# LAW 49 - NEVER DIMINISH YOUR ALLIES, IT WILL SQUANDER YOUR SUCCESS > [!Deck] > The world does not measure your triumphs in isolation; it weighs them alongside the worth of those who stood with you. A victory won beside the formidable appears formidable, while a victory won beside the diminished appears diminished—no matter how complete it was. So when you belittle your allies' talents to make your own shine brighter, you achieve the opposite: you shrink the very scale against which you are judged. The master surrounded by capable lieutenants looms larger for it; the one who reduces everyone around him to make himself the only impressive figure in the room only reveals how small that room has become. Build allies whose strength magnifies yours, and let their stature testify to your own. > [!source] Inspired by the reading of *The 48 Laws of Power*.