Quotes about Leadership
Great Words in History (776 quotes)
This section Quotes about Leadership has over 776 quotes made by great men and women of old. Learn about them here and apply them in your speeches, talks and use them for your personal inspiration.
Over the years, many great leaders of old have made quotes about leadership that are worth mentioning again and again because they represent principles that are timeless. No matter how times change, there are certain truths about life that stand forever, whether in 1000 BC or in 2050 AD.
As such, these quotes are extremely beneficial for you for use, for meditation and inspiration.
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Benefits of Quotes
» Quotes are useful for lending credibility to a point.
Most of us do not have the authority to preach or expound on life, when the fact is that most of us are trying to figure out our lives ourselves. However, when we use quotes in our speeches or talks, we are borrowing authority from these leaders of old. We are using their opinion and hence it delivers with much more impact than otherwise.
Some time ago, I was trying to explain to my team the importance of having a vision in their lives, suddenly the quote, ‘The man doesn’t make the vision, but the vision makes the man’. This was said by the pastor of the largest church in the history of Christianity.
The credibility that I borrowed from this man gave me the power to speak deeper into my team’s lives. If I had said it on my own authority, people might have doubted what I said. But I had said it on a great leader’s authority. This helped me put it across and for people to receive it without doubt.
» Quotes are useful in explaining principles.
Besides that, quotes about leadership are also useful in explaining certain principles as well. For example, if you needed to talk to your team about commitment, you can look up commitment quotes in the section below.
There are times when I’m stuck explaining a certain principle, a quote will come up that will remind me about a certain leadership principle that would immediately give me an added dimension to explaining the point.
Immediately I could follow up with an explanation and elaboration, and it added a lot more substance to what I said.
» Quotes are useful for your personal inspiration.
It’s powerful to read through quotes about leadership and start meditating on one or two of them. Often, they are filled with truths and principles that we should focus on.
If there was ever a time you need motivation or inspiration, looking through quotes about leadership will be extremely useful.
In the section below, I have prepared first a list of great leadership quotes with elaborations that you can use for your speeches or even personal reflections. Besides quoting the quote, I have also added my own insights in it.
Table of Quotes
This is a summarized table of all the links to quotes in this page. If you want to see a short description of each quote, scroll down for more detail.
Elaborations on
Quotes about Leadership
Herbert B. Swope:
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody.
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Isaac Newton:
If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower:
You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.
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General George S. Patton:
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
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Goethe:
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
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Mahatma Gandhi:
If I have the belief that I can do it, I will surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning.
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Vince Lombardi:
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.
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Donald Trump:
Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that's more productive.
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John Wooden:
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
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Jack Welch:
Control your own destiny or someone else will.
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Abraham Lincoln:
I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.
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Nicco Machiavelli:
I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
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Pearl S Buck:
The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.
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Anonymous:
There is no I in Team.
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Bonus Links
to Quotes
You will find more quotes about leadership and other aspects of leadership in the BONUS LINKS below. These are the top quotes about each aspect of leadership I have found and I recommend you use these quotes for your speeches and talks.
30 Top Attitude Quotes
Quotes about the having a great attitude.
30 Top Courage Quotes
Quotes about the value of courage.
20 Top Commitment Quotes
Quotes about the importance of commitment.
30 Top Vision Quotes
Quotes about having a vision in life.
30 Top Team Building Quotes
Quotes about building successful teams.
30 Top Change Quotes
Quotes about embracing change in life.
20 Top Integrity Quotes
Quotes about the need of integrity.
20 Top Self-Discipline Quotes
Quotes about disciplining oneself.
21 Top Passion Quotes
Quotes about living a passionate life.
21 Top Management Quotes
Quotes about management of people in organizations.
21 Top Leadership Quotes
Quotes about true effective leadership.
30 Top Dream Quotes
Quotes about the importance of dreams.
21 Top Education Quotes
Quotes about the value of education.
25 Top Encouragement Quotes
Quotes about the need to constant encourage others.
45 Top Failure Quotes
Quotes about using failure in your life to your advantage.
30 Top Freedom Quotes
Quotes about power of true freedom.
20 Top Faith Quotes
Quotes about the power of faith.
21 Top Honesty Quotes
Quotes about the importance of being honest.
20 Top Hope Quotes
Quotes about the power of hope.
30 Top Inspiring Quotes
Quotes about life that will inspire you.
22 Top Action Quotes
Quotes that will move you to action today.
23 Top Appreciation Quotes
Quotes about the power of appreciating others.
23 Top Forgiveness Quotes
Quotes that teach you to forgive and let go of offenses.
21 Top Goal Setting Quotes
Quotes that about the importance of setting goals in your life.
25 Top Growth Quotes
Quotes that lifelong learning and growing.
21 Top Habit Quotes
Quotes about the power of habit in changing your life
22 Top Persistence Quotes
Quotes about pressing on and never giving up.
21 Top Positive Quotes
Quotes about staying optimistic and positive.
21 Top Relationship Quotes
Quotes about keeping and building good relationships.
35 Top Success Quotes
Quotes about achieving true success in your life.
27 Top Work Quotes
Quotes about working hard and striving for your goals.
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Leadership Resources
Here are just a few of the pages that offer useful leadership resources for you. You will become a more equipped leader with these:
Great Quotes on leadership that you can use or be inspired by!
Movies: A collection on awesome leadership movies to teach leadership
Team Exercises: Some team building game ideas for you
Books: Some great books you can buy to enrich yourself
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