48 Laws Of Power Bot

If there is power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses, there is also danger.
Fantasy usually contains an element of play — the public half realizes it is being duped, but it keeps the dream alive anyway, relishing the temporary diversion from the everyday.

The world is plagued by greater and greater division — within countries, political groups, families, even individuals.
The modem world’s level of conflict is higher than ever, and we have internalized it in our own lives.

The only kind of common touch that works is the kind affected by Franklin Roosevelt,
a style that said the president shared values and goals with the
common people even while he remained a patrician at heart.
He never pretended to erase his distance from the crowd.

...the key here is Talleyrand’s ability to suppress himself in the conversation,
to make others talk endlessly about themselves and inadvertently reveal their intentions and plans.

Change can be pleasant and even sometimes desirable in the abstract,
but too much of it creates an anxiety that will stir and boil beneath the surface and then eventually erupt.

Finally, the arts, fashion, and technology would seem to be areas in which power would come from creating a radical rupture with the past and appearing cutting edge.
Indeed, such a strategy can bring great power, but it has many dangers.

Not only is a man not obliged to be grateful, gratitude is often a terrible burden that he gladly discards.

Part of the charm of being seduced is that it makes us feel engulfed, temporarily outside of ourselves and the usual doubts that permeate our lives.
The moment the seducer hesitates, the charm is broken.

When you destroy the familiar you create a void or vacuum;
people fear the chaos that will flood in to fill it.
You must avoid stirring up such fears at all cost.
Borrow the weight and legitimacy from the past, however remote, to create a comforting and familiar presence.

The weak are alone and must submit.
Fighting gives you nothing to gain but martyrdom,
and in the process a lot of people who do not believe in your cause will die.

Regal bearing should not be confused with arrogance.
Arrogance may seem the king’s entitlement, but in fact it betrays insecurity.
It is the very opposite of a royal demeanor.

Dispersal is often suitable for the weaker side;
it is, in fact, a crucial principle of guerrilla warfare.
When fighting a stronger army, concentrating your forces only makes you an easier target —
better to dissolve into the scenery and frustrate your enemy with elusiveness.

No revolution has gone without a powerful later reaction against it,
for in the long run the void it creates proves too unsettling to the human animal,
who unconsciously associates such voids with death and chaos.

You can bypass the differences between you and him by appealing to his self-interest.
Do not be subtle:
You have valuable knowledge to share,
you will fill his coffers with gold,
you will make him live longer and happier.
This is a language that all of us speak and understand.

ff you want to tell lies that will be believed, don't tell the truth that won’t.
Emperor Tokugawa
Ieyasu of Japan,
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Abraham Lincoln['s imagoe] as a homespun country lawyer with a beard, made him the common man’s president.
[He] played the commoner but maintained distance.
If you play such a fantasy, you too must cultivate distance and not allow your “common” persona to become too familiar.

Play a kind of con game
Preach change as much as you like, and even enact your reforms,
but give them the comforting appearance of older events and traditions.

Because the world is and always has been full of insecurity and threat,
we latch on to familiar faces and create habits and rituals to make the world more comfortable.

If you have only won a partial victory, you will inevitably lose in negotiation what you have gained by war.
The solution is simple: Allow your enemies no options.
Annihilate them and their territory is yours to carve.

Another form of the fantasy of the exotic is simply the hope for relief from boredom.
Con artists love to play on the oppressiveness of the working world, its lack of adventure.

Aware of the temporariness of her power, the king’s mistress would often go into a kind of frenzy after capturing the king:
She would try to accumulate as much money as possible to protect her after her inevitable fall.

The opportunity for change and renewal seduces people to the side of the revolution,
but once their enthusiasm fades, which it will, they are left with a certain emptiness.
Yearning for the past, they create an opening for it to creep back in.

Most men are so thoroughly subjective that nothing really interests them but themselves.
They always think of their own case as soon as ever any remark is made, and their whole attention is absorbed by the merest chance reference to anything which affects them personally.

One last thing: Never make the mistake of imagining that fantasy is always fantastical.
It certainly contrasts with reality, but reality itself is sometimes so theatrical and stylized that fantasy becomes a desire for simple things.

Such is the power of artful spying: It makes you seem all-powerful, clairvoyant.
Your knowledge of your mark can also make you seem charming, so well can you anticipate his desires.
No one sees the source of your power, and what they cannot see they cannot fight.

Another strategy to disguise change is to make a loud and public display of support for the values of the past.
Seem to be a zealot for tradition and few will notice how unconventional you really are.

Fantasy can never operate alone.
It requires the backdrop of the humdrum and the mundane.
It is the oppressiveness of reality that allows fantasy to take root and bloom.

Before embarking on any move, take the measure of your mark or potential opponent.
Otherwise you will waste time and make mistakes.

And in this view it is advisable to let everyone of your acquaintance — whether man or woman — feel now and then that you could very well dispense with their company.
This will consolidate friendship.

The remnants of an enemy can become active like those of a disease or fire.
Hence, these should be exterminated completely...
One should never ignore an enemy, knowing him to be weak.
He becomes dangerous in due course, like the spark of fire in a haystack.
- Kautilya