“Leaders are not necessarily popular. For soldiers, the choice between popularity and effectiveness is ultimately no choice at all. Soldiers want to win; their survival depends on it. They will accept, and even take pride in, the quirks and shortcomings of a leader if they believe he can produce success.”

Source: My Share Of The Task (2013), p. 392

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Leaders are not necessarily popular. For soldiers, the choice between popularity and effectiveness is ultimately no cho…" by Stanley A. McChrystal?

Stanley A. McChrystal26

American general 1954

Related quotes

“While soldiers were winning victories, so-called labor leaders were engaged in high treason.”

Werner von Blomberg (1878–1946) German field marshal

Quoted in "A History of Militarism: Civilian and Military" - Page 430 - by Alfred Vagts - History - 1967

“Being controversial in politics is inevitable. If an individual wants to be a leader and isn't controversial, that means he never stood for anything. In the world today, there are not many good choices — only choices between the half-good and the less half-good.”

Richard Nixon (1913–1994) 37th President of the United States of America

Cited in Nick Thimmesch's "An interview with Nixon: 'Defeated, but not finished'" (Chicago Tribune (11 December 1978)
1970s

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

Rosalynn Carter (1927) Wife of the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter

“Happiness, satisfaction, and success in life depend on making the right choices, the winning choices. There are forces in life working for you and against you. One must distinguish the beneficial forces from the malevolent ones and choose correctly between them.”

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam book Wings of Fire

Source: Wings of Fire, p. 106.

“Great works of the imagination are not produced quickly nor do they take quick effect on the popular mind.”

John Dos Passos (1896–1970) novelist, playwright, poet, journalist, painter

Remark at the International PEN Club conference, Sept 11-13 1941, reproduced in John Dos Passos: The Major Nonfictional Prose, ed. Donald Pizer

“I have not found in Europe or America, poets, thinkers or popular leaders equal, or even comparable, to those of India today.”

Hermann von Keyserling (1880–1946) German philosopher

Quoted from Gewali, Salil (2013). Great Minds on India. New Delhi: Penguin Random House.

“I have never been over concerned or obsessed with opinion polls or popularity polls. I think a leader who is, is a weak leader. Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless.”

Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015) First Prime Minister of Singapore

The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew, 1998, as quoted by http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-05-24/tech/30081331_1_singaporean-lee-kuan-yew-political-landscape <br class="br">1990s

“The success of our popular government rests wholly upon the correct interpretation of the deliberate, intelligent, dependable popular will of America.”

Warren G. Harding (1865–1923) American politician, 29th president of the United States (in office from 1921 to 1923)

Inaugural address (4 March 1921).
1920s

“Mr. Ahmadinejad cheats, lies, steals and stuffs the ballot box. Unafraid of the threats of the supreme leader to shut up and accept fraud, Mr. Mousavi shows the courage to reclaim the ballot box for a fair and impartial recount. Of course there is a huge difference between the two. But you must understand his delicate position. Right now, in order to ensure the survival of the popular struggle, he cannot just say or do whatever he wants.”

Reza Pahlavi (1960) Last crown prince of the former Imperial State of Iran

As quoted by Mark Pitzke, 'Iran Is My True and Only Home' http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/iran-s-crown-prince-reza-pahlavi-iran-is-my-true-and-only-home-a-641984-2.html, August 12, 2009. <br class="br">Interviews, 2009

“People try so hard to believe in leaders now, pitifully hard. But we no sooner get a popular reformer or politician or soldier or writer or philosopher — a Roosevelt, a Tolstoy, a Wood, a Shaw, a Nietzsche, than the cross-currents of criticism wash him away. My Lord, no man can stand prominence these days. It's the surest path to obscurity. People get sick of hearing the same name over and over.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Quoted, This Side of Paradise (1920)

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Stanley A. McChrystal26

Related quotes

Related topics