Cyrus The Great Leadership Quotes

In my experience, men who respond to good fortune with modesty and kindness are harder to find than those who face adversity with courage. For in the very nature of things, success tends to create pride and blindness in the hearts of men, while suffering teaches them to be patient and strong.

self-confidence should always ride side by side with a strong sense of humility.

A man may hate cruelty and lies, but if he’s never given an opportunity to show what he’s made of, no one will remember him when he dies.

Brevity is the soul of command.

battles are decided more by the morale of the troops than by their bodily strength.

There is a deep—and usually frustrated—desire in the heart of everyone to act with benevolence rather than selfishness, and one fine instance of generosity can inspire dozens more.

Truly, men often fail to understand their own weaknesses,” I said neutrally, “and their lack of self-knowledge can bring terrible disasters down on their own heads.

Misleaders are slow to work hard but quick to act on greed. They convince their men that dishonest behavior leads to great wealth.

Leaders must always set the highest standard. In a summer campaign, leaders must always endure their share of the sun and the heat and, in winter, the cold and the frost. In all labors, leaders must prove tireless if they want to enjoy the trust of their followers.

Most of us are always trying to increase our wealth, but you and your officers seem far more concerned with perfecting your souls.

In the Face of Danger, Be Eager, Not Intimidated  

there was something in me that would not rest until I fulfilled a grand destiny. Thus I created an empire in my thoughts long before I began to win an empire in reality. When

Early on, you can expect no one to believe in your destiny as much as yourself.

Success always calls for greater generosity—though most people, lost in the darkness of their own egos, treat it as an occasion for greater greed.

For in the very nature of things, success tends to create pride and blindness in the hearts of men, while suffering teaches them to be patient and strong.” “Well spoken, Gobryas!” exclaimed

I made my people understand the crucial difference between modesty and self-control. The modest person, I told them, will do nothing blameworthy in the light of day, but a true paragon of self-control—which we all should strive to be—avoids unworthy actions even in the deepest secrecy of his private life.

An impostor is a man who claims more wealth and courage than he actually possesses. He’s a man who begins what he can never finish. On the other hand, those who can make their friends laugh are men of good taste.” My

Success Should Never Breed Complacency

And even as you’re working to ensure the health of your army, you must remember to take care of your own.

Remember the lessons of history. Remember how often whole peoples have allowed themselves to be persuaded to go to war by ‘wise’ men—and then been utterly destroyed by the very enemy they agreed to attack! Remember how many statesmen have helped raise new leadership to power—and then been overthrown by their own protégés! Remember how often leaders have chosen to treat their friends like slaves—and then perished in the revolutions caused by their idiotic methods! How many powerful men have craved to dominate the world—and by overreaching have lost everything they once possessed!

Let Your Tools Be Equal to the Task   I

battles are decided more by the morale of the troops than by their bodily strength.” Syazarees

The suffering of the leader is always lightened by his glory. As much as possible, you must let others share in your glory, so that they never lose heart.” I

I deeply believe that leaders, whatever their profession, are wrong to allow distinctions of rank to flourish within their organizations. Living together on equal terms helps people develop deeper bonds and creates a common conscience.

I would force myself again and again to guard against my own overeagerness. Such self-control was crucial, for many times it led to great victories when self-indulgence might have led to defeats.

What angers me are all those kings who are fabled for the heaps of gold in their coffers, and their freedom from trouble and pain. I have a different vision. I say that the true leader shuns luxury and ease. Once in power, he should want to work harder than ever.

Don’t give them enough time to arrange a solid defense. We’ve got to appear against them like an uncontrollable nightmare of spears and battle-axes and flashing swords!

Let No One Fall Idle  

I once heard you say that dealing with gods and dealing with men weren’t such different things. A prince, you taught me, should honor both gods and men during his days of good fortune, so that both men and gods will remember him in his time of need.”   True

If you wish to be thought a good estate manager, or a good horseman, or a good physician, or a good flute player without really being one, just imagine all the tricks you have to invent just to keep up appearances. You might succeed at first, but in the end you’re going to be exposed as an impostor.

If an army is to win through to victory, it has to spend all its time helping itself or hurting its foe. Therefore, an army should never be idle.

When soldiers are sick or wounded, doctors can fix them up, but you’ve got to save them from falling ill in the first place.

Well-Trained Personnel Always Come Through in a Pinch

Remember too,” I added, “that getting rid of scoundrels ends the danger of contamination for the rest of the army. Men are drawn closer to virtue when they see the dishonor that falls on misleaders.

To recognize this situation is not to call for a less calculated kind of leadership: It is always the cunning, not the naïve, who rise to power, and leaders must use artfulness to make any organization whatsoever work well. Yet they must never be guided by cynical and self-serving counsels. If they don’t call upon their higher selves, they will descend further into petty egotism and tyrannical behavior.

We must also be careful to educate our sons and daughters when children are born to the women whom we’ve taken as wives. Striving to set the best example we can for our children will make us act even more nobly.

My study of history had taught me that humanity has always been full of illusions about its own possibilities, and that ambitious leaders have led their people into deep affliction more often than wide empire. Then

we must not give way to a lust for plunder until the enemy is completely scattered. The man who’s too quick to plunder is no longer a man. He turns himself into a beast of burden and ought to be treated like a traitor.

We’re bound to be proud of the way our children turn out if they see nothing unseemly and hear nothing shameful. They, like us, will live in the light of all that’s good, and their virtue—like ours—will be their strength.

