Conceal your intentions & say less

Law 3

Conceal your Intentions

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

I like this law. I think most people do this but not on a very great scale. In the book, a ruler invited a fellow enemy ruler to his palace. The enemy ruler thought he would be killed by poison or whatnot to he decided to agree to the meeting but he brought his personal body guard of 600 or so men and the rest of his army would be waiting outside the city walls. The party went late into the night and eventually the enemy ruler relaxed a little and went back to his army with his body guard but during the night his army had disappeared. I don't remember if their weapons were stolen and they ran away or there was another reason but anyway, the other ruler won either way. He got rid of his enemy's army making him defenseless.

Law 4

Always Say Less than Necessary

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. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

I do agree that powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. Everyone else fills in their blanks and the original message usually gets interpreted so many ways no one really knows what's going on. I think the less someone says the more power they hold. I guess I have to work on this one. I feel like I usually end up explaining things to people because they sometimes don't understand basic things. But if you're looking for power being more vague would make it more enticing.