I hope you enjoy my latest, thanks for reading!

EXCERPT:

  1. – Social causes are disguises for the predators and lifestyles for the sheep.

  2. – Her first concern is her appearance, her second concern her cunning, both serve the same ends.

  3. – Your response should be proportional to the perception of the threat, there’s no need to launch nukes when you can get the job done with a well-aimed bullet.

  4. – A leader must be mindful in exercising benevolence, for too much benevolence is perceived as weakness and fosters resentment.

  5. – One is wise to openly support freedom of speech, but they should only do so for as long as such speech is not deleterious to their reputation; it is almost always an act of self folly to not censor those biting deep into their repute.

  6. – Be mindful of the Streisand effect, if your detractors are persistent and resourceful, censoring will make things worse rather than better.

  7. – People are bolder when they’re paying and meeker when they’re paid. Caveat: the latter doesn’t apply to blackmail.

  8. – People want to forget, not be reminded. Very powerful. Never forget this.

  9. – Tu quoque is the sophist’s most preferred logical fallacy, for it can justify their poor behaviour whilst simultaneously redirecting attention to the misdeeds of others.

  10. – Weak and strong in matters of strategy are not effects of appearance in so much as they are a question of the tactical viability and efficacy of a plan.

  11. – In financial exchange, the man paid covets payment in advance whilst the man paying seeks to pay after the fact.

  12. – When people retroactively change their minds, they will blame you for their change of heart irrespective of whether it’s truly your fault.

  13. – “Coincidence” is the term people use to describe a chess move they don’t understand.

  14. – To see how ruthless life truly is, all one need do is observe the vast difference in means between people.

  15. – Survival of the fittest, there is no greater truism; winners and losers, everyone takes what they can get. Nothing is owed, everything is game.

  16. – Let the other man lose his cool, but be sure to keep yours, for it is the man with the most self-control that leaves victorious.

  17. – The nicer the man, the more he suffers, for the world does not respect carte blanche kindness. Forget kindness, show only magnanimity – a selective kindness backed by thoughtfulness and strength.

  18. – The beauty of a question is it’s in your power to decide whether you’re going to answer it or not.

  19. – Sell a person on a thing by making them think you’re not selling anything. The moment they think you’re trying to sell them, they’ll behave as if they hold all the power.

  20. – This is as true of physical action as it is of agenda pushing: that which happens suddenly is noticed and reacted to, whilst that which happens gradually is not. In stealth, promote gradualness. Move too quickly and you will be discovered.

FULL ARTICLE: https://illimitablemen.com/2017/01/15/machiavellian-maxims-part-4/