Motivational Quotes

Leadership

The highest of distinctions is service to others.

- King George VI

Best Quotes about Leadership

Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.

Machiavelli, Niccolo

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

Roosevelt, Theodore

The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.

Batten, Joe

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

The penalty of leadership is loneliness.

Robinson, H. Wheeler

The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests.

Sheehy, Gail

A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.

Ervin, Sam

Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.

Ward, William A.

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.

Ewing, Russell H.

10.

The wise man who is not heeded is counted a fool, and the fool who proclaims the general folly first and loudest passes for a prophet and F?hrer, and sometimes it is luckily the other way round as well, or else mankind would long since have perished of stupidity.

Jung, Carl

11.

Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation's leaders wouldn't know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.

Lapham, Lewis H.

12.

Morale is faith in the man at the top.

Johnston, Albert Sidney

13.

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

Galbraith, John Kenneth

14.

Management is nothing more than motivating other people.

Lee Iacocca

15.

The wealth of kings is in the affections of their subjects.

Motto

16.

The real leader has no need to lead -- he is content to point the way.

Miller, Henry

17.

Some men must follow, and some command, though all are made of clay.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

18.

Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

19.

The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say We did it ourselves.

Saying, Zen

20.

Who has not served cannot command.

Florio, John

21.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.

Lao-Tzu

22.

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.

Adelman, Ken

23.

The right man comes at the right time.

Proverb, Italian

24.

Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm.

Syrus, Publilius

25.

Ronald Reagan has held the two most demeaning jobs in the country; President of the United States and radio broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs.

Will, George F.

26.

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.

Bennis, Warren

27.

The best leaders... almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

Peters, Thomas J.

28.

Leadership is like the old galley ships. 100s are rowing, but only one (the captain) knows where they are going

29.

Leadership is not magnetic personality--that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people --that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.

Drucker, Peter F.

30.

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.

Lao-Tzu

31.

It's important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray.

Oech, Roger Von

32.

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

Hesburgh, Theodore M.

33.

A crown, golden in show is but a wreath of thorns.

Milton, John

34.

Leaders don't inflict pain -- they share pain.

Depree, Max

35.

If you have fear of those that command you, spare those that obey you.

Azai, Rabbi Ben

36.

True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.

Townsend, Robert

37.

Popularity is not leadership.

Marcinko, Richard

38.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

Patton, George S.

39.

Those that rule must hear and be deaf, must see and be blind.

Proverb, German

40.

Ethics must begin at the top of an organization. It is a leadership issue and the chief executive must set the example.

Hennessy, Edward

41.

Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader's success. He can accomplish nothing unless he can communicate effectively.

Allen, Norman

42.

The first thing a great person does, is make us realize the insignificance of circumstance.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

43.

The well being of the people is the supreme law.

44.

Those who can command themselves command others.

Hazlitt, William

45.

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

46.

One secret of leadership is that the mind of a leader never turns off. Leaders even when they are sightseers or spectators, are active; not passive observers.

Humes, James

47.

The person who has no enemies has no followers.

Piatt, Don

48.

I don't think that a leader can control to any great extent his destiny. Very seldom can he step in and change the situation if the forces of history are running in another direction.

Nixon, Richard M.

49.

Leadership is a serving relationship that has the effect of facilitating human development.

Ward, Ted

50.

It is very comforting to believe that leaders who do terrible things are, in fact, mad. That way, all we have to do is make sure we don't put psychotics in high places and we've got the problem solved.

Wolfe, Thomas