Iris' show... and graduation :-)

Yesterday we went to watch the little performers at Iris' school. For the first time both Gabriele and his father were also there in addition to me and my mother-in-law, and, of course, Sander. Since it was raining cats and dogs (and horses) [the link tries to explain the origin of this phrase; interesting indeed] they had to take the performance indoors, and they stacked us all in the gymnastic hall. There were a lot of grandparents in addition to parents.

The kids were dressed in blue trousers/jeans (mostly, there was one girl in a blue skirt and I think one boy in white trousers; strange to see that some kids don't have blue-jeans) and white t-shirts painted by them with the picture of the character they will be representing. Iris had the picture of a brown bird on her t-shirt; she was a cuckoo :-)

They mainly sang songs and danced/acted to the stories told in these songs. The opening and closing song was a song thanking all for being there. There were songs in Italian and English. Even one song had some lines in French :-) Multi-lingual kids ;-)
They were really beautiful. It is amazing how they can memorize all those songs without a written text in their hands. They are little, 5-6 years old, they cannot read and write properly yet, but they have huge memories in those tiny heads of theirs. It was quite emotional for us parents to watch them do everything their teachers had taught them, flawlessly.

Just when we thought that the program was over the teachers arrived with a huge box and began taking out black square academic caps made of black cardboard complete with tassels! But they were right: our little ones are graduating, maybe not from high-school or college yet, but from kindergarten. Next year they will begin elementary school.

Seeing my daughter with her cap on her head, then receiving her diploma from the school principal was quite emotional for me. I could hardly keep the tears in my eyes. I am sure I will cry in September on her first school day in elementary school.

It was a very beautiful afternoon. Even Sander enjoyed it, dancing when the kids were dancing, clapping when everybody else was clapping and waving to his sister during the show. At the end of the show he was very happy in the arms of Silvia, the teacher of Iris :-)

Weekend of sun, rain, wine and flowers

Last Friday after picking Iris up from school we went to visit a friend of hers. In fact the aim was to take the present they had made on her birthday which was too small and the mother had to change. But since the weather was extraordinarily beautiful the kids were invited for a couple of hours' swim in the little pool our friends place in their garden every summer. While Iris and her friend were playing in the pool Sander got a 'pool' of his own as you can see in the picture :-)

After more than a week of sunny and hot weather yesterday it got dark in the middle of the day as if it was winter and it began raining.. raining as if it had never rained before, that the clouds were so anxious to pour down water enough for a whole month for the plants in our gardens and the fields... In just five minutes water was coming through all the windows and doors of our house! We were running around the house with my husband to close all the blinds and dry the floors. Yet, in the afternoon it was sunny and the streets were all dry.

This weekend all the wine producers in Italy had their cellars open to public. It was possible to visit the estates, see their cellars and taste their wine. Having a house right in the middle of vineyards we decided to visit the Poggio Casciano Estate, which is across the street to our house and the owner of all the vineyards around us. Clicking the link you can see the beauty of this estate. They have a classical cellar which is very stylish and well kept. This was my first time in a guided tour to a cellar and I learned that:

- though they harvest the grapes usually in September this year they are planning to do it one month earlier due to the early arrival of summer
- once the grapes are picked up by hand they are placed on a huge table and chosen grain by grain if they are to be used for the production of Brunello (one of my favorites; my first choice, however, is Nobile)
- the grapes are left in huge fermentation tanks for about 2-3 weeks
- in these tanks the temperature is kept constant using a layer of water between the metal tank and the grapes inside, which can be heated to the desired temperature
- there is constant current in these fermentation tanks in order to avoid the formation of a crust of the skin of grapes on the top since it is the skin that gives the color and most of its taste to the wine
- Sangiovese type of grapes don't have a skin that can give color, so some percentage of other types of grapes are added as 'colorant' to this kind of wine during fermentation
- after fermentation the wine is transfered to wooden barrels. It is the contact that the wine has with these barrels that gives the odor and taste of different fruit, tobacco etc taste that we get in our mouth when we drink the wine.
- the smaller the barrel the more contact wine has with it and the more concentrated the bouquet will be.

After our short visit to the wine cellar we went to Antella, where they had a little market of plants. I couldn't stop myself as usual and we came back home with 4 new flower pots. Our tour out lasted less than two hours but it was a refreshing change before starting another routine week...

