Prince Rahul's Key Ideas from How to Use Your Enemies
by Baltasar Gracián

“A person without knowledge is a world in darkness. Judgement and strength, eyes and hands; without courage, wisdom is sterile.”

“Make people depend on you . An image is made sacred not by its creator but by its worshipper.”

“Princes like to be helped, but not surpassed. Advice should be offered as if a reminder of what they’ve forgotten, not an insight that they’ve never had.”

“Have intelligent support . The good fortune of the powerful: to be accompanied by outstanding minds that can save them from tight spots caused by their own ignorance and fight difficult battles for them.”

“There’ s much to know and life is short, and a life without knowledge is not a life. It’s a singular skill effortlessly to learn much from many, gaining knowledge from all.”

“Sharp players never move the piece their opponents are expecting, and especially not the one they want them to.”

“Know how to leave things to one side , for if knowing how to refuse is one of life’ s great lessons, an even greater one is knowing how to say no to yourself, to important people, and in business.”

“Think with the few and speak with the many”

“They can avoid the most difficult confrontation with a smile: the courage of the greatest of the great captains was based on this. A polite tactic in refusing is to change the subject, and there’ s no greater act of caution than to conceal that you have understood.”

“Truth is normally seen and rarely heard”

“Understand yourself : your temperament, intellect, opinions, emotions. You can’t be master of yourself if you don’t first understand yourself. There are mirrors for the face, but none for the spirit: let discreet self-reflection be yours.”

“Performing a service for another works like a charm, and the best way to win friends is to do people favours.”

“The most self-sufficient person must leave a door open to friendship, from where all help will come. You need a friend of sufficient influence over you to be able to advise and admonish you freely.”

“Anything popular, do yourself; anything unpopular, use others to do it .”

“A person has everything who cares nothing about what matters little. There’s no greater absurdity than taking everything seriously. Similarly, it’s stupid to take things to heart that don’t concern you, and not to take to heart those that are important.”

“Undertake what’s easy as if it were hard, and what’s hard as if it were easy . In the first case, so that confidence doesn’ t make you careless; in the second, so that lack of confidence doesn’t make you discouraged.”

“There are others whose first word on every occasion is ‘no’; with these people, you need real skill. And with everyone, the right moment: catch them when they’re in good spirits, when their bodies or their minds are satisfied. Unless the listener’s careful attention detects the petitioner’s subtlety, then happy days are the days when favours are granted, for inner happiness streams outwards.”

“A gift given afterwards is due payment; the same beforehand becomes an obligation. This is a subtle way of transforming obligations, for what was for the superior an obligation to reward becomes for the recipient an obligation to repay.”

“There’ s nothing easier than deceiving a good person. The person who never lies is more ready to believe, and one who never deceives is more trusting.”

“Leave people hungry : nectar should only ever brush the lips. Desire is the measure of esteem. Even with physical thirst, good taste’ s trick is to stimulate it, not quench it. Hard-won happiness is twice as enjoyable.”