Leadership is an art. It is about inspiring individuals to pursue a mutual vision as a team. Leading people can be one of the most fulfilling things to do, but it also comes with a great variety of difficulties. To help you in your journey as a leader, we’ve created this selection of the most powerful leadership quotes. P.S.: If you want even more, have a look at our collection of Theodore Roosevelt quotes, who was a remarkable leader.
Leadership skills are a very valuable asset. It is the ability of a person to rally people with a vita variety of personas, interests, and ambitions behind a common cause. While intelligence and creativity certainly play a role in leadership, emotional intelligence must not be underestimated. In fact, excellent leadership requires an interesting combination of various social skills rather than merely intellectual capabilities.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Contrary to what many people think, leadership is not about bossing of those around. Instead, it is about inspiring others to overcome larger-than-life obstacles. It is about encouraging people to push their boundaries and to become the best version of themselves, they can be. Leadership is also about uniting more or less self-centered individuals behind a mutual vision and thereby forming a strong team.
These leadership quotes inspire you to be an exceptional leader
A great leader is able to ignite the spark within teams to envision a better tomorrow. But it’s not only about making others dream about what could be possible. Instead, leadership is also about guiding these very people towards the realization of this dream.
210 Great Leadership Quotes from Exceptional Leaders
Throughout the centuries, they have always been remarkable and exceptional leaders. These individuals found effective ways to encourage their followers to push the status quote and to go every extra mile necessary. Even more so, these leaders have managed to remain respected figures of authority while navigating through uncertain waters. The following list of the best leadership quotes stems from remarkably successful leaders who have managed to perfect the art of leading.
To give you a better overview, we’ve categorized the following quotes into these sections:
- Great leadership quotes
- Inspiring leadership quotes
- Famous leadership quotes
- Leadership quotes by women
- Servant leadership quotes
- Funny leadership quotes
- Military leadership quotes
Feel free to skip ahead depending on what interests you most.
Enjoy this collection of great leadership quotes
1.
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
Ronald Reagan
2.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
John Quincy Adams
3.
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
4.
“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
5.
“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”
George S. Patton
6.
“You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.”
Steve Jobs
7.
“Jesus said several times, “Come, follow me.” His was a program of “do what I do,” rather than “do what I say.” His innate brilliance would have permitted him to put on a dazzling display, but that would have left his followers far behind. He walked and worked with those he was to serve. His was not a long-distance leadership. He was not afraid of close friendships; he was not afraid that proximity to him would disappoint his followers. The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led.”
Spencer W. Kimball
8.
“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.”
Dolly Parton
9.
“The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision.”
Ken Blanchard
10.
“It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.”
Adlai E. Stevenson
11.
“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”
John C. Maxwell
12.
“A leader is someone willing to give his strength to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own.”
Beth Revis
13.
“I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.”
Robert E. Lee
14.
“Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.”
John C. Maxwell
15.
“With the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say ‘We have done this ourselves.'”
Lao Tzu
Do you want even more leadership quotes? Keep on reading
16.
“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.”
Theodore Roosevelt
17.
“Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change you believe in.”
Seth Godin
18.
“A leader takes people where they would never go on their own.”
Hans Finzel
19.
“The goal of management is to remove obstacles.”
Paul Orfalea
20.
“When you put together deep knowledge about a subject that intensely matters to you, charisma happens. You gain courage to share your passion, and when you do that, folks follow.”
Jerry Porras
21.
“Leading people is like cooking. Don’t stir too much. It annoys the ingredients. And spoils the food.”
Rick Julian
22.
“It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.”
Warren Bennis
23.
“A man who is willing to humble himself before God and his family and say: “I was wrong.” will find that his family has all the confidence in the world in him and will much more readily follow him. If he stubbornly refuses to repent or admit he was wrong, their confidence in him and in his leadership erodes.”
Jim Anderson
24.
“Always remember, Son, the best boss is the one who bosses the least. Whether it’s cattle, or horses, or men; the least government is the best government”
Ralph Moody
25.
“Teach them the quiet words of kindness, to live beyond themselves. Urge them toward excellence, drive them toward gentleness, pull them deep into yourself, pull them upward toward manhood, but softly like an angel arranging clouds. Let your spirit move through them softly.”
Pat Conroy
26.
“A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give to him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them.”
Brandon Sanderson
27.
“Leaders are not, as we are often led to think, people who go along with huge crowds following them. Leaders are people who go their own way without caring, or even looking to see, whether anyone is following them.”
John Holt
28.
“Leaders live by choice, not by accident.”
Mark Gorman
29.
“Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”
Patrick Lencioni
30.
“He that thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk.”
John C. Maxwell
These leadership quotes are on point
31.
