Topics · Business & Career
Wisdom about leadership.
What people have learned about leadership the hard way, and what the classics said about it first.
Discussions
Community rules
- Speak from experience. Say what you lived and what you learned. Advice without a story is easy to ignore.
- Be kind to the person. Disagree with an idea as much as you like. Never with someone’s worth.
- Not a substitute for care. Nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice. In crisis, reach out to local services.
- No selling. No promotion, referral links or pitching your course.
From the library
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
There is no wealth but life.
Creditors have better memories than debtors.
A great man is always willing to be little.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.
This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Let each man direct himself first to what is proper; then let him teach others.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.
Painting is adorned with infinite possibilities which sculpture cannot command.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of movement.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.
The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive) agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this that they are difficult to govern.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Therefore a sage has said, 'He who accepts his state's reproach, Is hailed therefore its altars' lord; To him who bears men's direful woes They all the name of King accord.'
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them.
The difficulty in governing the people arises from their having much knowledge. He who (tries to) govern a state by his wisdom is a scourge to it; while he who does not (try to) do so is a blessing.
The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.
Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.
Many seek the ruler’s favour; but every man’s judgment cometh from the Lord.
Though in its primordial simplicity it may be small, the whole world dares not deal with (one embodying) it as a minister. If a feudal prince or the king could guard and hold it, all would spontaneously submit themselves to him.
The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.
May not the space between heaven and earth be compared to a bellows? 'Tis emptied, yet it loses not its power; 'Tis moved again, and sends forth air the more. Much speech to swift exhaustion lead we see; Your inner being guard, and keep it free.
As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever.
Great, it passes on (in constant flow). Passing on, it becomes remote. Having become remote, it returns. Therefore the Tao is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; and the (sage) king is also great. In the universe there are four that are great, and the (sage) king is one of them.
A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
That whereby the rivers and seas are able to receive the homage and tribute of all the valley streams, is their skill in being lower than they;—it is thus that they are the kings of them all. So it is that the sage (ruler), wishing to be above men, puts himself by his words below them, and, wishing to be before them, places his person behind them.
A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment.
The report of that fulfilment is the regular, unchanging rule. To know that unchanging rule is to be intelligent; not to know it leads to wild movements and evil issues. The knowledge of that unchanging rule produces a (grand) capacity and forbearance, and that capacity and forbearance lead to a community (of feeling with all things). From this community of feeling comes a kingliness of…
The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.
On occasions of festivity to be on the left hand is the prized position; on occasions of mourning, the right hand. The second in command of the army has his place on the left; the general commanding in chief has his on the right;—his place, that is, is assigned to him as in the rites of mourning. He who has killed multitudes of men should weep for them with the bitterest grief; and the victor in…
These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.
The king’s favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.