This afternoon there is the End of the Year Show of Iris' class at her school. I will write about it tomorrow.

Food that smells of summer: 2 vegetable dishes

Last week I had quite some tomatoes, squash, eggplants and peppers in my refrigerator that needed to be consumed before they got bad. They were left over from the weekend before. We were expecting three more friends to join us for Sunday-lunch, but unfortunately they couldn't come because of sicknesses.

Since I hate the idea of throwing away food, especially raw materials, I turned to my little collection of cooking books (no, not Internet, I am quite traditional when it comes to searching for recipes/vocabulary/information; I first check my books/encyclopedias/dictionaries, only when I am not satisfied with what I found I consult the Internet) and found two very fitting recipes that smell of summer. These following recipes saved me from the trouble of thinking what to cook for two consecutive dinners.

The first one is a French dish, three vegetable tian. You need onions, garlic cloves, squash, eggplants, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese as the main ingredients. Peel and slice the onions into rings. Peel and crush the garlic cloves. Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions turn transparent. Wash the eggplants and squash, and slice them in ca. 4 mm thick slices. I cut the eggplants in their length and the squash in their width. Brush an oven tray with olive oil and place the eggplant and squash slices over, season with salt and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 8 minutes. I used my microwave oven instead, placing the slices on the crisp-function tray. After pouring some olive oil over them I cooked the vegetable slices using the crisp function for 9 minutes, by which time they were partially cooked. Wash the tomatoes and cut them in slices discarding the hard stem. Slice the mozzarella cheese into the same number of slices as you have of tomato. Take an oven dish (an oval/round one would be perfect) and spread the softened onion in a layer on the bottom (without greasing the dish before) followed by a layer of overlapping, partially cooked eggplant slices. Cover with a layer of overlapping and alternating cheese and tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped herbs (parsley, basil and oregano - optional). Top with a final, fairly loose layer of squash slices and lightly season again with salt and pepper. Cook in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 25 minutes. Remove the tian from the oven, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Return the tian to the oven and cook for a further 20-30 minutes. You can serve it with nothing but crispy white bread.

The second dish is Italian, peperonata. I had eaten it a few times at my in-laws' house, but never prepared myself. Main ingredients are red and green peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic and balsamic vinegar. I had one each of red, green and yellow peppers, so I used them all. Cut the peppers into quarters, deseed them and remove the fibres. Then cut them into big rectangular (2 cm x 3 cm ca.) pieces. Roughly dice the flesh of the fresh tomatoes. I used canned tomatoes since I had finished the fresh ones the day before while cooking the tian. Peel and finely slice the onions and garlic. Heat some olive oil in a pan and sweat the onions until they turn transparent. Add the peppers and garlic and sweat for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and pour in about 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. I mixed 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar with 1 tbs of red wine vinegar. Season with salt, pepper (and a pinch of cayenne pepper if you wish) and sprinkle a pinch of sugar. I used about 2 teaspoons of sugar since I cannot tolerate the strong taste of vinegar. Simmer the peperonata, covered, for 30-40 minutes until the peppers are soft but still retain their shape. Sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves before serving. Peperonata can be served as a side dish to any kind of fish, meat or poultry, or you can serve it cold as a starter, which is the way I prefer serving it.

Buon appetito!

Rose, vino e pane

Rose, vino e pane (roses, wine and bread) was the theme of the weekend in San Casciano, a little village near Florence. The narrow streets of the village was filled with different kinds of roses, in all colors, for sale. I chose a beautiful little bush of white roses to take home and place next to our other roses by the gazebo. The stands of the local bakeries with their delicious cookies, cakes, bread and other types of pastry were placed side by side with those of the rose cultivators and wine producers. We tasted (and bought) a couple of cookies. I also bought and ate immediately 4 pieces of delicious fried pastry, mmmm :-) Gabriele tasted some Chianti and wanted to buy some bottles but to our surprise they were not for sale, only for tasting... strange.

