Motivational Quotes

Leadership

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

- Proverb, German

Best Quotes about Leadership

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.

Glasgow, Arnold H.

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

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

It is a great pity when the one who should be the head figure is a mere figure head.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

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

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

Roosevelt, Theodore

You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.

Knox, John

There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present, in China or elsewhere. If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.

Liu Shao-Ch'I

In really good companies, you have to lead. You have to come up with big ideas and express them forcefully. I have always been encouraged -- or sometimes forced -- to confront the very natural fear of being wrong. I was constantly pushed to find out what I really thought and then to speak up. Over time, I came to see that waiting to discover which way the wind was blowing is an excellent way to learn how to be a follower.

Enrico, Roger

When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

10.

Every ruler is harsh whose laws are new.

Aeschylus

11.

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

12.

It is a characteristic of all movements and crusades that the psychopathic element rises to the top.

Lindner, Robert

13.

A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.

Barker, Joel A.

14.

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

Depree, Max

15.

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

Stendhal, Henri B.

16.

The leader can never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he must exert.

Lombardi, Vince

17.

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.

18.

People try so hard to believe in leaders now, pitifully hard. But we no sooner get a popular reformer or politician or soldier or writer or philosopher --a Roosevelt, a Tolstoy, a Wood, a Shaw, a Nietzsche, than the cross-currents of criticism wash him away. My Lord, no man can stand prominence these days. It's the surest path to obscurity. People get sick of hearing the same name over and over.

19.

Leadership must be established from the top down.

Nunn, Sam

20.

The successful man doesn't use others, other people use the successful man, for above all the success is of service.

Caine, Mark

21.

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn't know where he is going.

Namath, Joe

22.

Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.

Rohn, Jim

23.

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

24.

There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.

Brecht, Bertolt

25.

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

Patton, George S.

26.

I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?

Disraeli, Benjamin

27.

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

Machiavelli, Niccolo

28.

Right or wrong, the customer is always right.

Field, Marshall

29.

It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.

Pope John XXIII

30.

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.

31.

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

32.

Who has not served cannot command.

Florio, John

33.

Great leaders understand human behavior rather than the cybernetics of any function.

Schorr, James

34.

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.

35.

Self-regulation will always be a challenge, but if somebody's going to be in charge, it might as well be me.

Daniel Akst

36.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Machiavelli, Niccolo

37.

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.

Peter Drucker

38.

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.

39.

Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.

Walters, J. Donald

40.

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

Saying, Zen

41.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

42.

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

Parker, Dorothy

43.

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

Miller, Henry

44.

If you want to be comfortable -- take an easy job. If you aspire to leadership, take off your coat.

45.

No affection and a great brain, these are the people to command the world.

Disraeli, Benjamin

46.

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

Azai, Rabbi Ben

47.

Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.

Schwarzkopf, Norman

48.

Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.

Humphrey, Hubert H.

49.

The crowd gives the leader new strength.

Evenius

50.

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