### Book:fathom your movements in a simple linear way.


### Book:“Every Chinese,” Mao once wrote, “should consciously throw himself


### Book:into this war of a jigsaw pattern” against the Nationalists. Place your


### Book:men in a jigsaw pattern in go, and your opponent loses himself trying to


### Book:figure out what you are up to. Either he wastes time pursuing you or, like


### Book:Chiang Kai-shek, he assumes you are incompetent and fails to protect


### Book:himself. And if he concentrates on single areas, as Western strategy


### Book:advises, he becomes a sitting duck for encirclement. In the wei-chi way


### Book:of war, you encircle the enemy’s brain, using mind games, propaganda,


### Book:and irritation tactics to confuse and dishearten. This was the strategy of


### Book:the Communists—an apparent formlessness that disoriented and terrified


### Book:their enemy.


### Book:Where chess is linear and direct, the ancient game of go is closer to


### Book:the kind of strategy that will prove relevant in a world where battles are


### Book:fought indirectly, in vast, loosely connected areas. Its strategies are


### Book:abstract and multidimensional, inhabiting a plane beyond time and space:


### Book:the strategist’s mind. In this fluid form of warfare, you value movement


### Book:over position. Your speed and mobility make it impossible to predict


### Book:your moves; unable to understand you, your enemy can form no strategy


### Book:to defeat you. Instead of fixing on particular spots, this indirect form of


### Book:warfare spreads out, just as you can use the large and disconnected


### Book:nature of the real world to your advantage. Be like a vapor. Do not give


### Book:your opponents anything solid to attack; watch as they exhaust


### Book:themselves pursuing you, trying to cope with your elusiveness. Only


### Book:formlessness allows you to truly surprise your enemies—by the time


### Book:they figure out where you are and what you are up to, it is too late.


### Book:When you want to fight us, we don’t let you and you can’t find us. But


### Book:when


### Book:we want to fight you, we make sure that you can’t get away and we hit


### Book:you


### Book:squarely … and wipe you out…. The enemy advances, we retreat; the


### Book:enemy


### Book:camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we


### Book:pursue.


### Book:Mao Tse-tung, 1893-1976General Rommel surpassed Patton as a creative intellect…. Rommel


### Book:shunned military formalism. He made no fixed plans beyond those


### Book:intended for the initial clash; thereafter, he tailored his tactics to meet


### Book:specific situations as they arose. He was a lightning-fast decision-maker,


### Book:physically maintaining a pace that matched his active mentality. In a


### Book:forbidding sea of sand, he operated in a free environment. Once Rommel


### Book:ruptured the British lines in Africa, he had the whole northern part of the


### Book:continent opened to him. Comparatively free from the hamstringing


### Book:authority of Berlin, disregarding orders even from Hitler himself on


### Book:occasion, Rommel implemented one successful operation after another


### Book:until he had most of North Africa under his control and Cairo trembling


### Book:at his feet.


### Book:THE ART OF WINNING WARS, JAMES MRAZEK, 1968


### Book:KEYS TO POWER


### Book:The human animal is distinguished by its constant creation of forms.


### Book:Rarely expressing its emotions directly, it gives them form through


### Book:language, or through socially acceptable rituals. We cannot communicate


### Book:our emotions without a form.


### Book:The forms that we create, however, change constantly—in fashion, in


### Book:style, in all those human phenomena representing the mood of the


### Book:moment. We are constantly altering the forms we have inherited from


### Book:previous generations, and these changes are signs of life and vitality.


### Book:Indeed, the things that don’t change, the forms that rigidify, come to look


### Book:to us like death, and we destroy them. The young show this most clearly:


### Book:Uncomfortable with the forms that society imposes upon them, having


### Book:no set identity, they play with their own characters, trying on a variety of


### Book:masks and poses to express themselves. This is the vitality that drives the


### Book:motor of form, creating constant changes in style.


### Book:The powerful are often people who in their youth have shown


### Book:immense creativity in expressing something new through a new form.


### Book:Society grants them power because it hungers for and rewards this sort of


### Book:newness. The problem comes later, when they often grow conservative


### Book:and possessive. They no longer dream of creating new forms; their


### Book:identities are set, their habits congeal, and their rigidity makes them easy


### Book:targets. Everyone knows their next move. Instead of demanding respectthey elicit boredom: Get off the stage! we say, let someone else, someone


