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Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others can receive your orders without being humiliated.
Dag Hammarskjold
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Leadership is about responsibility, not authority.

This quote emphasizes that true leadership is not about wielding power or commanding others, but rather about living a life that inspires respect and trust. A leader's position should be accompanied by a commitment to act in a way that others feel comfortable following, highlighting the moral obligation that comes with authority.

Themes

LeadershipResponsibilityRespectCommandAuthority

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about effective leadership in the workplace.

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Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.
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Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.
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The world cannot live at peace without the United Nations. For this reason: it creates a reasonable guarantee that all this change in the world, these tremendous political and economic developments, can be channelized, kept orderly. The United Nations is a mold that keeps the hot metal from spilling over.
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In a dream I walked with God through the deep places of creation; past walls that receded and gates that opened through hall after hall of silence, darkness and refreshment--the dwelling place of souls acquainted with light and warmth--until, around me, was an infinity into which we all flowed together and lived anew, like the rings made by raindrops falling upon wide expanses of calm dark waters.
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He is one of those who has had the wilderness for a pillow, and called a star his brother. Alone. But loneliness can be a communion.
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Quote by Dag Hammarskjold | QuoteProject