The Concise Laws of Power

Use absence to increase respect and honor

Too Much circulation makes the price go down. the more you are seen and Heard from, the more common you appear if you are already established in a group temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about Even More admired you must learn when to leave create value through scarcity. Everything in the world depends on absence and presence a strong presence will draw power and attention to you you shine more brightly than those around you but a point is inevitably reached Where too much presence creates the opposite effect the more you are seen and Heard from the more your value degrades you become a habit no matter how hard you try to be different subtly without your knowing why people respect You less And less at the right time and moment you must learn to withdraw yourself before they unconsciously push you away it is a game of hide And seek.

The truth of this Law is that most easily benn appreciated in all matters of love and seduction in the beginning stages of affairs the lover's absence stimulates your imagination forming a sort of aura around him or her but this aura fades when you know too much egeb your imagination no longer has room to roam the loved one becomes a person whose presence is taken for granted.

To prevent this you need to starve the other person of your presence force their respect by threatening them whth the possibility that they will lose you for good.

Napoleon ess recognizing the lde of absence and presence egen he said if I am often seen at the theatre people will cease to notice Me today in  a world inundated with presence through the floor if images the game of withdrawal is all the more powerful we rarely know when to withdraw any more and nothing seems private so we are awed by anyone who is able to disappears by choice novelists j.d Salinger and Thomas Pynchon have created cultlike followings by knowing when To disappear

Another more everyday side of this law but once they demonstrates it's truth even further is the law of scarcity in the sciences of economics by withdrawing something from the market you create instant value in Seveenth century Holland the royal family wanted to make the tulips More than just a beautiful flower they wanted it to be a kind of status symbol making the flower scarce indeed most impossible to obtain they sparked what was later called tulipomania a single flower was now worth more than it's weight In Gold

Extend the law of scarcity to your own skills make what you are offering the world rare and very hard to find or get and you instantly increase its value.

There always comes a moment in time when those in power overstay their welcome we have grown too tired of them list respect for them we see them as no different from the rest of mankind which is to say that we see them as rather worse since we inevitably compare their current status in our eyes to their former ones there is an art to knowing when to retire if it is done right you regain the respect you had lost and retain a part of your lost power make yourself to available and the Aura of power you have created around yourself will wear away turn the game around make yourself less accessible and you increase the value of your presence.

The sun it can only be appreciated by its absence the longer the days of rain the more the sun is craved but to many hot days and the sun overwhelms learn to keep yourself obscure and make people demand your return.

Use Absence to create respect and esteem if preserve diminishes fame absence augments it A man who when absent is regarded as Lion becomes when present becomes something too common and seems ridiculous talents lose their luster if we become too familiar with them for the outer shell of the mind is more really seen them it's rich inner kernel even outstanding genius makes use of retirement so that men may honor him and so that the yearning arised by his absence Mary cause him to be esteemed