### Book:younger, entertain us. When locked in the past, the powerful look


### Book:comical—they are overripe fruit, waiting to fall from the tree.


### Book:Power can only thrive if it is flexible in its forms. To be formless is not


### Book:to be amorphous; everything has a form—it is impossible to avoid. The


### Book:formlessness of power is more like that of water, or mercury, taking the


### Book:form of whatever is around it. Changing constantly, it is never


### Book:predictable. The powerful are constantly creating form, and their power


### Book:comes from the rapidity with which they can change. Their formlessness


### Book:is in the eye of the enemy who cannot see what they are up to and so has


### Book:nothing solid to attack. This is the premier pose of power: ungraspable,


### Book:as elusive and swift as the god Mercury, who could take any form he


### Book:pleased and used this ability to wreak havoc on Mount Olympus.


### Book:Human creations evolve toward abstraction, toward being more


### Book:mental and less material. This evolution is clear in art, which, in this


### Book:century, made the great discovery of abstraction and conceptualism; it


### Book:can also be seen in politics, which over time have become less overtly


### Book:violent, more complicated, indirect and cerebral. Warfare and strategy


### Book:too have followed this pattern. Strategy began in the manipulation of


### Book:armies on land, positioning them in ordered formations; on land, strategy


### Book:is relatively two dimensional, and controlled by topography. But all the


### Book:great powers have eventually taken to the sea, for commerce and


### Book:colonization. And to protect their trading lanes they have had to learn


### Book:how to fight at sea. Maritime warfare requires tremendous creativity and


### Book:abstract thinking, since the lines are constantly shifting. Naval captains


### Book:distinguish themselves by their ability to adapt to the literal fluidity of


### Book:the terrain and to confuse the enemy with an abstract, hard-to-anticipate


### Book:form. They are operating in a third dimension: the mind.


### Book:CHARACTER ARMOR


### Book:To carry out the instinctual inhibition demanded by the modern world


### Book:and to be able to cope with the energy stasis which results from this


### Book:inhibition, the ego has to undergo a change. The ego, i.e., that part of the


### Book:person that is exposed to danger, becomes rigid, as we say, when it is


### Book:continually subjected to the same or similar conflicts between need and a


### Book:fear-inducing outer world. It acquires in this process a chronic,


### Book:automatically functioning mode of reaction, i.e., its “character.” It is as


### Book:if the affective personality armored itself, as if the hard shell it develops


### Book:were intended to deflect and weaken the blows of the outer world as wellas the clamoring of the inner needs. This armoring makes the person less


