Which quotes from Genghis Khan speak the most about his personality

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

I wonder what a deep mark a great man can leave in history. Genghis Khan was the great khan of the Mongol Empire at the dawn of the 13th century. He created an empire where there was nothing but scattered and eternally warring tribes. In just decades, it has grown into the greatest military empire in history: the largest, most orderly, and most streamlined. Undoubtedly, the man who created it was wise, stern and amazingly purposeful. After 8 centuries, we still have a lot to learn from him. Many of Genghis Khan's quotes remain relevant at all times, while some give an idea that the great conqueror did not stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Let's try to look at him as a person who has achieved unprecedented success, which hardly anyone has had or will ever repeat. What qualities did he possess?

Fearlessness

Perhaps Genghis Khan's most famous quote: "If you're afraid, don't do it, and if you do it, then don't be afraid."

Shecharacterizes him as a fearless person who knows no doubts. There is a share of the traditional East Asian view of events in this statement. There is no point in being afraid and afraid of what has not yet happened. Indeed, it is foolish for a Mongolian nomad who, in essence, has nothing but his life behind his soul to be afraid of failure. Therefore, Genghis Khan, being a native of an ordinary steppe ulus, from his youth was accustomed to act decisively and without delay.

Wisdom

Some quotes and aphorisms of Genghis Khan speak of the extraordinary mind and experience of this man. Sometimes it's hard to believe that the author of this statement is a ferocious steppe, accustomed to cutting out entire nations to the root, and not some ancient philosopher.

Indeed, many qualities coexisted in the personality of the great Mongol Khan. Along with cruelty and ruthlessness, Genghis Khan had the ability to quickly learn the best from his enemies and from the peoples he defeated. He knew how to learn important lessons from his mistakes and never repeat them again. Are these not the qualities of a wise person and a born leader? Among the wise quotes of Genghis Khan is the statement:

You can repeat any word anywhere that the three wise men agree on, otherwise you cannot rely on it. Compare both your own word and the word of anyone with the words of the wise; if it matches, it can be said, otherwise, do not say it!

Discipline

The basis of the Mongol Empire, which was created by Genghis Khan, was iron discipline. On theIt is on this foundation that all military empires are built. But, perhaps, the Tatar-Mongols in this regard can be taken as a standard. From time immemorial, nomads have been accustomed to follow the leader of the tribe and obey his orders. But to maintain discipline in a small tribe is one thing, but to establish an iron order in an empire that surpassed all civilizations and peoples of that time in its scale is quite another.

Certainly, the methods by which Genghis Khan achieved his goal were unprecedented. But this man did not recognize half-measures in anything. So, in his troops there was mutual responsibility, when a whole dozen were cut out for the escape of one soldier. Or, let's say, there is a case when one of the companies, for some reason, was late for the assembly point during the next military campaign. Genghis Khan, without hesitation, ordered that every single one be executed. All these rules were established by the khan at the dawn of his military career and forever ensured perfect order and unquestioning fulfillment of his will. The following quote from Genghis Khan perfectly characterizes the principles of managing people and establishing discipline:

Everyone who is able to keep his house in order is able to keep his property in order; anyone who can, as it should be, line up ten people for battle, is worthy of being given a thousand or tumen: he can line them up for battle.

Ruthlessness

All great conquerors were merciless. And in terms of the number of victims, especially on the scale of his era, Genghis Khan was and remains the first of the ruthless. meetingresistance in the people he conquered, the great khan ordered to massacre the entire population, sparing no one. During the Central Asian campaign, the Mongol army actually wiped out the most prosperous empire of that time - Khorezm. Genghis Khan exterminated three-quarters of the entire population of this power. The flourishing Khorezm Empire was never restored to its former glory.

It's hard to believe, but Genghis Khan's ruthlessness was not dictated by his hardness of heart or hatred of other nations. Everything he did was necessary for the best result. And if, in order to ensure obedience on the part of the enemy, it was necessary to exterminate the population of several villages or cities, he did it without remorse. Best of all, the ruthlessness of the great commander is illustrated by this quote from Genghis Khan:

Never let someone who has done you good live, so that you will not be indebted to anyone.

Uncompromising

Really, real leaders don't practice half measures. And even more so if we are talking about a warlike nation of Mongolian nomads, accustomed to living only by war and raids. In Genghis Khan, this uncompromising attitude was embodied in its purest form. He hatched extremely ambitious plans to conquer the entire inhabited land of the mainland from ocean to ocean. And, although not by him, but by his descendants, this was almost done. Genghis Khan liked to say this:

It's not enough that I won. Everyone else must lose.

Hardly a Mongolian boy named at birthTemujin, could have gone all the way to the first emperor of the Great Mongol Empire, had he not possessed or cultivated all these qualities in himself. Therefore, the quotes, aphorisms and sayings of Genghis Khan have survived to this day and will survive many more generations, remaining still relevant.