Walking lazily on the streets of San Casciano, shopping a little, chatting a little, enjoying the sun, then later in the evening a barbecue dinner under the gazebo... This is what we did on Sunday with our visitors from Sweden on their last day here in Florence. They arrived late Thursday evening. On Friday we strolled around Florence center. Saturday was relaxing; leaving the kids with their fathers at home, me and my friend went to the supermarket, and afterwards took something to drink at a cafe... This was the top of everything for me because I miss doing simple things with old friends, like going for a walk, window-shopping, chatting over a cup of tea. When you meet an old friend even after a long time, you just pick up where you had left and continue as if you were never separated. You don't have to pretend anything, don't have to re-introduce yourself, don't have to weigh your words and sentences too much before uttering them.. It is not the same with new friends, the ones that you have met after your thirties, the ones with which you have not shared years in high-school or university, the ones with which you didn't cook together in a dormitory, the ones who don't know your family, your x-es, your past... (When does a new friend become an old friend?? Can all the new friends become old friends one day??)

I wish I had more of my old friends visiting me...

Let the photos do the talking: our weekend in open air

This is my daughter's Mother's Day present to me... She has made the vase at school. The pink flower was given to each student by their teacher. She thought that it was not enough and took me to the flower shop on Saturday, chose two more flowers and even wanted to pay them with her own money! She also recited a poem while giving her present. Need to say more? She is priceless.

This morning I woke up and saw these beautiful flowers of one of my cacti. Last year it had made two single flowers in different time periods and before I had the chance to take their photos they were already dead. This year I took their picture immediately. I am afraid to go home this evening and find them already dead.. They have such a short life...




We had visitors on Sunday and we enjoyed a grill-lunch together in our garden.


I had prepared a birthday cake for Iris. It was delicious, especially the chocolate cream, but the pan di Spagna remained a little bit too dry. I should wet it with more milk next time.

Above you see our birthday present to Iris, we got it for free (long story)!.

Our garden is full of flowers these days!




(The photos are taken by Iris.)

Iris' birthday

I have been running around the house like a maniac the whole week.. On Monday I began cleaning/putting in place/putting away/replacing/washing/mending things at 7:30 am and continued non-stop until 16:30, only taking little breaks to feed or change the baby. At 16:30 I had to stop, because I had to go and get my daughter from school. I continued doing things in the house also in the evening that day.

On Tuesday I gave myself a break and went for a walk with my kids instead of running around in the house.

Yesterday morning I locked myself in the house again, this time to make a skirt for my Iris. Today is her birthday and I wanted to 'make' her a gift instead of buying one this year. So, I took all the materials I had, decided how to make it and made it all from scratch. It was finished by lunch time! At night, while everybody else in the house was sleeping, I also took the blouse I had knitted for her, finished its little details and ironed the two pieces, ready for this morning.

This morning she was so excited :-) Right after breakfast she got dressed and I took her pictures, as I always do every year on her birthday before she goes off to school.

She looks so grown up with her new hair style (we got it cut yesterday evening). She is 6 now, beginning elementary school in September. Time flies!

Every year I arrange a big birthday party for her in our garden. This year I won't do it for the first time. Instead, I ordered a big birthday cake for her and took it to her school today and she celebrated with her friends. On Sunday we have a grill party in our garden with some friends. I am planning to prepare a cake for her so that I can take her picture blowing the candles :-) But next year I promised to make a big party inviting also a clown.

I will have visitors this weekend and from Thursday over next weekend at our house. So I don't think that I will find the time to post anything for about 10 days.

The 48 laws of power

I found this list here. If only I could follow half of these laws...

Law 1 Never Outshine the Master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2 Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

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.

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

Law 5 So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6 Court Attention at all Cost
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7 Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8 Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary
When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

Law 9 Win through your Actions, Never through Argument
Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10 Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11 Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12 Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13 When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14 Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15 Crush your Enemy Totally
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16 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.

Law 17 Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law 18 Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous
The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19 Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20 Do Not Commit to Anyone
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21 Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark
No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, 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.

Law 22 Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power
When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23 Concentrate Your Forces
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24 Play the Perfect Courtier
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25 Re-Create Yourself
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26 Keep Your Hands Clean
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27 Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cult-like Following
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28 Enter Action with Boldness
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29 Plan All the Way to the End
The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30 Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31 Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32 Play to People’s Fantasies
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33 Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34 Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

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.

Law 36 Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37 Create Compelling Spectacles
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38 Think as you like but Behave like others
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39 Stir up Waters to Catch Fish
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40 Despise the Free Lunch
What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41 Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43 Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44 Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45 Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46 Never appear too Perfect
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47 Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop
The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48 Assume Formlessness
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.