If a poet interprets a poem of his own he limits its suggestibility.
William Butler YeatsRead
So long as all is ordered for attack, and that alone, leaders will instinctively increase the number of enemies that they may give their followers something to do.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Leadership can often become focused on conflict, leading to the creation of more enemies as a means to engage followers.
In this quote, William Butler Yeats suggests that leaders, when preoccupied solely with aggression and conflict, may inadvertently escalate their adversaries in order to provide their followers with a sense of purpose or activity. This reflects a deeper commentary on the nature of leadership, where the pursuit of power and competition can overshadow the responsibility of a leader to foster unity and collaboration.
Themes
LeadershipConflictEnemiesPurposeFollowers
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a leadership seminar to highlight the risks of a combative approach to leadership.
More from William Butler Yeats
All quotes βIt was my first meeting with a philosophy that confirmed my vague speculations and seemed at once logical and boundless.
William Butler YeatsRead
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
William Butler YeatsRead
How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.
William Butler YeatsRead
For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away And the shadows eaten the moon.
William Butler YeatsRead
Love is created and preserved by intellectual analysis, for we love only that which is unique, and it belongs to contemplation, not to action, for we would not change that which we love.
William Butler YeatsRead
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