One should not be too straightforward. Go and see the forest. The straight trees are cut down, the crooked ones are left standing. Kautilya, Indian philosopher, third century B.c.

Never impose your favors. Search out ways to make yourself the cat’s-paw, indirectly extricating your friends from distress without imposing yourself or making them feel obligated to you.

The courtier uses his gloved hand to soften any blows against him, disguise his scars, and make the act of rescue more elegant and clean. By helping others, the courtier eventually helps himself.

[A favor] done with fuss and obviousness, its receiver feels burdened by an obligation. A favor done indirectly and elegantly has ten times more power.

The granting of a favor is never simple: If it is done with fuss and obviousness, its receiver feels burdened by an obligation. This may give the doer a certain power, but it is a power that will eventually self-destruct, for it will stir up resentment and resistance.

Always search out the overly aggressive as potential cat’s-paws — they are often more than willing to get into a fight, and you can choose just the right fight for your purposes.

Look for a powerful third party who shares an enemy with you (if for different reasons), then take advantage of their superior power to deal blows which would have cost you much more energy, since you are weaker. You can even gently guide them into hostilities.

If you are temporarily weakened and need time to recover, it will often serve you well to use those around you both as a screen to hide your intentions and as a cat’s-paw to do your work for you.

A queen must never dirty her hands with ugly tasks, nor can a king appear in public with blood on his face. Yet power cannot survive without the constant squashing of enemies — there will always be dirty little tasks that have to be done to keep you on the throne.

Legend has it that Cleopatra succeeded through her seductive charms, but in reality her power came from an ability to get people to do her bidding without realizing they were being manipulated.

Let someone else be the executioner, or the bearer of bad news, while you bring only joy and glad tidings.

If there is something unpleasant or unpopular that needs to be done, it is far too risky for you to do the work yourself. You need a cat's-paw — someone who does the dirty, dangerous work for you.

Folly consists not in committing folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal their blunders, while fools make them public. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is seen If you can’t be good, be careful - Gracian

The court favorite could serve as a convenient scapegoat in case of a threat to the king’s reputation. The public would readily believe in the scapegoat’s guilt — why would the king sacrifice his favorite unless he were guilty?

In this vein, history has time and again shown the value of using a close associate as a scapegoat. This is known as the “fall of the favorite.”

If the scapegoat appears too weak and his punishment too cruel, you may end up the victim of your own device. Sometimes you should find a more powerful scapegoat — one who will elicit less sympathy in the long run.

[On using scapegoats] It is important that you remain the victim, the poor leader betrayed by the incompetence of those around you.

It is often wise to choose the most innocent victim possible as a sacrificial goat. Such people will not be powerful enough to fight you, and their naive protests may be seen as protesting too much — in other words, as a sign of their guilt. Be careful, not to create a martyr.

Besides conveniently shifting blame, a scapegoat can serve as a warning to others.

Since power depends on appearances, and those in power must seem never to make mistakes, the use of scapegoats is as popular as ever. What modem leader will take responsibility for his blunders? He searches out others to blame, a scapegoat to sacrifice.