Launch Toward Amazing Success With These Leadership Quotes By Great Leaders

"Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." Stephen Covey

"When one does not have the passion that flows from finding and using one’s voice to serve great purposes, the void is filled with insecurity and the empty chatter of a thousand voices that drive the social mirror.”

"I believe that a life of integrity is the most fundamental source of personal worth. I do not agree with the popular success literature that says that self-esteem is primarily a matter of mind set, of attitude — that you can psych yourself into peace of mind. Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way.”

“If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.”

"Through years of study, teaching and working with people all over the world, from all walks of life, I have determined that leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential in a way that is so clear that they come to see it in themselves."

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

"Live out of your imagination, not your history."

"Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships."

"Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important."

"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions."

"You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good."

"Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful." John Maxwell

"The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.”

"A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position."

"A leader is great, not because of his or her power, but because of his or her ability to empower others."

"If you wouldn’t follow yourself, why should anyone else?" 

"When people respect you as a person, they admire you. When they respect you as a friend, they love you. When they respect you as a leader, they follow you."

"Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential."

"The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up."

"Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have."

"Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them."

"As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me."

"The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one."

"People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision."

"Leaders who fail to prune their pride will meet demise. That's not a guess, it's a guarantee. With pride, it's not a matter of 'if' we will fall, but 'when.' There are no exceptions."

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

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."  Thomas Jefferson

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."  Margaret Mead

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."  Martin Luther King Jr.

"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

"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

"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm."  Publilius Syrus

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

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes."  Peter Drucker

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts"  Winston Churchill

"Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan."  John F. Kennedy

"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

"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others."  Robert Louis Stevenson

"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

"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."  Warren Bennis

"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."  Ralph Nader

"The most effective way to do it, is to do it."  Amelia Earhart

“Great leaders are willing to sacrifice their own personal interests for the good of the team.”   John Wooden

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”  Jim Rohn

Something to Think About

"You people with hearts,' he said once, 'have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful."

L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz