Motivational Quotes

Leadership

I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar.

- Churchill, Winston

Best Quotes about Leadership

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.

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

Azai, Rabbi Ben

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men -- the other 999 follow women.

Marx, Groucho

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.

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

Hesburgh, Theodore M.

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

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

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

Schorr, James

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Rohn, Jim

10.

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

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.

Each person must decide for himself what he wants each day. As a leader, I will expose you to the options and the likely consequences of those options. I'll even share my opinion if asked, but I'll never confuse it with the opinion, which simply doesn't exist.

Dyer, Wayne

13.

The chief executive who knows his strengths and weaknesses as a leader is likely to be far more effective than the one who remains blind to them. He also is on the road to humility -- that priceless attitude of openness to life that can help a manager absorb mistakes, failures, or personal shortcomings.

Adair, John

14.

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

15.

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

Batten, Joe

16.

Napoleon affords us an example of the danger of elevating one's self to the absolute, and sacrificing everything to the carrying out of an idea.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

17.

Certainly a leader needs a clear vision of the organization and where it is going, but a vision is of little value unless it is shared in a way so as to generate enthusiasm and commitment. Leadership and communication are inseparable.

Taylor, Claude

18.

'Tis a dainty thing to command, though 'twere but a flock of sheep.

Cervantes, Miguel De

19.

Impatience is the cause of most of our irregularities and extravagances Command by obeying.

Motto

20.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

21.

Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm.

Syrus, Publilius

22.

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

Adelman, Ken

23.

Efficiency tends to deal with Things. Effectiveness tends to deal with People. We manage things, we lead people

24.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

25.

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

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

26.

The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.

Rockefeller, John D.

27.

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

28.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.

Maxwell, John C.

29.

Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.

Roosevelt, Eleanor

30.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

31.

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

32.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

33.

To lead people walk behind them.

Lao-Tzu

34.

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

35.

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

Proverb, German

36.

Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And acting alone, accept everything alone.

Marcos, Ferdinand E.

37.

The right man comes at the right time.

Proverb, Italian

38.

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

Barker, Joel A.

39.

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

40.

The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without'playing up'to anyone - even to himself.

Andre Malraux

41.

When we think we lead we are most led.

Byron, Lord

42.

When a blind man bears the standard, pity those who follow.

Proverb, French

43.

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

44.

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

45.

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

Depree, Max

46.

The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

Bennis, Warren

47.

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.

48.

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

Milton, John

49.

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

50.

Those who can command themselves command others.

Hazlitt, William