“The ruler attains wholeness in the correct governance of the people.”
Lao Tzu
32.
“Every great leader can take you back to a defining moment when they decided to lead.”
John Paul Warren
33.
“You can’t move up in the staircase of leadership unless you are emotionally intelligent.”
Amit Ray
34.
“Those who let things happen usually lose to those who make things happen.”
Dave Weinbaum
35.
“Accountants are in the past, managers are in the present, and leaders are in the future.”
Paul Orfalea
36.
“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”
Harvey S. Firestone
37.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
Steve Jobs
38.
“There are two kinds of leaders, cowboys, and Shepherds. Cowboys drive and Shepherds lead.”
John Paul Warren
39.
“Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.”
Harold Geneen
40.
“A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them.”
M. D. Arnold
Leadership quotes like this inspire you to greatness
41.
“Real leadership is leaders recognizing that they serve the people that they lead.”
Pete Hoekstra
42.
“Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.”
John Zenger
43.
“The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.”
John Buchan
44.
“A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs.”
Robert Townsend
45.
“A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.”
Leroy Eimes
Inspiring leadership quotes
46.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
William Arthur Ward
47.
“The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.”
Peter Drucker
48.
“Perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it.”
J.K. Rowling
49.
“A leader must lead. Where others see obstacles, he must see opportunities. When others see problems, he must see possibilities.”
David J. Vaughan
50.
“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
51.
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”
Harry S. Truman
52.
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
53.
“Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.”
Roy T. Bennett
54.
“The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority.”
Ken Blanchard
55.
“The first key to leadership is self-control.”
Jack Weatherford
56.
“There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust.”
Klaus Balkenhol
57.
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”
Theodore M. Hesburgh
58.
“A leader… is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”
Nelson Mandela
59.
“The most improper job of any man, is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
60.
“In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be, by remaining what we are.”
Max Depree
61.
“A star wants to see himself rise to the top. A leader wants to see those around him rise to the top.”
Simon Sinek
62.
“Leaders always choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong.”
Orrin Woodward
63.
“Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.”
Seth Godin
64.
“Real leadership is being the person others will gladly and confidently follow.”
John C. Maxwell
65.
“A boss says “go and make sure you do it”; a leader says “let’s go and make it happen”. Bosses control people; leaders involve them.”
Israelmore Ayivor
66.
“A leader should demonstrate his thoughts and opinions through his actions, not through his words.”
Jack Weatherford
67.
“Each day you are leading by example. Whether you realize it or not or whether it’s positive or negative, you are influencing those around you.”
Rob Liano
68.
“Great leaders have three things; inner light, inner vision and inner strength.”
Amit Ray
69.
“Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.”
Orrin Woodward
70.
“No matter how tiny you look, you can lead huge men if you have what the huge men don’t have.”
Michael Bassey Johnson
71.
“If you are good at discouraging yourself, you can’t be a good leader because leadership is built on inspiring others to face challenges.”
Israelmore Ayivor
72.
“Early on I realized that I had to hire people smarter and more qualified than I was in a number of different fields, and I had to let go of a lot of decision-making. I can’t tell you how hard that is. But if you’ve imprinted your values on the people around you, you can dare to trust them to make the right moves.”
Howard Schultz
73.
“Every time you make a rule you take away a choice – and choice, with all of its illuminating repercussions, is the fuel for learning.”
Marcus Buckingham
74.
“People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”
John C. Maxwell
75.
“Your duty is to lead as best you can, following the dictates of your conscience.”
Brandon Sanderson
76.
“The person who sees the difficulties so clearly that he does not discern the possibilities cannot inspire a vision in others.”
J. Oswald Sanders
77.
“Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work.”
Joseph Conrad
78.
“Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.”
John C. Maxwell
Famous leadership quotes
79.
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
John F. Kennedy
80.
“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.”
Ray Kroc
81.
“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
Bill Gates
82.
“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.”
Vince Lombardi
83.
“He said, one time, that no true leader burdened his followers with a greater load than they could carry, and no true leader sets too fast a pace for his follows to keep up.”
Malcolm X
84.
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
Jack Welch
85.
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.”
Andrew Carnegie
86.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
Abraham Lincoln
87.
“Too many kings can ruin an army”
Homer
88.
“Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily, even if you had no title or position.”
Brian Tracy
89.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
Peter Drucker
90.
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”
Albert Schweitzer
91.
“Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.”
Diogenes of Sinope
92.
“The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.”
Seth Godin
93.
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
94.
“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been”
Henry Kissinger
95.
“He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command”
Niccolò Machiavelli
96.
“Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership.”
James Humes
97.
“Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but, leave him when he is wrong.”
Abraham Lincoln
98.