### Book:sensitive to unpleasure, but also restricts his libidinal and aggressive


### Book:motility and thus reduces his capacity for achievement and pleasure. We


### Book:say the ego has become less flexible and more rigid, and that the abiliry


### Book:to regulate the energy economy depends on the extent of the armoring.


### Book:WILHELM REICH, 1897-1957


### Book:Back on land, guerrilla warfare too demonstrates this evolution toward


### Book:abstraction. T. E. Lawrence was perhaps the first modern strategist to


### Book:develop the theory behind this kind of warfare, and to put it into practice.


### Book:His ideas influenced Mao, who found in his writings an uncanny Western


### Book:equivalent to wei-chi. Lawrence was working with Arabs fighting for


### Book:their territory against the Turks. His idea was to make the Arabs blend


### Book:into the vast desert, never providing a target, never collecting together in


### Book:one place. As the Turks scrambled to fight this vaporous army, they


### Book:spread themselves thin, wasting energy in moving from place to place.


### Book:They had the superior firepower but the Arabs kept the initiative by


### Book:playing cat and mouse, giving the Turks nothing to hold on to,


### Book:destroying their morale. “Most wars were wars of contact…. Ours should


### Book:be a war of detachment,” Lawrence wrote. “We were to contain the


### Book:enemy by the silent threat of a vast unknown desert, not disclosing


### Book:ourselves till we attacked.”


### Book:This is the ultimate form of strategy. The war of engagement has


### Book:become far too dangerous and costly; indirection and elusiveness yield


### Book:far better results at a much lower cost. The main cost, in fact, is mental—


### Book:the thinking it takes to align your forces in scattered patterns, and to


### Book:undermine the minds and psychology of your opponents. And nothing


### Book:will infuriate and disorient them more than formlessness. In a world


### Book:where wars of detachment are the order of the day, formlessness is


### Book:crucial.


### Book:The first psychological requirement of formlessness is to train yourself


### Book:to take nothing personally. Never show any defensiveness. When you act


### Book:defensive, you show your emotions, revealing a clear form. Your


### Book:opponents will realize they have hit a nerve, an Achilles’ heel. And they


### Book:will hit it again and again. So train yourself to take nothing personally.


### Book:Never let anyone get your back up. Be like a slippery ball that cannot be


### Book:held: Let no one know what gets to you, or where your weaknesses lie.


### Book:Make your face a formless mask and you will infuriate and disorient


### Book:your scheming colleagues and opponents.


### Book:One man who used this technique was Baron James Rothschild. A


### Book:German Jew in Paris, in a culture decidedly unfriendly to foreigners,Rothschild never took any attack on him personally or showed he had


### Book:been hurt in any way. He furthermore adapted himself to the political


### Book:climate, whatever it was—the stiffly formal Restoration monarchy of


### Book:Louis XVIII, the bourgeois reign of Louis-Philippe, the democratic


### Book:revolution of 1848, the upstart Louis-Napoleon crowned emperor in


### Book:1852. Rothschild accepted them one and all, and blended in. He could


### Book:afford to appear hypocritical or opportunistic because he was valued for


### Book:his money, not his politics; his money was the currency of power. While


### Book:he adapted and thrived, outwardly never showing a form, all the other


### Book:great families that had begun the century immensely wealthy were ruined


### Book:in the period’s complicated shifts and turns of fortune. Attaching


### Book:themselves to the past, they revealed their embrace of a form.


### Book:Throughout history, the formless style of ruling has been most adeptly


### Book:practiced by the queen who reigns alone. A queen is in a radically


### Book:different position from a king; because she is a woman, her subjects and


### Book:courtiers are likely to doubt her ability to rule, her strength of character.


### Book:If she favors one side in some ideological struggle, she is said to be


### Book:acting out of emotional attachment. Yet if she represses her emotions and


### Book:plays the authoritarian, in the male fashion, she arouses worse criticism


### Book:still. Either by nature or by experience, then, queens tend to adopt a


### Book:flexible style of governing that in the end often proves more powerful


### Book:than the more direct, male form.


### Book:Two female leaders exemplifying the formless style of rule are Queen


### Book:Elizabeth of England and Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. In the


### Book:violent wars between Catholics and Protestants, Elizabeth steered a


### Book:middle course. She avoided alliances that would commit her to one side,


### Book:and that over time would harm the country. She managed to keep her


### Book:country at peace until it was strong enough for war. Her reign was one of


### Book:the most glorious in history because of her incredible capacity to adapt


### Book:and her flexible ideology.


### Book:Catherine the Great too evolved an improvisatory style of governing.


### Book:After she deposed her husband, Emperor Peter II, taking sole control of


### Book:Russia in 1762, no one thought she would survive. But she had no


### Book:preconceived ideas, no philosophy or theory to dictate her policies.


### Book:Although a foreigner (she came from Germany), she understood Russia’s


### Book:moods, and how it was changing over the years. “One must govern in


### Book:such a way that one’s people think they themselves want to do what one


### Book:commands them to do,” she said, and to do this she had to be always a


### Book:step ahead of their desires and to adapt to their resistance. By neverforcing the issue, she reformed Russia in a strikingly short period of


