Quotes About Manipulation

People's need for validation and recognition, their need to feel important, is the best kind of weakness to exploit. First, it is almost universal; second, exploiting it is so very easy. All you have to do is find ways to make people feel better about their taste, their social standing, their intelligence.

One of the most potent weapons in the battle for information, then, is giving out false information. As Winston Churchill said, "Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Powerful people never waste time. Outwardly they may play along with the game — pretending that power is shared among many — but inwardly they keep their eyes on the inevitable few in the group who hold the cards. These are the ones they work on. When troubles arise, they look for the underlying cause, the single strong character who started the stirring and whose isolation or banishment will settle the waters again.

Making a show of one's weakness is actually a very effective strategy, subtle and deceptive, in the game of power.

Power is a game. This cannot be repeated too often!

Remember: Stirrers thrive by hiding in the group, disguising their actions among the reactions of others. Render their actions visible and they lose their power to upset.

Play the psychoanalyst: make cutting comments concerning their unconscious motives (you are only being truthful), then sit back and listen. Your silence will goad them into embarrassing admissions. Leaven your judgments with occasional praise and they will strive to please you, like dogs.

If deception is the most potent weapon in your arsenal, then patience in all things is your crucial shield.

Remember: When searching for suckers, always look for the dissatisfied, the unhappy, the insecure. Such people are riddled with weaknesses and have needs that you can fill. Their neediness is the groove in which you place your thumbnail and turn them at will.

If you are trying to destroy an enemy who has hurt you, far better to keep him off-guard by feigning friendliness than showing your anger.

You are a blank screen. Float through life noncommittally and people will want to seize you and consume you. Of all the parts of your body that draw this fetishistic attention, the strongest is the face; so learn to tune your face like an instrument, making it radiate a fascinating vagueness for effect.

No one likes feeling stupider than the next person. The trick, then, is to make your victims feel smart—and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Remember, your own image and presence are materials you can control. The sense that you are engaged in this kind of play will make people see you as superior and worthy of imitation.

The arrow shot by the archer may or may not kill a single person. But stratagems devised by a wise man can kill even babes in the womb. KAUTILYA, INDIAN PHILOSOPHER, THIRD CENTURY B.C.

What money should buy is not lifeless objects but power over people.

Never Be the Bearer of Bad News. The king kills the messenger who brings bad news: This is a cliche but there is truth to it. You must struggle and if necessary lie and cheat to be sure that the lot of the bearer of bad news falls on a colleague, never on you. Bring only good news and your approach will gladden your master.

Follow David's example: say or do something that can be read in more than one way, that may be superficially polite but that could also indicate a slight coolness on your part or be seen as a subtle insult. A friend may wonder but will let it pass. The secret enemy, though, will react with anger.

as Machiavelli said, it is better to be feared than loved. Fear you can control; love, never.

Dado que las ideas de la gente tienden a girar en torno a sus preocupaciones e inseguridades diarias, no podrás proceder a seducirla hasta adormecer poco a poco sus ansiedades y llenar su distraída mente con ideas de ti.

Maintenez votre entourage dans l'incertitude et le flou en ne révélant jamais le but qui se cache derrière vos actions. S'ils n'ont aucune idée de ce que vous prévoyez, ils ne pourront pas préparer de défense. Guidez-les assez loin dans une autre direction, enveloppez-les d'un écran de fumée et quand ils perceront à jour vos desseins, il sera trop tard.

Las vícti- mas correctas son aquellas en las que puedes llenar un vacío, las que ven en ti algo exótico. A menudo están aisladas o son al menos un tanto infelices (a causa tal vez de recientes circunstancias adversas), o se les puede llevar  con facilidad  a ese punto,  porque la persona total- mente satisfecha es casi imposible de seducir.

If you can get other people to dig their own graves, why sweat yourself? Pickpockets work this to perfection. The key to picking a pocket is knowing which pocket contains the wallet. Experienced pickpockets often ply their trade in train stations and other places where there is a clearly marked sign reading BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS. Passersby seeing the sign invariably feel for their wallet to make sure it is still there. For the watching pickpockets, this is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Great courtiers throughout history have mastered the science of manipulating people.

Better to have others depend on you out of fear of the consequences of losing you than out of love of your company.