Leadership is one of those things that can be difficult to define and even more difficult to master. But, while there may not be a single definition of leadership that everyone agrees on, there are certain traits and characteristics that are often associated with successful leaders.
In this post, we've collected 89 quotes about leadership from some of the most famous and influential people throughout history. We hope you'll find these quotes inspiring and insightful as you continue your own journey towards becoming a great leader.
Quotes About Leadership
2. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
3. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. - Nelson Mandela
4. 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
5. 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 concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. - Colin Powell
6. Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked leadership is defined by results not attributes. - Peter Drucker
7. I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles but today it means getting along with people. - Mahatma Gandhi
8. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected. - Steve Jobs
9. Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them. - W. Clement Stone
10. Don't find fault, find a remedy. - Henry Ford
11. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. - Steve Jobs
12. When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves.' - Lao Tzu
13. Management is doing things right leadership is doing the right things. - Peter Drucker
14. Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. - John D. Rockefeller
15. A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. - Max Lucado
16. Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower
17. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. - John Quincy Adams
18. Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. - Henry Ward Beecher
19. Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. - Jim Rohn
20. Leadership - leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses. - Mitt Romney
21. A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason. - J. P. Morgan
22. The cautious seldom err. - Confucius
23. Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. - Stephen Covey
24. A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. - John C. Maxwell
25. People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives. - Theodore Roosevelt
26. Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention. - Jim Rohn
27. A leader is a dealer in hope. - Napoleon Bonaparte
28. People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. - Thomas Sowell
29. Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people. - John D. Rockefeller
30. He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious. - Sun Tzu
31. Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned. - Harold S. Geneen
32. If you want a quality, act as if you already had it. - William James
33. Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention. - Deepak Chopra
34. 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
35. Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. - John C. Maxwell
36. No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. - Andrew Carnegie
37. Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions. - Harold S. Geneen
33. Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention. - Deepak Chopra
34. 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
35. Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. - John C. Maxwell
36. No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. - Andrew Carnegie
37. Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions. - Harold S. Geneen
Thought: Every single man and woman, who by their actions (or inactions) has left a mark on this world, has done it with leadership. The principle of leadership is simple: lead or get out of the way. It does not matter what you are doing; whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee at Subway, if you want to become successful you have to lead.
38. 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
39. To succeed in business it is necessary to make others see things as you see them. - Aristotle Onassis
40. You have to think anyway, so why not think big? - Donald Trump
41. 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
42. Example is leadership. - Albert Schweitzer
43. The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. - Henry A. Kissinger
44. People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. - Peter Drucker
45. If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it. - William James
46. If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully. - Thomas Fuller
47. High expectations are the key to everything. - Sam Walton
48. If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade. - Tom Peters
49. Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better. - Bill Bradley
50. Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily. - Thomas Szasz
51. Leadership is influence. - John C. Maxwell
52. Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players. - Larry Bird
53. No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto. - W. Clement Stone
54. How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking. - David Joseph Schwartz
55. Go as far as you can see when you get there, you'll be able to see farther. - J. P. Morgan
56. A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone. - Henry A. Kissinger
57. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. - Warren G. Bennis
58. The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes. - Tony Blair
59. Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level. - Peter Drucker
60. People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. - John C. Maxwell
61. The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way. - Henry Miller
62. Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions. - Bo Bennett
63. There are three secrets to managing. The first secret is have patience. The second is be patient. And the third most important secret is patience. - Chuck Tanner
64. No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit. - Andrew Carnegie
65. Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get. - Ray Kroc
66. Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference. - Nolan Bushnell
67. The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves. - Ray Kroc
68. It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it. - Henry A. Kissinger
69. Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. - Tom Peters
70. In fair weather prepare for foul. - Thomas Fuller
71. The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell. - Andrew Carnegie
72. Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority. - Tom Hopkins
73. When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier. - Roy E. Disney
74. The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided. - Casey Stengel
75. Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why. - Bernard Baruch
76. The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act. - Barbara Sher
77. The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both. - Vaclav Havel
78. The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang. - Mary Kay Ash
79. The secret of my success is a two word answer: Know people. - Harvey S. Firestone
80. Doing is a quantum leap from imagining. - Barbara Sher
81. Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things. - Jesse Jackson
82. Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard. - Warren G. Bennis
83. Clarity affords focus. - Thomas Leonard
84. I'm not a natural leader. I'm too intellectual I'm too abstract I think too much. - Newt Gingrich
85. The employer generally gets the employees he deserves. - J. Paul Getty
86. Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal. - E. Joseph Cossman
87. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn't any limit to what you can do with your business and your life. Ideas are any man's greatest asset. - Harvey S. Firestone
88. I look for what needs to be done. After all, that's how the universe designs itself. - R. Buckminster Fuller
89. Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. - Margaret Fuller
We hope you enjoyed this collection of quotes. Check out our picture quote of the day here.
