There's this famous story about the Duke of Wellington. He had an affair with [Harriet Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriette_Wilson) and when Ms Wilson and co tried to blackmail him, his response was "Publish and be damned."

I've used this as my mantra for some years. Perhaps confused about who the implied subject actually is, though.

They'll have a hard time blackmailing you if you have no shame 😂

optimism

This is such a power move. I think it applies to many more circumstances in life as well.