Xenophon Quotes

Xenophon shares straightforward, gritty advice on leadership, discipline and morality, useful for anyone facing a crisis.

30 quotes

1. It is only for those to employ force who possess strength without judgment; but the well advised will have recourse to other means. Besides, he who pretends to carry his point by force hath need of many associates; but the man who can persuade knows that he is himself sufficient for the purpose; neither can such a one be supposed forward to shed blood; for, who is there would choose to destroy a fellow citizen rather than make a friend of him by mildness and persuasion?

2. The most delightful of all music, that of your own praises.

3. There is small risk a general will be regarded with contempt by those he leads, if, whatever he may have to preach, he shows himself best able to perform.

4. As to what happened next, it is possible to maintain that the hand of heaven was involved, and also possible to say that when men are desperate no one can stand up to them.

5. That:is the road to the obedience of compulsion. But there is a shorter way to a nobler goal, the obedience of the will. When the interests of mankind are at stake, they will obey with joy the man whom they believe to be wiser than themselves. You may prove this on all sides: you may see how the sick man will beg the doctor to tell him what he ought to do, how a whole ship's company will listen to the pilot.

6. If the campaign is in summer the general must show himself greedy for his share of the sun and the heat, and in winter for the cold and the frost, and in all labours for toil and fatigue. This will help to make him beloved of his followers.

7. Every one of you is the leader.

8. On making prisoners of our generals, they expected that we should perish from want of direction and order. It is incumbent, therefore, on our present commanders to be far more vigilant than our former ones, and on those under command to be far more orderly, and more obedient to their officers, at present than they were before:On the very day that such resolution is passed, they will see before them ten thousand Clearchuses instead of one.

9. But if any other course, in any one's opinion, be better than this, let him, even though he be a private soldier, boldly give us his sentiments; for the safety, which we all seek, is a general concern.

10. Yet is it more honourable, and just, and upright, and pleasing, to treasure in the memory good acts than bad.

11. The sweetest of all sounds is praise.

12. You see that even the enemy did not dare to declare war against us till they had seized our generals, for they were sensible that, while we had commanders and yielded obedience to them, we were able to conquer them; but, having seized our commanders, they concluded that we should, from a want of command and discipline, be destroyed.

13. If any among you covet riches, let him endeavour to overcome, for the victorious not only preserve their own possessions but acquire those of the enemy.

14. Wherever magistrates were appointed from among those who complied with the injunctions of the laws, Socrates considered the government to be an aristocracy.

15. Excess of grief for the dead is madness; for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not.

16. You know that neither numbers nor strength give the victory, but that side which, with the assistance of the gods, attacks with the greatest resolution is generally irresistible.

17. We are all sensible that the king and Tisaphernes have caused as many of us as they could to be apprehended, and it is plain they design, by the same treacherous means, if they can, to destroy the rest.

18. He who eats with most pleasure is he who least requires sauce.

19. You see, O Greeks! The enemy already acknowledge the country to be ours; for when they made peace with us, they stipulated that we should not burn the country belonging to the king, and now they set fire to it themselves, as if they looked upon it no longer as their own.

20. For drink, there was beer which was very strong when not mingled with water, but was agreeable to those who were used to it. They drank this with a reed, out of the vessel that held the beer, upon which they saw the barley swim.

21. Menon the Thessalian did not either conceal his immoderate desire of riches or his desire of commanding, in order to increase them, or of being esteemed for the same reason. He desired to be well with those in power, that his injustice might escape punishment.

22. A horse is a thing of beauty... none will tire of looking at him as long as he displays himself in his splendor.

23. For myself, I think that those who cultivate wisdom and believe themselves able to instruct their fellow-citizens as to their interests are least likely to become partisans of violence. They are too well aware that to violence attach enmities and dangers, whereas results as good may be obtained by persuasion safely and amicably.

24. Let a man sow a field or plant a farm never so well, yet he cannot foretell who will gather in the fruits; another may build him a house of fairest proportion, yet he knows not who will inhabit it.

25. For what the horse does under compulsion, as Simon also observes, is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer.

26. A Persian army being then subject to great inconveniences, for their horses are tied and generally shackled to prevent them from running away, and if an alarm happens, a Persian has the housing to fix, his horse to bridle, and his corslet to put on before he can mount.

27. I see that it is impossible to remember a long poem without practice and repetition; so is forgetfulness of the words of instruction engendered in the heart that has ceased to value them.

28. All the children of the great men in Persia are brought up at court, where they have an opportunity of learning great modesty, and where nothing immodest is ever heard or seen.

29. Socrates gave a lifetime to the outpouring of his substance in the shape of the greatest benefits bestowed on all who cared to receive them. In other words, he made those who lived in his society better men and sent them on their way rejoicing.

30. The sweetest sound of all is praise.