“No great manager or leader ever fell from heaven, its learned not inherited.”
Tom Northup
99.
“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
Tony Blair
100.
“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”
Peter F. Drucker
101.
“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
Woodrow Wilson
102.
“Give as few orders as possible,” his father had told him once long ago. “Once you’ve given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.”
Frank Herbert
103.
“Together we are better”
John Paul Warren
104.
“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”
Arnold Glasow
105.
“Surround yourself with great people; delegate authority; get out of the way”
Ronald Reagan
106.
“Your first and foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then help to orchestrate the energy of those around you.”
Peter F. Drucker
107.
“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”
Mahatma Gandhi
108.
“Tis skill, not strength, that governs a ship”
Thomas Fuller
109.
“When eagles are silent, parrots begin to chatter.”
Winston Churchill
110.
“Start with the end in mind.”
Stephen R. Covey
111.
“To add value to others, one must first value others.”
John Maxwell
112.
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
113.
“There are no office hours for leaders.”
Cardinal J. Gibbons
114.
“Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50 percent of your time in leading yourself–your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20 percent leading those with authority over you and 15 percent leading your peers.”
Dee Hock
115.
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”
Arnold Glasow
116.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
John Maxwell
Leadership quotes by women
117.
“In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.”
Tina Fey
118.
“In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
Sheryl Sandberg
119.
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
120.
“‘Restore connection’ is not just for devices, it is for people too. If we cannot disconnect, we cannot lead.”
Arianna Huffington
121.
“Leadership is the ability to guide others without force into a direction or decision that leaves them still feeling empowered and accomplished.”
Lisa Cash Hanson
122.
“When you accept a leadership role, you take on extra responsibility for your actions toward others.”
Kelley Armstrong
123.
“Leaders are not just born. Sure, some people are born with strong competencies and strengths for leading in certain situations, but it is very clear that leadership can also be developed. That means everyone can strengthen their skills and abilities to lead and influence.”
Dr. Susan Madsen
124.
“Our emerging workforce is not interested in command and control leadership. They don’t want to do things because I said so, they want to do things because they want to do them.”
Irene Rosenfield
125.
“Some leaders are born women.”
Geraldine Ferraro
126.
“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.”
Dolly Parton
127.
“Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.”
Dianne Feinstein
128.
“Leadership is hard to define, and good leadership even harder. But if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader.”
Indra Nooyi
129.
“You don’t need a title to be a leader. You lead by example.”
Jamie Woodburn
130.
“Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.”
Tina Fey
131.
“Finally I was able to see that if I had a contribution I wanted to make, I must do it, despite what others said. That I was OK the way I was. That it was all right to be strong.”
Wangari Maathai
132.
“Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.”
Joanne Ciulla
133.
“I measure my own success as a leader by how well the people who work for me succeed.”
Maria Shi
134.
“Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.”
Margaret Thatcher
135.
“You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.”
Jeanette Rankin
136.
“Great leaders get people to admit the truth because they know that dreams are buried under the lies they tell themselves, in order to feel okay with giving up.”
Shannon L. Alder
137.
“Even if it’s your dog, you’ve got authority over somebody. Start treating him better.”
Joyce Meyer
138.
“Leadership is about the team – the culture they keep and embrace, it’s about empathy for your customers, clients, employees and the communities where you do business, it’s about doing the right thing for the right reasons, being confident enough to take risks and responsible enough to think of those who your decisions and risks may affect.”
Kat Cole
139.
“Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing.”
Mary D. Poole
140.
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
Rosa Parks
141.
“You can live safe and be protected by people just like you, or you can stand up and be a leader for what is right.”
Shannon L. Alder
142.
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
143.
“Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.”
Margaret Wheatley
144.
“Part of leadership is knowing when to go ahead with a decision that’s within your authority because you’re really convinced it’s the right thing, even if other people don’t understand it at that point.”
Dr Ingrid Mattson
145.
“The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first.”
Iyanla Vanzant
146.
“Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.”
Elizabeth Gilbert
147.
“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence, and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
Sheryl Sandberg
Servant leadership quotes
148.
“You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others.”
Gordon B. Hinckley
149.
“My research debunks the myth that many people seem to have… that you become a leader by fighting your way to the top. Rather, you become a leader by helping others to the top. Helping your employees is as important, and many times more so, than trying to get the most work out of them.”
William Cohen
150.
“If leadership serves only the leader, it will fail. Ego satisfaction, financial gain, and status can all be valuable tools for a leader, but if they become the only motivations, they will eventually destroy a leader. Only when service for a common good is the primary purpose are you truly leading.”
Sheila Murray Bethel
151.
“Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.”
Roy T. Bennett
152.
