The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
Law number four ... Always Say Less than Necessary
There are times when it is unwise to be silent.
Silence can arouse suspicion and even insecurity, especially in your superiors;
a vague or ambiguous comment can open you up to interpretations you had
bargained for.
Silence and saying less than necessary must be practiced with caution,
then, and in the right situations. Let us take a look at 6 ways to exert more
power by practicing listening.
Make People Reveal More About Themselves
Speaking less will make people reveal more about themselves.
This is information you may be able to use against them later on.
Your short answers and silences will put them on the defensive,
and they will jump in, nervously filling the silence with all kinds of comments
that will review valuable information about them and their weaknesses.
The longer you listen, the more others move their lips and teeth. As they move
their lips and teeth, you can thereby understand their real intentions.
number two ... People Listen and Interpret Your Every Word Carefully
Speaking less will force people to listen and interpret your every word
carefully. Your silence will make other people uncomfortable.
Humans are machines of interpretation and explanation;
they have to know what you are thinking. When you carefully control what you reveal,
they cannot pierce your intentions or your meaning. They will leave a meeting
with and they will go home and ponder your every word.
This extra attention to your brief comments will only add to your power.
Masters of enigma Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp
knew the power of saying less and keeping people guessing. The less Duchamp
talked about his work, the more it was talked about in the art circles.
Andy Warhol recognized it was hard to talk people into doing what you wanted,
so when interviewed, he would give vague and ambiguous answers and let the
interviewer find his own interpretation.
number three ... Once The Words Are Out, You Cannot Take Them Back
Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm:
The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words
will be outweighed by the price you pay. Number four ...
The More You Say, The More Common You Appear | When you are trying to impress
people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in
control.
Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original
if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.
Number five ... Saying Less Will Keep You From Saying Something Foolish or Even
Dangerous.
Around 454 B.C, Coriolanus was a great military hero of ancient
Rome. People held him in awe. He decided to run for senate and he spoke his
mind,
hardly able to control his arrogance and boastfulness. He slandered and insulted
people.
The more speeches he made, the less people respected him.
He suffered the people’s wrath and was eventually banished from the city.
Number six ... People Will Not Deceive You As They Will Never Know Your Position
Louis XIV was a man of very few words.
His infamous "I shall see" was one of several
extremely short phrases that he would apply to all manner of requests.
Louis was not always this way; as a young man he was known for talking at
length,
delighting in his own eloquence. His later taciturnity was self-imposed,
an act, a mask he used to keep everybody below him off-balance.
No one knew exactly where he stood, or could predict his reactions.
No one could try to deceive him by saying what they thought he wanted to
hear,
because no one knew what he wanted to hear. As they talked on and on to the
silent Louis,
they revealed more and more about themselves, information he would later
use against them to great effect.
In the end, Louis's silence kept those around him terrified
and under his thumb. It was one of the foundations of his power.
As Saint-Simon wrote, "No one knew as well as he
how to sell his words, his smile, even his glances.
Everything in him was valuable because he created differences,
and his majesty was enhanced by the sparseness of his words."
Saying less than necessary is not for kings and statesmen only.
In most areas of life, the less you say, the more profound and mysterious you
appear.
By saying less than necessary you create the appearance of meaning and power.
Also, the less you say, the less risk you run of saying something foolish,
even dangerous. Thank's for watching!