Your leader is only one man,” I heard my voice say. “His strength is no more supernatural than your own, nor is his virtue, and by himself he could never preserve the good things that belong by right to everyone. To govern well, he must have your help—the help of his true, trustworthy friends. You must forever be worthy of his trust, and you must raise up true friends of your own, to help you carry your own burdens. And it is love that must bind all of us together.

Seeing his somber face light up, I shouted, “Come now, we’re very wrong to corrupt such a man, forcing him to join us in the misery of laughter!”   Toil

Obedience Should Not Be the Result of Compulsion  

Whether in industry or in politics, leaders should be building a new, more flexible order for the imperiled generations to come. To

Perhaps their attacks on my character meant that the hour was ripe for my career to begin in earnest.   Seize

Seize the Unexpected Opportunity   In

Most of all I vowed that my followers would learn more from my own example than from any legal code or set of regulations. As important to the people as written laws may be, the leader serves as a living law. He not only acts as a competent guide but also functions as a wise judge, detecting and punishing those who fail to serve the people with justice and honesty.

Why, at any rate, should he think me capable of great conquests, given my limited experience in the field? Early on, you can expect no one to believe in your destiny as much as yourself.

today when I think of the treacherous cunning of many men who wear crowns—creatures like the king of Assyria—I can only think of how dishonorable it would be to let them remain in power.” I

Gentlemen,” I said to my officers, “let’s talk about discipline within our army, and let’s consider our danger from no-account leaders. Unfortunately, such rogues sometimes find more followers than good leaders. Promising everyone a good time with plenty of instant rewards, these scoundrels can exert much more influence than virtuous men, who end up alone on steep, rocky paths.

Let’s banish these misleaders from among us, and when we do, we shouldn’t fill their places from our Persian peerage alone. As our journey continues, we’re going to be joined by many races of men. Just as we choose our horses from the best stocks, not limiting ourselves to our national breed, we should choose the best men to join us in the work of command, regardless of their country or color.” A

that the truly contented man is not the possessor of vast riches. The crown of happiness goes to the person who has the skill to gain money fairly, use it honorably, and not mistake gold for a god of power and light.

You’ll always be on better terms with your allies if you can secure your own provisions, and you’ll increase the loyalty of your soldiers. Give them all they need, and your troops will follow you to the ends of the earth.

even if we only gain a psychological advantage, that can mean the difference between victory and defeat. I’m reminded of the words of my father the king, who says that battles are decided more by the morale of the troops than by their bodily strength.” Syazarees

Your upbringing has made you tough and taught you that success can only be won by hard work. You know what true warriors are. True warriors don’t falter when they’re called upon to perform feats of great endurance. True warriors don’t fall asleep when they ought to remain alert.

been overthrown by their own protégés! Remember how often leaders have chosen to treat their friends like slaves—and then perished in the revolutions caused by their idiotic methods! How many powerful men have craved to dominate the world—and by overreaching have lost everything they once possessed!

Giving too many privileges to senior personnel can only damage morale. The struggle between nobles and commoners will always exist at some level, but when mutual suspicions are neutralized by working together closely toward common goals, this tension can be energizing rather than debilitating. There

I felt free to further unburden my heart. “What angers me are all those kings who are fabled for the heaps of gold in their coffers, and their freedom from trouble and pain. I have a different vision. I say that the true leader shuns luxury and ease. Once in power, he should want to work harder than ever.

All bickering would then cease, and no man would be jealous of his comrade’s arms or his passion for glory. As the critical hour approached, everyone would cast away all thoughts of rivalry, and they would see their comrades for what they really were—their closest allies in the struggle for the common good. One

It is always the cunning, not the naïve, who rise to power, and leaders must use artfulness to make any organization whatsoever work well. Yet they must never be guided by cynical and self-serving counsels. If they don’t call upon their higher selves, they will descend further into petty egotism and tyrannical behavior. As

I’ve trained you to be as honest as any man who ever lived, but if virtue serves to guide our actions with our friends and allies, every sort of trick can be used against our enemies. That’s why you were taught never to hunt a lion or a bear without some special advantage. Didn’t that kind of lesson teach you cunning and deceit?

We discussed how wonderful it would be if a man could train himself to be both ethical and brave, and to earn all he needed for his household and himself. That kind of man, we agreed, would be appreciated by the whole world. But if a man went further still, if he had the wisdom and the skill to be the guide and governor of other men, supplying all their needs and making them all they ought to be, that would be the greatest thing of all.

Let me teach you a new way of seeing yourselves in the great scheme of things. We should no longer feel inferior to the men who went before us. Their lives were one long struggle to perform the same deeds that we hold in honor now. Yet, for all their worth, they made few gains for the nation or for themselves. In fact, their enemies seemed to prosper as much as they did. Our forefathers may have displayed wonderful courage, but they failed to reap great rewards.” Placing

But his (Pericles’) successors were more on an equality with one another, and, each one struggling to be first himself, they were ready to sacrifice the whole conduct of affairs to the whims of the people. Such weakness in a great and imperial city led to many errors, of which the greatest was the Sicilian expedition; not that the Athenians miscalculated their enemy's power, but they themselves, instead of consulting for the interests of the expedition which they had sent out, were occupied in intriguing against one another for the leadership of the democracy, and not only hampered the operations of the army, but became embroiled, for the first time, at home. And yet after they had lost in the Sicilian expedition the greater part of their fleet and army, and were now distracted by revolution, still they held out three years not only against their former enemies, but against the Sicilians who had combined with them, and against most of their own allies who had risen in revolt. Even when Cyrus the son of the King joined in the war and supplied the Peloponnesian fleet with money, they continued to resist, and were at last overthrown, not by their enemies, but by themselves and their own internal dissensions. (Book 2 Chapter 65.10-12)