“Remember that mentor leadership is all about serving. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Tony Dungy
153.
“True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.”
Sheri L. Dew
154.
“A person who is worthy of being a leader wants power not for himself, but in order to be of service.”
Sam J. Ervin, Jr.
155.
“Servant-leadership is more than a concept, it is a fact. Any great leader, by which I also mean an ethical leader of any group, will see herself or himself as a servant of that group and will act accordingly.”
M. Scott Peck
156.
“Great leaders create more leaders, not followers.”
Roy T. Bennett
157.
“Servant-leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don’t work for you, you work for them.”
Ken Blanchard
158.
“The servant-leader is servant first. Becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is a leader first.”
Robert Greenleaf
159.
“Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders live to serve. Period.”
Tom Peters
160.
“Ultimately, a leader is not judged so much by how well he or she leads, but by how well he or she serves.”
Kevin Cashman
161.
“A new moral principle is emerging, which holds that the only authority deserving of one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader.”
Robert Greenleaf
162.
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”
Max De Pree
163.
“I don’t think there’s anything as wonderful in life as being able to help someone else.”
Betty Ford
164.
“One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”
Gordon B. Hinckley
165.
“People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
John C. Maxwell
166.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Mahatma Gandhi
167.
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader.”
John C. Maxwell
Funny leadership quotes
168.
“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.”
Michael Scott
169.
“Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men – the other 999 follow women.”
Groucho Marx
170.
“The problem with being a leader is that you’re never sure if you’re being followed or chased.”
Claire A. Murray
171.
“First rule of leadership: everything is your fault.”
John Lasseter
172.
“Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.”
John Naisbitt
173.
“Leader. Ship. The word ‘ship’ is hidden in side the word ‘leadership,’ as its… derivation.”
Michael Scott
174.
“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t!”
Margaret Thatcher
175.
“When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”
Ronald Reagan
176.
“It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead — and find no one there.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
177.
“Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
178.
“Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.”
Paul Hawken
179.
“Leadership has been defined as the ability to hide your panic from others.”
Lao Tzu
180.
“Unfortunately it’s also true to say that good management is a bit like oxygen – it’s invisible and you don’t notice its presence until it’s gone, and then you’re sorry.”
Charles Stross
181.
“You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can’t sit on it for long.”
Boris Yeltsin
182.
“He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.”
Aristotle
183.
“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
184.
“You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
185.
“Success in almost any field depends more on energy and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains why we have so many stupid leaders.”
Sloan Wilson
186.
“They accepted my donation, so they’re aware they’d better serve my interests or I’ll buy some leadership that will.”
Tom Robbins
187.
“Being a leader is making the people you love hate you a little more each day.”
Patrick Ness
188.
“The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.”
Casey Stengel
189.
“Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes.”
Lewis Grizzard
190.
“Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.”
Euripides
191.
“People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”
Thomas Sowell
192.
“When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy.”
Dave Barry
193.
“The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
Carl Sagan
194.
“If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you. If you really make them think, they’ll hate you.”
Don Marquis
195.
“There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.”
Alexandre Ledru-Rollin
Military leadership quotes
196.
“Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.”
George S. Patton Jr.
197.
“The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
Colin Powell
198.
“If soldiers are punished before they have grown attached to you, they will not prove submissive; and, unless submissive, then will be practically useless. If, when the soldiers have become attached to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be unless.”
Sun Tzu
199.
“A general never shows despair. He instills confidence in his troops. He leads them forward, even into the mouth of death.”
Rick Riordan
200.
“Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.”
Peter Drucker
201.
“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”
Douglas MacArthur
202.
“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.”
Colin Powell
203.
“It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.”
General Norman Schwarzkopf
204.
“There’s likely a place in paradise for people who tried hard, but what really matters is succeeding. If that requires you to change, that’s your mission.”
Stanley McChrystal
205.
“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”
Dwight Eisenhower
206.
“To get the best out of your men, they must feel that you are their real leader and must know that they can depend upon you.”
John J. Pershing
207.
“Because the crew was convinced that I was “on their team” there were never any issues with negative criticism… You as a mentor have to establish that you are sincerely interested in the problems of the person you are mentoring.”
L. David Marquet
208.
“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”
Douglas MacArthur
209.
“The truly great leader overcomes all difficulties, and campaigns and battles are nothing but a long series of difficulties to be overcome. The lack of equipment, the lack of food, the lack of this or that are only excuses; the real leader displays his quality in his triumphs over adversity, however great it may be.”
General of the Army George C Marshall
209.
“The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will follow.”
Colin Powell
I hope you enjoyed this collection of the best leadership quotes. What does it take to be a great leader? We’re excited to hear from you in the comment section below.
Stay victorious!
