Quotes About Leadership

QUESTION: Who governs the governors? ANSWER: Entropy.

My father rules an entire planet. He's losing it.

It was another of the essential ingredients that she felt her son needed: people with a goal. Such people would be easy to imbue with fervor and fanaticism. They could be wielded like a sword to win back Paul's place for him.

When religion and politics ride the same cart, when that cart is driven by a living holy man (baraka), nothing can stand in their path.

The people must learn how well I govern them. How would they know if we didn't tell them?

One who rules assumes irrevocable responsibility for the ruled. You are a husbandman. This demands, at times, a selfless act of love which may only be amusing to those you rule.

They'll call me Muad'Dib, 'The One Who Points the Way'.

Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual.

It is not always the majestic concerns of Imperial ministers which dictate the course of history, nor is it necessarily the pontifications of priests which move the hands of God.

All of them, she thought, an entire culture trained to military order. What a priceless thing is here for an outcast Duke!

The tribal commander must lose no face among those who should obey him. Paul

Gurney's a romantic," the Duke growled. This talk of killing suddenly disturbed him, coming from his son. "I'd sooner you never had to kill…but if the need arises, you do it however you can—tip or edge." He looked up at the skylight, on which the rain was drumming.

When I set out to lead humanity along my Golden Path I promised a lesson their bones would remember. I know a profound pattern humans deny with words even while their actions affirm it. They say they seek security and quiet, conditions they call peace. Even as they speak, they create seeds of turmoil and violence.

Yes. They'll call me…Muad'Dib, 'The One Who Points the Way.' Yes…that's what they'll call me." And

Muad'Dib: "If a child, an untrained person, an ignorant person, or an insane person incites trouble, it is the fault of authority for not predicting and preventing that trouble." O.C.

They'd never known anything but victory which, Paul realized, could be a weakness in itself. He put that thought aside for later consideration in his own training program.

We don't need any more Atreides gods! We need a space for some humanity!

The future is a thing to be shaped, Scytale said. Hold that thought, Princess.

The Lord Leto says that when it was denied an external enemy, the all-male army always turned against its own population. Always.

He aspires to rule my Barony, yet he cannot rule himself.

Umman Kudu: scissors-line of jaw muscles, chin like a boot toe - a man to be trusted because the captain's vices were known.

This Duke was concerned more over the men than he was over the spice. He risked his own life and that of his son to save the men. He passed off the loss of a spice crawler with a gesture. The threat to men's lives had him in a rage. A leader such as that would command fanatic loyalty. He would be difficult to defeat. Against his own will and all previous judgments, Kynes admitted to himself: I like this Duke.

The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better [to] rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes.

And good administrators?" "Oh, they depend on verbal orders. They never lie about what they've done if their verbal orders cause problems, and they surround themselves with people able to act wisely on the basis of verbal orders. Often, the most important piece of information is that something has gone wrong. Bad administrators hide their mistakes until it's too late to make corrections.