Cyrus the Great Quotes

• Even if the skies were shorter than my knees, I would not kneel.

  Cyrus the Great

  Sky, Knees, Ifs

  369 Copy quote

• Whenever you can, act as a liberator. Freedom, dignity, wealth - these three together constitute the greatest happiness of humanity. If you bequeath all three to your people, their love for you will never die.

  Cyrus the Great

  Army, People, Humanity

  "9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great" by Ryan Holiday, www.forbes.com. April 19, 2012.

  384 Copy quote

• A man's enjoyment of all good things is in exact proportion to the pains he has undergone to gain them.

  Cyrus the Great

  Pain, Men, Gains

  294 Copy quote

• Diversity in counsel, unity in command.

  Cyrus the Great

  Army, Diversity, Unity

  "Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus". Book by Michael A. Roberto, 2005.

  254 Copy quote

• 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. Collecting boot is not an end itself, but only a means for building an empire. Riches would be of little use to us now - except as a means of winning new friends.

  Cyrus the Great

  Mean, Army, Winning

  "9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great" by Ryan Holiday, www.forbes.com. April 19, 2012.

  246 Copy quote

• We love ourselves notwithstanding our faults, and we ought to love our friends in like manner.

  Cyrus the Great

  Faults, Ought

  221 Copy quote

• All men have their frailties; and whoever looks for a friend without imperfections, will never find what he seeks.

  Cyrus the Great

  Men, Imperfection, Looks

  239 Copy quote

• Brevity is the soul of command. Too much talking suggests desperation on the part of the leader. Speak shortly, decisively and to the point–and couch your desires in such natural logic that no one can raise objections. Then move on.

  Cyrus the Great

  Moving, Talking, Leader

  227 Copy quote

• O man, whoever you are and wherever you come from, for I know you will come, I am Cyrus who won the Persians their empire. Do not therefore begrudge me this bit of earth that covers my bones.

  Cyrus the Great

  Army, Men, Earth

  Epitaph to Cyrus. "Plutarch: The Age of Alexander". Book by Plutarch, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert, p. 326, 1973.

  227 Copy quote

• In my experience, men who respond to good fortune with modesty and kindness are harder to find than those who face adversity with courage.

  Cyrus the Great

  Kindness, Adversity, Men

  184 Copy quote

• You cannot be buried in obscurity: you are exposed upon a grand theater to the view of the world. If your actions are upright and benevolent, be assured they will augment your power and happiness.

  Cyrus the Great

  Happiness, Army, Power

  "A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations". Book by Tyron Edwards, p. 290, 1908.

  225 Copy quote

• Do not suppose, my dearest sons, that when I have left you I shall be nowhere and no one. Even when I was with you, you did not see my soul, but knew that it was in this body of mine from what I did. Believe then that it is still the same, even though you see it not.

  Cyrus the Great

  Believe, Son, Soul

  162 Copy quote

• I am Cyrus, king of the world.

  Cyrus the Great

  Kings, World

  Inscription on the Cyrus Cylinder, as translated at Livius.org, www.livius.org. 538 B.C.E..

  198 Copy quote

• May all the gods whom I settled in their sacred centers ask daily of Bêl and Nâbu that my days be long and may they intercede for my welfare. ... The people of Babylon blessed my kingship, and I settled all the lands in peaceful abodes.

  Cyrus the Great

  Blessed, Land, Long

  Inscription on the Cyrus Cylinder, as translated at Livius.org, www.livius.org. 538 B.C.E..

  118 Copy quote

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