Leadership Quotes

Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work.

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

Don't be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small steps.

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

A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action.
Jawaharlal Nehru

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.
Jim Rohn

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.
Harvey S. Firestone

To be a great leader and so always master of the situation, one must of necessity have been a great thinker in action. An eagle was never yet hatched from a goose's egg.
James Thomas Fields

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.
Rosalynn Carter

It is as impossible for man to demonstrate the existence of God as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Frederick Buechner

In order to be respected, authority has got to be respectable.
Tom Robbins

Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.

I have no further use for America. I wouldn't go back there if Jesus Christ was President.

Clever tyrants are never punished.

One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice-president, and that one word is 'to be prepared.

I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.

A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.
James Madison

Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.
Thomas Hardy

Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.
Edward Abbey

Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.
John Locke

I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.

My relationship to power and authority is that I'm all for it. People need somebody to watch over them. Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.
Arnold Schwarzenegger

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

Sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts.
Salman Rushdie

Leaders grasp nettles.
David Ogilvy

I don't think President Bush is doing anything at all about Aids. In fact, I'm not sure he even knows how to spell Aids.
Elizabeth Taylor

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.
Henry A. Kissinger

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.
Pericles

I would have been glad to have lived under my wood side, and to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than to have undertaken this government.
Oliver Cromwell

You win the presidency by connecting with the American people's gut insecurities and aspirations. You win with a concept.
Thomas Friedman

I don't believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.
Tom Landry

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.
Tom Landry

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
Stephen Covey

I would not want to live in a country that would have me as a leader in any sort of political bent.
Tom Hanks

I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He deserves whatever anyone says about him.
George Clooney

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.
Sun Tzu

I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.

I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.
Hugo Chavez

Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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

Being prime minister is a lonely job... you cannot lead from the crowd.
Margaret Thatcher

I look forward to these confrontations with the press to kind of balance up the nice and pleasant things that come to me as president.
Jimmy Carter

It is criminal to put our servicemen and women in harm's way and to put the lives of so many civilians on the line for the misguided frustrations of the Bush administration.
Dave Matthews

I am sworn to uphold the Constitution as Andy Johnson understands it and interprets it .
Andrew Johnson

So the American government lied to the Native Americans for many, many years, and then President Clinton lied about a relationship, and everyone was surprised! A little naive, I feel.
Eddie Izzard

A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Stories are the single most powerful tool in a leader's toolkit.
Howard Gardner

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter Drucker