The Book of Leadership and Strategy Quotes

“IF THE RULERS look upon the ruled as upon their own children, then the ruled will look upon the rulers as upon their own parents.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“DUPLICITY CANNOT win a single person; wholeheartedness can win a hundred people.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“WHEN WATER is polluted, fish choke; when government is harsh, people rebel. WHEN SOCIETY is orderly, you protect yourself with justice; when society is confused, you protect justice by yourself.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“TO INDULGE the perversities of an individual, thereby increasing troubles throughout the land, is unacceptable to natural reason.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“IF RULERS are too inclined to benevolence, then the unworthy are rewarded and criminals go free. If the rulers are too inclined to punishment, then the worthy are rejected and the ignorant slaughtered.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“THE REASON why leaders are set up is to eliminate violence and quell disorder. Now they take advantage of the power of the people to become plunderers themselves. They are like winged tigers—why shouldn’t they be eliminated?”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“THOSE WHO know the source of law and order change to adapt to the times.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“THE WORLD can only be entrusted to those who are able to avoid harming their countries by global ambitions and who are able to avoid ruining themselves by national ambitions.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“Without concealment in formlessness, who can master form?”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“MORALISTS TODAY forbid what is desired without finding out the basic reasons for desire; they prohibit what is enjoyed without finding out the basic reasons for enjoyment. This is like trying to dam a river with your hands.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE are able to criticize rulers when they see a fault, because they are mindless of reprisal. They are able to defer to the wise when they see them, because they are mindless of social status. They are able to give to those in need, because they are mindless of their own poverty.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“When birds are at their wit’s end, they peck; when beasts are at their wit’s end, they gore; and when humans are at their wit’s end, they resort to trickery.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“Therefore, the affairs of sages are limited and easy to manage; their requirements are few and easy to satisfy. They are benevolent without trying; they are trusted without speaking; they gain without seeking; they succeed without striving. They perceive reality alone, embrace virtue, and extend sincerity. Everyone follows them like echoes of sound, like reflections of form. What they cultivate is fundamental. WHEN POLITICAL leaders ruin their countries and wreck their lands, themselves to die at others’ hands, a laughingstock of all the world, it is always because of their desires. IN”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“PUNISHMENTS AND penalties are not enough to change habits; executions and massacres are not enough to prevent treachery. Only spiritual influence is valuable.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT is the very best. Next best is to make it impossible for people to do wrong. Next after that is to reward the worthy and punish the disruptive. AS A BALANCE scale is fair insofar as it weighs things impartially and a plumb line is correct insofar as it determines straight lines impartially, a ruler who applies the law without personal likes and dislikes can thereby command. WHAT RESTRAINS and punishes is law. When people have been punished”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“Traditions about sage kings of old as recorded in ancient documents”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“Rulership was set up because the strong oppressed the weak, the many did violence to the few, the cunning fooled the simple, the bold attacked the timid, people kept knowledge to themselves and did not teach, people accumulated wealth and did not share it. So the institution of rulership was set up to equalize and unify them. SAGES DO NOT consider mountains high or rivers wide when they take on the embarrassment and disgrace of dealing with political leaders.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“THE BASIC task of government is to make the populace secure. The security of the populace is based on meeting needs. The basis of meeting needs is in not depriving people of their time. The basis of not depriving people of their time is in minimizing government exactions and expenditures. The basis of minimizing government exactions and expenditures is moderation of desire.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters

“WHEN SOCIETY is orderly, a fool alone cannot disturb it; when society is chaotic, a sage alone cannot bring order.”
― Thomas Cleary, The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters