Motivational Quotes for Leaders
by Whitney Hopler, Communications Manager
The topic of leadership encompasses so many skills that it can be difficult to define. Essentially, leaders influence other people. Whether or not that influence leads to good results depends on many different factors. These motivational leadership quotes from famous people can shed some light on who leaders are and what they do:
“Leadership is influence.” – John C. Maxwell
“There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage.” – Fuchan Yuan
“The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.”- Dwight Eisenhower
“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
“Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them … Ruling others has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else.” – Baltasar Gracián
“A bold onset is half the battle.” – Giuseppe Garibaldi
“Rely on your own strength of body and soul. Take for your star self-reliance, faith, honesty and industry. Don’t take too much advice — keep at the helm and steer your own ship, and remember that the great art of commanding is to take a fair share of the work. Fire above the mark you intend to hit. Energy, invincible determination with the right motive, are the levers that move the world.” – Noah Porter
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader.” – George S. Patton
“In governing, don’t try to control.” – Tao Te Ching
“A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” – Aristotle
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” – George Patton
“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.” – Andrew Jackson
“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
“Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.” – Harold S. Geneen
“In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be, by remaining what we are.” – Max DePree
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Harold R. McAlindon
“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
“When you practice leadership, the evidence of quality of your leadership, is known from the type of leaders that leaders that emerge out of your leadership.” – Sujit Lalwani
“Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions.” – Bo Bennett
“Lead by inspiration, not intimidation.” – Rebecca Aguilar
“Real leadership is leaders recognizing that they serve the people that they lead.” – Pete Hoekstra
“Together, we are better.” – John Paul Warren
“Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.” – Seth Godin
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