### Book:time.


### Book:This feminine, formless style of ruling may have emerged as a way of


### Book:prospering under difficult circumstances, but it has proved immensely


### Book:seductive to those who have served under it. Being fluid, it is relatively


### Book:easy for its subjects to obey, for they feel less coerced, less bent to their


### Book:ruler’s ideology. It also opens up options where an adherence to a


### Book:doctrine closes them off. Without committing to one side, it allows the


### Book:ruler to play one enemy off another. Rigid rulers may seem strong, but


### Book:with time their inflexibility wears on the nerves, and their subjects find


### Book:ways to push them from the stage. Flexible, formless rulers will be much


### Book:criticized, but they will endure, and people will eventually come to


### Book:identify with them, since they are as their subjects are—changing with


### Book:the wind, open to circumstance.


### Book:Despite upsets and delays, the permeable style of power generally


### Book:triumphs in the end, just as Athens eventually won victory over Sparta


### Book:through its money and its culture. When you find yourself in conflict


### Book:with someone stronger and more rigid, allow them a momentary victory.


### Book:Seem to bow to their superiority. Then, by being formless and adaptable,


### Book:slowly insinuate yourself into their soul. This way you will catch them


### Book:off guard, for rigid people are always ready to ward off direct blows but


### Book:are helpless against the subtle and insinuating. To succeed at such a


### Book:strategy you must play the chameleon—conform on the surface, while


### Book:breaking down your enemy from the inside.


### Book:For centuries the Japanese would accept foreigners graciously, and


### Book:appeared susceptible to foreign cultures and influences. Joao Rodriguez,


### Book:a Portuguese priest who arrived in Japan in 1577 and lived there for


### Book:many years, wrote, “I am flabbergasted by the Japanese willingness to


### Book:try and accept everything Portuguese.” He saw Japanese in the streets


### Book:wearing Portuguese clothing, with rosary beads at their necks and


### Book:crosses at their hips. This might seem like a weak, mutable culture, but


### Book:Japan’s adaptability actually protected the country from having an alien


### Book:culture imposed by military invasion. It seduced the Portuguese and


### Book:other Westerners into believing the Japanese were yielding to a superior


### Book:culture when actually the foreign culture’s ways were merely a fashion to


### Book:be donned and doffed. Under the surface, Japanese culture thrived. Had


### Book:the Japanese been rigid about foreign influences and tried to fight them


### Book:off, they might have suffered the injuries that the West inflicted on


### Book:China. That is the power of formlessness—it gives the aggressor nothing


### Book:to react against, nothing to hit.In evolution, largeness is often the first step toward extinction. What is


### Book:immense and bloated has no mobility, but must constantly feed itself.


### Book:The unintelligent are often seduced into believing that size connotes


### Book:power, the bigger the better.


### Book:In 483 B.C., King Xerxes of Persia invaded Greece, believing he


### Book:could conquer the country in one easy campaign. After all, he had the


### Book:largest army ever assembled for one invasion—the historian Herodotus


### Book:estimated it at over more than five million. The Persians planned to build


### Book:a bridge across the Hellespont to overrun Greece from the land, while


### Book:their equally immense navy would pin the Greek ships in harbor,


### Book:preventing their forces from escaping to sea. The plan seemed sure, yet


### Book:as Xerxes prepared the invasion, his adviser Artabanus warned his


### Book:master of grave misgivings: “The two mightiest powers in the world are


### Book:against you,” he said. Xerxes laughed—what powers could match his


### Book:gigantic army? “I will tell you what they are,” answered Artabanus. “The


### Book:land and the sea.” There were no safe harbors large enough to receive


### Book:Xerxes’ fleet. And the more land the Persians conquered, and the longer


### Book:their supply lines stretched, the more ruinous the cost of feeding this


### Book:immense army would prove.


### Book:Thinking his adviser a coward, Xerxes proceeded with the invasion.


### Book:Yet as Artabanus predicted, bad weather at sea decimated the Persian


### Book:fleet, which was too large to take shelter in any harbor. On land,


### Book:meanwhile, the Persian army destroyed everything in its path, which


### Book:only made it impossible to feed, since the destruction included crops and


### Book:stores of food. It was also an easy and slow-moving target. The Greeks


### Book:practiced all kinds of deceptive maneuvers to disorient the Persians.


### Book:Xerxes’ eventual defeat at the hands of the Greek allies was an immense


### Book:disaster. The story is emblematic of all those who sacrifice mobility for


### Book:size: The flexible and fleet of foot will almost always win, for they have


### Book:more strategic options. The more gigantic the enemy, the easier it is to


### Book:induce collapse.


### Book:The need for formlessness becomes greater the older we get, as we


### Book:grow more likely to become set in our ways and assume too rigid a form.


