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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker claims personal morality does not apply to his own actions or nature.
In plain terms
I do not follow normal moral rules.
What can you take from it?
Some leaders separate personal ethics from their public actions.

Where it applies

  • ruling
  • military command
  • strategic decisions

Putting it to work

  • define your ethical boundaries
  • understand leadership costs

Questions to consider

  • Can leaders be exempt from morality?
  • What happens when ethics are ignored?

Another view

Claiming exemption from morality often hides accountability.

More from Napoleon Bonaparte

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  2. Waterloo will wipe out the memory of my forty victories; but that which nothing can wipe out is my Civil Code. That will live forever.

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  3. Muhammad was a great man, fearless soldier; with a handful of men he triumphed at the battle of Badr, great captain, eloquent, a great man of state, it regener…

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