Motivational Quotes

Leadership

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.

- Seneca

Best Quotes about Leadership

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

Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.

Naisbitt, John

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

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

Marx, Groucho

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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.

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

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

Tutu, Bishop Desmond

The world of the 90s and beyond will belong to managers or those who make the numbers dance, as we used to say, or those who are conversant with all the business jargon we used to sound smart. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders -- people who not only have an enormous amount of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.

Welch, John

10.

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

Brecht, Bertolt

11.

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

Daniel Akst

12.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

Gandhi, Mahatma

13.

Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.

Rohn, Jim

14.

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.

15.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

Kissinger, Henry

16.

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

Newcomb, Arthur W.

17.

Morale is faith in the man at the top.

Johnston, Albert Sidney

18.

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

19.

When the best leader's work is done the people say, We did it ourselves.

Lao-Tzu

20.

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

Batten, Joe

21.

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

Diderot, Denis

22.

The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. They are frank in admitting this and are willing to pay for such talents.

Parrish, Amos

23.

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

24.

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

Allen, Norman

25.

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

26.

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

Peters, Thomas J.

27.

The person who renders loyal service in a humble capacity will be chosen for higher responsibilities, just as the biblical servant who multiplied the one pound given him by his master was made ruler over ten cities...

Forbes, B. C.

28.

Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm.

Syrus, Publilius

29.

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

30.

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

Azai, Rabbi Ben

31.

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

Maxwell, John C.

32.

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.

Seneca

33.

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

Hennessy, Edward

34.

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.

35.

You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.

Knox, John

36.

When we think we lead we are most led.

Byron, Lord

37.

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

Ward, Ted

38.

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

Ervin, Sam

39.

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

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

40.

The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.

Anderson, Marian

41.

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

Parker, Dorothy

42.

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

43.

When placed in command -- take charge.

Schwarzkopf, Norman

44.

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.

45.

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

46.

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

Depree, Max

47.

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

48.

Faith in the ability of a leader is of slight service unless it be united with faith in his justice.

George Goethals

49.

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

Bonaparte, Napoleon

50.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo