If the person to be persuaded seeks noble reputation, yet you persuade him with great profit, you will be regarded as vulgar and low‑minded, and will surely be rejected and distanced.
If the person seeks great profit, yet you persuade him with noble reputation, you will be seen as impractical and out‑of‑touch with reality, and will surely not be accepted.
If the person secretly craves profit yet publicly pursues reputation, persuading him with reputation will win superficial acceptance but real estrangement; persuading him with profit will win secret adoption of your words but public rejection of yourself.
This must be carefully observed.
Note
This section teaches a core persuasive strategy: persuaders must distinguish between public reputation‑seeking and private profit‑seeking in rulers, and tailor words to their hidden true desires rather than superficial postures.
Han Fei
Representative Legalist thinker of the late Warring‑States Period. This passage comes from On the Difficulty of Persuasion (Shuo Nan), where he summarizes three typical hidden motives of autocratic rulers and the corresponding pitfalls for political advisors.
Dual Motive of Rulers
A key psychological observation by Han Fei: many rulers pretend to value honor publicly while pursuing material gain privately. This hypocrisy is the biggest trap for persuaders.
Surface vs Inner Will
Persuasion failure usually comes from misjudging the gap between a ruler’s public image and private desire, rather than logical flaws in arguments.
Warring‑States Persuasion Culture
Wandering political strategists traveled between states; survival and success depended on reading rulers’ real intentions accurately.
所說出於為名高者也，而說之以厚利，則見下節而遇卑賤，必棄遠矣。所說出於厚利者也，而說之以名高，則見無心而遠事情，必不收矣。所說陰為厚利而顯為名高者也，而說之以名高，則陽收其身而實疏之，說之以厚利，則陰用其言顯棄其身矣。此不可不察也。
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