The 48 Laws of Power

Use absence to increase respect and honor. Greene believes that if you show yourself too often, you become common—it’s better to create a sense of scarcity so that you seem more valuable. This law played out in the story of Sir Guillaume de Balaun, who fell in love with Madame Guillelma de Javiac. They spent a lot of time together at first before Sir Guillaume—who was a troubadour and wanted to experience all forms of love, even the sorrows—decided to break things off with Madame Guillelma to see what would happen. To his surprise, she pursued him even more aggressively. He learned that his absence made him more desirable, but her constant presence just annoyed him. He later repented, but by then she had become angry and rejected him. This made him love her again, and eventually he won her over and they reconciled.

One must be strategic about when to be absent or present, since some presence is important, but too much degrades a person’s value. The ultimate example of this is when people die, and suddenly people only remember their best qualities. Another example plays out in the marketplace, where scarcity plays a role in affecting the price of goods. The exception to this law is that it only applies to people who have already attained a certain level of power—if you have no power, it is dangerous to become too scarce, since you risk just disappearing.