### Book:We become predictable, always the first sign of decrepitude. And


### Book:predictability makes us appear comical. Although ridicule and disdain


### Book:might seem mild forms of attack, they are actually potent weapons, and


### Book:will eventually erode a foundation of power. An enemy who does not


### Book:respect you will grow bold, and boldness makes even the smallest animal


### Book:dangerous.The late-eighteenth-century court of France, as exemplified by Marie-


### Book:Antoinette, had become so hopelessly tied to a rigid formality that the


### Book:average Frenchman thought it a silly relic. This depreciation of a


### Book:centuries-old institution was the first sign of a terminal disease, for it


### Book:represented a symbolic loosening of the people’s ties to monarchy. As


### Book:the situation worsened, Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI grew only


### Book:more rigid in their adherence to the past—and quickened their path to the


### Book:guillotine. King Charles I of England reacted similarly to the tide of


### Book:democratic change brewing in England in the 1630s: He disbanded


### Book:Parliament, and his court rituals grew increasingly formal and distant. He


### Book:wanted to return to an older style of ruling, with adherence to all kinds of


### Book:petty protocol. His rigidity only heightened the desire for change. Soon,


### Book:of course, he was swept up in a devastating civil war, and eventually he


### Book:lost his head to the executioner’s axe.


### Book:As you get older, you must rely even less on the past. Be vigilant lest


### Book:the form your character has taken makes you seem a relic. It is not a


### Book:matter of mimicking the fashions of youth—that is equally worthy of


### Book:laughter. Rather your mind must constantly adapt to each circumstance,


### Book:even the inevitable change that the time has come to move over and let


### Book:those of younger age prepare for their ascendancy. Rigidity will only


### Book:make you look uncannily like a cadaver.


### Book:Never forget, though, that formlessness is a strategic pose. It gives you


### Book:room to create tactical surprises; as your enemies struggle to guess your


### Book:next move, they reveal their own strategy, putting them at a decided


### Book:disadvantage. It keeps the initiative on your side, putting your enemies in


### Book:the position of never acting, constantly reacting. It foils their spying and


### Book:intelligence. Remember: Formlessness is a tool. Never confuse it with a


### Book:go-with-the-flow style, or with a religious resignation to the twists of


### Book:fortune. You use formlessness, not because it creates inner harmony and


### Book:peace, but because it will increase your power.


### Book:Finally, learning to adapt to each new circumstance means seeing


### Book:events through your own eyes, and often ignoring the advice that people


### Book:constantly peddle your way. It means that ultimately you must throw out


### Book:the laws that others preach, and the books they write to tell you what to


### Book:do, and the sage advice of the elder. “The laws that govern circumstances


### Book:are abolished by new circumstances,” Napoleon wrote, which means that


### Book:it is up to you to gauge each new situation. Rely too much on other


### Book:people’s ideas and you end up taking a form not of your own making.


### Book:Too much respect for other people’s wisdom will make you depreciateyour own. Be brutal with the past, especially your own, and have no


### Book:respect for the philosophies that are foisted on you from outside.


### Book:Image: Mercury. The winged messenger,


### Book:god of commerce, patron saint of thieves,


### Book:gamblers, and all those who deceive through


### Book:swiftness. The day Mercury was born he invented


### Book:the lyre; by that evening he had stolen the cattle of


### Book:Apollo. He would scour the world, assuming


### Book:whatever form he desired. Like the liquid metal


### Book:named after him, he embodies the elusive,


### Book:the ungraspable—the power of formlessness.


### Book:Authority: Therefore the consummation of forming an army is to arrive


### Book:at formlessness. Victory in war is not repetitious, but adapts its form


### Book:endlessly…. A military force has no constant formation, water has no


### Book:constant shape: The ability to gain victory by changing and adapting


### Book:according to the opponent is called genius. (Sun-tzu, fourth century B.C.)


### Book:REVERSAL


### Book:Using space to disperse and create an abstract pattern should not mean


### Book:forsaking the concentration of your power when it is valuable to you.


### Book:Formlessness makes your enemies hunt all over for you, scattering their


### Book:own forces, mental as well as physical. When you finally engage them,


### Book:though, hit them with a powerful, concentrated blow. That is how Mao


### Book:succeeded against the Nationalists: He broke their forces into small,


### Book:isolated units, which he then could easily overwhelm with a strong


### Book:attack. The law of concentration prevailed.


### Book:When you play with formlessness, keep on top of the process, and


### Book:keep your long-term strategy in mind. When you assume a form and goon the attack, use concentration, speed, and power. As Mao said, When


### Book:we fight you, we make sure you can’t get away.