LAW 4
ALWAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSARY
When you are known for fighting, your work speaks for itself. Your work, combined with its' witnesses, victims, and the survivors you saved will speak for you. There's no need to do much talking. You already did. Your silence, is loud. You work, quieted the doubtful. You see sometimes when your work speaks for you, when you open your mouth you will tend to be viewed as "arrogant and insolent or as if you are bragging. This can cause people to turn against you, possibly causing a revolt or even a riot, depending on your position or the subject matter at hand. If this happens, you will be forced for the greater good to "appease and apologize" and in the future keep your opinions to yourself. Thus, sometimes you are actually better off just not saying anything from the start.
Many times in life, you will find that your reputation will perceive you. When that happens, people actually do not know much about you. In that, you are in better position to become a legend. You may even become "grandeur" than what you really are, due to the mystery that is tied to your name. By opening your mouth, if you are not "able to control your words" or if you are one that is easily rattled, you begin to not only defame yourself, but begin to lose your respect.
Mystery. Fantasy. Reality. Can be created by others but destroyed by you? Sometimes it is good to keep people off balance. People do not always need to know where you stand. People do not always need to be able to predict you, your actions or reactions for if you let them they will use it against you. Silence can sometimes terrify others.
Power is often "a game of appearance." Saying less, can make you appear "greater and more powerful than who you are. Silence can make other people feel uncomfortable." We as humans interpret based on what we see, hear, think. In that, one must "carefully control what they reveal." Short answers and silence can and a majority of the time puts people on the defensive or makes them nervous. When a person is in one of those two states they tend to "reveal valuable information about them or others, whether it be about their strengths or weaknesses."
You will find it hard to "get people to do what you want them to do simply by talking to them. They will turn against you, subvert your wishes, disobey you out of sheer perversity." When a person is vague and ambiguous, people try to figure you, your statements or your actions out. And you know what happens when people make assumptions. They make "Asses" out of themselves. You didn't do it. They did it to themselves.
"In 1925 a new czar, Nicholas I ascended the throne of Russia. A rebellion immediately broke out, led by liberals demanding that the country modernize-that its industries and civil structures catch up with the rest of Europe. Brutally crushing this rebellion (the Decembrist Uprising), Nicholas I sentenced one of it leaders, Kondraty Ryleyev, to death. On the day of the execution Ryleyev stood on the gallows, the noose around his neck. The trapdoor opened-by as Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke, dashing him to the ground. At the time, events like this were considered signs of providence or heavenly will, and a man saved from execution this way was usually pardoned. As Ryleyev got to his feet, bruised and dirtied but believing his neck had been saved, he called out to the crowd, "You see, in Russia they don't know how to do anything properly, not even how to make rope!" A messenger immediately went to the Winter Palace with news of the failed hanging. Vexed by his disappointing turnabout, Nicholas I nevertheless began to sign the pardon. But then: "Did Ryleyev say anything after this miracle?" the czar asked the messenger. "Sire," the messenger replied, "He said that in Russia they don't even know how to make rope." In that case," said the Czar, "let us prove the contrary", and he tore the pardon. The next day Ryleyev as hanged again. This time the rope did not break. The lesson: Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay."
On the down side, silence can cause suspicion and insecurity, especially I superiors. By talking more you can make yourself appear weaker and less intelligent than your mark. (48 Laws)