“You must remember that when people give you things or do you favours it is always with strings attached. You want to keep yourself free of as many of these obligations as possible.”

The 50th Law, Chapter 2, Self-Reliance

We humans are political creatures, continually scheming to secure and satisfy our own interests.

However, most of us understand that being overt about this reality, admitting our selfish intentions, declaring our desires to gain what we want regardless of the needs of others, has the opposite effect.

People grow increasingly suspicious, refraining from communicating and co-operating with us due to our overly abrupt nature.

This makes the difficult task of achieving our goals even more complicated and strenuous.