If you want to be a leader, start by reading about leadership. There are many great leadership quotes, but these are a few of my favorites that I think everyone should hear.
Leadership is about knowing yourself and connecting with others. Knowing who you are and what your goals.
Leadership is one of the most important skills that each one of us will need to master at some point in our lives. But not everybody knows what it is, let alone how to be a good one.
If you’ve ever been in a leadership role before, you know how difficult it can be. You may feel like you’re constantly swimming upstream. The good news is that leadership skills are learnable.
You can be a better leader – and a happier person – today. I’ve compiled a list of the best leadership quotes from history’s greatest leaders, past and present, for your reading enjoyment. I hope you find these quotes as insightful and inspiring as I did.
Leadership Quotes
I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? – Benjamin Disraeli
Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities. – Napoleon Hill
The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will take you. – John Maxwell
The only reason to aspire to lead is because you aspire to serve. – Unknown
Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why. – Bernard Baruch
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion. – Alexander the Great
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created them. – Einstein
You don’t have to lead, if you have the heart to come from behind. – Priyanshu Singh
Be open to new possibilities; allow potentiality to cross your path. – HR
The secret to getting ahead is to get started. – Mark Twain
Read More: Words of Encouragement
A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit. – Arnold H. Glasow
If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade. – Tom Peters
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. – Ralph Nader
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. – Henry Kissinger
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. – Lao Tzu
The Most Famous Leadership Quotes
Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther. – J. P. Morgan
You manage things; you lead people. – Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper
The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act. – Barbara Sher
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. – John Maxwell
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. – Warren Bennis
How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking. – David Joseph Schwartz
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions. – Harold S. Geneen
The supreme quality of leadership is integrity. – Unknown
Where there is no vision, the people perish. – Proverbs
Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal. – E. Joseph Cossman
Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. – Tom Peters
No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. – Andrew Carnegie
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 DePree
Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people. – John D. Rockefeller
The best competition I have is against myself to become better. – Coach Wooden
Leading is a skill, not a gift. You’re not born with it, you learn how. – Seth Godin
What I’ve really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership. – Bob Iger
Inspirational Quotes About Leadership
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. – John C. Maxwell
Everyone has to believe in something. If you want to succeed, believe in you. – Unknown
Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. – General George Patton
Always do everything you ask of those you command. – General Patton
A leader should care way more about HOW people are doing rather than HOW they are doing their work. – Perrynoble
The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning. – Pele
Vision can start anywhere. – Jesse Lyn Stoner
You don’t need a title to be a leader. – Multiple Attributions
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. – General Norman Schwarzkopf
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. – Dale Carnegie
Success in your personal & business Life doesn’t happen without You. It’s ready when You Are. – Lori Moreno
The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang. – Mary Kay Ash
A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position. – John Maxwell
It is rare to find a business partner who is selfless. If you are lucky it happens once in a lifetime. – Michael Eisner
Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes. – Peter Drucker
The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground. – Winston Churchill
As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. – Bill Gates
Forgiveness is complete when you don’t bring it up to them, don’t bring it up to others, and don’t bring it up to yourself. – Dave Ferguson
The Best Quotes On Leadership
The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully. – Jim Rohn
To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less. – Andre Malraux
Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions. – Bo Bennett
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. – Maya Angelou
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. – Stephen Covey
I’m blessed to be a blessing to someone else. – Joel Osteen
Leaders learn to leverage the problems that never go away in a way to create progress for the organization. – Andy Stanley
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. – John C. Maxwell
He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander. – Aristotle
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. – Kenneth Blanchard
A ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward. – Ovid
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. – Publilius Syrus
I have always supported measures and principles and not men. – Davy Crockett
Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy. – Brian Tracy
Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best. – Chester W. Nimitz
Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success. – David Joseph Schwartz
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead
Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems. – Brian Tracy
Short Quotes On Leadership
A leader is a dealer in hope. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The undisciplined pursuit of more is how the mighty fall. – Jim Collins
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. – Margaret Fuller
Leadership is influence. – John C. Maxwell
Earn your leadership every day. – Michael Jordan
Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching. – George Van Valkenburg
Leaders never outgrow the need to change. – John Maxwell
Surround yourself with people who make you better. – Unknown
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. – John F. Kennedy
Don’t find fault, find a remedy. – Henry Ford
Growth inside fuels growth outside. – John Maxwell
Talent is a gift, but the character is a choice. – John Maxwell
High expectations are the key to everything. – Sam Walton
Show me your friend and I will show you your character. – Proverb
I don’t know any other way to lead but by example. – Don Shula
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. – Steve Jobs
Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. – Theodore Roosevelt
The miracle is this, the more we share, the more we have. – Leonard Nimoy
In fair weather prepare for foul. – Thomas Fuller
Never give an order that can’t be obeyed. – General Douglas MacArthur
Education is the mother of leadership. – Wendell Willkie
Great Leadership Quotes
People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. – Thomas Sowell
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. – General George Patton
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. – Peter Drucker
When placed in command, take charge. – Norman Schwarzkopf
Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word. – Jim Rohn
If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever. – Thomas Aquinas
The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes. – Tony Blair
The leader has to be practical & a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary & the idealist. – Eric Hoffer
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. – John Maxwell
Read More: Positive Affirmations
One of the greatest joys of leadership is assembling and knitting together teams of fantastic people. – Bill Hybels
Problems are only opportunities in work clothes. – Henry J. Kaiser
Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position. – Brian Tracy
Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. – Bill Bradley
You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. – Ken Kesey
Good Leadership Quotes For Work
If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right. – Henry Ford
Leadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts. – Erskine Bowles
When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat. – Ronald Reagan
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. – Henry Ward Beecher
Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish. – Sam Walton
Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time. – George W. Bush
What you do has a far greater impact than what you say. – Stephen Covey
Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. – Aldous Huxley
My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence. – General Montgomery
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
Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or conclude you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. – Colin Powell
thanks for sharing