"People can be made to believe any lie, either because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it's true."

At the end of Wizard's First Rule, Richard made Darken Rahl believe that Kahlan's power had affected him when it really didn't. When Richard recounted the text from the Book of Counted Shadows, he led Darken Rahl to open the Box of Orden that would kill him even though Darken Rahl already knew which box would lead to his death. Darken Rahl wanted the power from the Box so much that he believed what Richard told him even though he new it wasn't true.

"The secret is there is no counter. You must always be vigilant, knowing that you, too, are vulnerable, and never arrogantly believe you are immune." - Richard explained to Nathan in Stone of Tears to prove to Nathan he was ready to know the Wizard's Second Rule.

Sometimes, doing what one thinks is right can cause more harm than good.

Violation of this rule can cause anything from discomfort, to disaster, to death.

Richard killed Darken Rahl by making him open the wrong box of Orden. While Richard did the right thing in killing Rahl, opening the box of Orden created a tear in the veil to the underworld, potentionally causing more damage than allowing Darken Rahl to rule.

Kahlan releasing the chimes while trying to save Richard from the plague.

"The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule." - Nathan

Listen to reason not your heart. You must be wise enough to foresee the consequences of your actions.

Letting your emotions control your thinking.

Richard went to the Palace of the Prophets through the Sliph while wearing the mirswith cape thinking only about how to save Kahlan. He was not thinking about the safety of Aydindril and himself, almost resulting in his becoming a Mriswith himself, or worse his own death.

Richard allowed the Sisters of the Dark to swear a conditioned allegiance to him so they could have the protection of the bond against the dreamwalker in exchange for Kahlan's safety.

Use experience and knowledge to make decisions, not your emotions. Think before you act.

Forgiving and being forgive are powerful elements of healing, not your body, but your soul. Forgiving others is healthy for you, but being forgiven is even more powerful.

Richard left the Temple of the Winds, even though he knew that he would die from it, to ask forgiveness of Kahlan. He realized that "knowledge without heart was empty" he would rather have died forgiven, than live in the Temple of the Winds for eternity without his heart and soul.

People will lie to deceive you from what they truly mean to do. Watching the actions they take will prove their true intentions.

Joseph Ander said that he was on the Midlands side in the Great War and didn't believe that wizards should rule people. If the wizards had paid more attention to what he was doing instead of what he said, they might have seen that Joseph thought himself superior to the people of Anderith as well as the other wizards, and ruled Anderith. The other wizards left him unchallanged and the land was considered lost from the Midlands.

The benevolent speeches that Dalton Campbell composes then the actions he and his messengers make.

The propiganda of the Imperial Order and the actions they are willing to commit in its name.

Be vigilant and watch actions more than listen to words when people say they are going to do something.

"The only soveriegn I can allow to rule me is reason. The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists; what is, is. From this irreducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. This is the foundation from which life is embraced.", "Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality--it's our basic tool of survival."

"Misery, Iniquity, and utter destruction lurk in the shadows ouside [reason's'] full light, where half-truths snare the faithful disciples, the deeply feeling believers, the selfless followers. Faith and feelings are the warm marrow of evil. Unlike reason, faith and feelings provide no boundary to limit any delusions, any whim. They are a virulent poison, giving the numbing illusion of moral sanction to every depravity ever hatched...", "Reason is the very substance of truth itself.", "Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason's light" "The Sixth Rule is the hub upon which all rules turn. It is not only the most important rule, but the simplest. Nonetheless, it is the one most often ignored and violated, and by far the most despised."

You can't fail to use reason in any decision, choose to ignore the reality of what is and follow a wish. This is a disasterous combination yielding grave consequences as the very real things you wish to ignore grow into devistating catastrophes.

In Faith of the Fallen, Richard realizes he can't lead the battle against the Order. He can't "make people understand freedom." They need to feel it, need it, be willing to die for it. The Anders saw the truth and denied it. Richard utilized the sixth rule by choosing against leading the battle, using reason that it will be lost until people see the reality of the Order; over his passion and desire to fight for his beliefs, and "duty."

"The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to it's fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices."

Learn from experiences of the past, apply knowledge and reason to create a new better life everyday. To understand the past, but not to dwell in it lays the foundation for the future.

While Jennson and her kind pose an irreversible threat, Richard's belief in life and each individual's right to live it changes "what has come before" concerning the Bandakar, Jennsen and all pristinely ungifted decendants of the Rahl bloodline.

Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need.

Richard broke this rule un-knowingly by following the false belief that a balance was needed for his actions of killing, though in self defense; creating the loss of his gift and the magic behind the sword. Understanding the eighth rule allowed him to see he was justified in his actions and beliefs, and ultimately restored the magic and balance.

"To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy--to image something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions.

In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you alway lose what you have at stake."

Accepting or believing a contradiction is to deny the truth and to proclaim reality is false.

Check your assumptions against what is.

"People for whatever reason don't want to see the truth can be acutely hostile to it and shrill in their denunciation of it. They frequently turn their venomous antagonism on whoever dares topoint out that truth...

...To those seeking the truth, its a matter of simple,rational, self interest to always keep reality in view. Truth is rooted in reality, after all, not the imagaination."

"Seems hard to fathom how people can turn away from seeing what is their own best interest."