Motivational Quotes

Leadership

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

Best Quotes about Leadership

Do your best to be the lead dog otherwise the view never changes.

You can lead a whore to culture but you can't make her think.

Parker, Dorothy

The crowd gives the leader new strength.

Evenius

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

When the leadership is right and the time is right, the people can always be counted upon to follow -- to the end at all costs.

Seymour, Harold J.

Every private in the French army carries a Field Marshall wand in his knapsack.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

I learned that a great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do and like it.

Truman, Harry S

Leadership is action, not position.

Mcgannon, Donald H.

To lead people walk behind them.

Lao-Tzu

10.

The high sentiments always win in the end, the leaders who offer blood, toil, tears, and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

Orwell, George

11.

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

12.

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.

Updike, John

13.

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.

Rohn, Jim

14.

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.

15.

Men are lead by trifles.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

16.

Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.

Lombardi, Vince

17.

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

18.

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

Ervin, Sam

19.

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says I; The leader says WE. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, GO; the leader says lets, GO!

Selfridge, H. Gordon

20.

You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

21.

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

Hesburgh, Theodore M.

22.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

John F. Kennedy

23.

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

Adelman, Ken

24.

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.

Lippmann, Walter

25.

He is the richest man who enriches his country most; in whom the people feel richest and proudest; who gives himself with his money; who opens the doors of opportunity widest to those about him; who is ears to the deaf; eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. Such a man makes every acre of land in his community worth more, and makes richer every man who lives near him.

Marden, Orison Swett

26.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, We did it ourselves.

Lao-Tzu

27.

Leaders create an environment which everyone has the opportunity to do work which matches his potential capability and for which an equitable differential reward is provided.

Jaques, Elliott

28.

Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.

Walton, Sam

29.

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.

Lauren, Ralph

30.

The golden rule for every business man is this: Put yourself in your customer's place.

Marden, Orison Swett

31.

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

Depree, Max

32.

Lao-Tzu

33.

I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice De

34.

The measure of a great leader, is their success in bringing everyone around to their opinion twenty years later.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

35.

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

Peters, Thomas J.

36.

Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.

Ford, Henry

37.

Show me the leader and I will know his men. Show me the men and I will know their leader.

Newcomb, Arthur W.

38.

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

39.

I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

Iacocca, Lee

40.

The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.

Stendhal, Henri B.

41.

Outstanding leaders appeal to the hearts of their followers -- not their minds.

42.

Who has not served cannot command.

Florio, John

43.

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

44.

The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.

Churchill, Winston

45.

No man has ever risen to the real stature of spiritual manhood until he has found that it is finer to serve somebody else than it is to serve himself.

Wilson, Woodrow T.

46.

Right or wrong, the customer is always right.

Field, Marshall

47.

Those who can command themselves command others.

Hazlitt, William

48.

If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.

Thatcher, Margaret

49.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

Diderot, Denis

50.

Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right.

Johnson, Lyndon B.