Quotes About Observation

Law 35: Master the art of timing "Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

THE BLIND HEN A hen who had lost her sight, and was accustomed to scratching up the earth in search of food, although blind, still continued to scratch away most diligently. Of what use was it to the industrious fool? Another sharp-sighted hen who spared her tender feet never moved from her side, and enjoyed, without scratching, the fruit of the other's labor. For as often as the blind hen scratched up a barley-corn, her watchful companion devoured it. FABLES, GOTTHOLD LESSING, 1729-1781

These steps are: Deep Observation (The Passive Mode), Skills Acquisition (The Practice Mode), and Experimentation (The Active Mode). Keep

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.

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.

be aware of these illusions and façades and to train ourselves to look through them. We must scrutinize everybody for signs of their character, no matter the appearance they present or the position they occupy.

Think Like a Writer

we continually consult our smartphones as a kind of substitute pair of eyes upon us.

People are of infinite complexity and you can spend a lifetime watching them without ever fully understanding them

Everything you see or hear is a sign for you to decode.

This is because creative people are actually looking at what is hidden in plain sight, and not rushing to generalize and label. Whether such powers are natural or learned does not matter: the mind can be trained to loosen itself up and move outside the grooves.

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.

Blending in is the perfect smoke screen for spying. The better you do it, the better you can conceal your intentions.

If you come across any special trait of meanness or stupidity you must be careful not to let it annoy or distress you, but to look upon it merely as an addition to your knowledge-a new fact to be considered in studying the character of humanity. Your attitude towards it will be that of the mineralogist who stumbles upon a very characteristic specimen of a mineral. --Arthur Schopenhauer

The ability to measure people and to know who you're dealing with is the most important skill of all in gathering and conserving power. Without it you are blind:

The Laws of Human Nature, 16: See the Hostility Behind the Friendly Façade—The Law of Aggression

Understand: when you enter a new environment, your task is to learn and absorb as much as possible.

As Bismarck once said, "Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others' experience.

Y la mejor manera de encontrar las debilidades del jefe no es por medio de espías, sino de un fuerte abrazo. Detras de una fachada amigable, aun servil, puedes observar a tus enemigos, lograr que se sinceren y delaten. Llega a lo más hondo; piensa como ellos. Una vez que descubras su vulnerabilidad —

Second, the Laws will make you a master interpreter of the cues that people continually emit, giving you a much greater ability to judge their character.

If people are essentially lazy or foolish, they leave clues to this in the smallest of details that you can pick up well before their behavior harms you.

Descubrió de este modo que, al dibujar cosas, tenía que observarlas con más detenimiento y captar los detalles que les daban vida.

Make understanding people a fun game, the solving of puzzles. It is all part of the human comedy. Yes, people are irrational, but so are you. Make your acceptance of human nature as radical as possible. This will calm you down and help you observe people more dispassionately, understanding them on a deeper level. You will stop projecting your own emotions on to them. All of this will give you more balance and calmness, more mental space for thinking.

Daily Law: Examine the faults you see in others and how they are in you as well.