Gnothi Seauton

How to Use Your Enemies
Baltasar Garcian
Penguin Little Black Classics
54 pages PHP 70 

AGREED.

That was my glaring, two-syllable feedback to most of what was written in this little book. It's number 12 of the Penguin Little Black Classics: those nice, pamphlet-like ones with a perfect fit for the hand and pocket (literally for this size and metaphorically for seventy PHP). I always find a reason to go back to physical books and give the e-reader a break. My intentions weren't to utilize this knowledge against my enemies, because in the first place I didn't think I had any. Besides, there were no gory details on how to mangle enemies into pieces.

On the contrary, I thought this was a rather gentlemanly way of dealing with your enemies. Baltasar Garcia wasn't just a Spanish writer, he's also a Jesuit priest from the 17th century. It was a time when they already succeeded with the counter-reformation. It didn't sound as if he was strategically devising a new body of knowledge to crush the spirits of his enemies, but was really just giving out useful points that comes from the wisdom of the ages and sheer strength of character. Sometimes that's even better than logic.

A few favorites:

Quit while fortune is smiling, as all good gamblers do.
A graceful retreat is as important as a brave assault.
A greater exit is more important than a wildly applauded entrance.
Know how to be evasive. This is the escape route of sensible people.
Get used to the bad temperaments of those who you deal with, like getting used to ugly faces.
The fool is someone who does something foolish, but someone who, once this is done, does not know how to hide it. 

Not bad for a priest. It completely re-affirmed many of the decisions I made in my life and in my career choices.

To both my astonishment and disappointment, the reviews I saw from goodreads.com saw it differently. While I don't find the site trustworthy, I've got to examine the thoughts of other once in a while.

These quotes below are from this link.

"Its tells us how to exploit friends and enemies alike to thrive in a world of deception and illusion. " 

"I call it “How to be a conniving ass and manipulate people” by Baltasar Gracian. Does it sound like something you’d want to read? This was just so damn cold. I’d sooner listen to advice from my cat than this snake."

"I am not a huge fan of Machiavelli, his views seemed skewed to me, but at least he was trying to understand politics. This guy is an evil version of Machiavelli." 

"I feel like all newly sorted Slytherins should receive a copy of this." 

After reading five reviews, it dawned to me - I must be the fish. I take what most people describe as manipulation, deception and exploitation as a given. Not even just a given, I describe it as the wisdom of the age and genuinely thought of it as strength of character.

Forgive me for bragging but it would be necessary to say that to my self-knowledge, I've demonstrated compassion at several opportunities. I don't consciously take advantage of others. I treat people as my equals, and I've perceived that Capitalism not only brings the perils of greed and injustice, it is a system that enables the greedy to get to be greedier and it is the true root cause for poverty and injustice.

People tell me I'm a good guy. Now I have to re-assess if I've just manipulated them. But I won't have the answer. We really just try to keep discovering ourselves. I've started playing a little poker online recently. I realized I still fold just so I can avoid showing my opponents the bad cards, or if have no reasonable chance of taking the pot.

Let them celebrate those small wins.