Law 13
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and empathize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself. –Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power (review)