Home

Famous Leadership Quotes
that Inspire

How do you identify a good leader?

John C. Maxwell wrote:

"A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him."

People have natural inclinations to improve and progress. It is there since we were born.

People keep on thinking and looking for new ideas that can improve man's station in life, new things that can change the world for the better. And this is a good thing.

John Kennedy said:

"We need men who can dream of things that never were." (1963, Dublin)

One way of understanding leadership is to think of someone who can make or inspire someone else to follow him or her with the intention of accomplishing things that are most often worthwhile.

Therefore, we can understand the meaning of leadership with reference to a person who has another person or a group of persons as a follower.

Leadership is of crucial importance in your organization's aim to achieve its targets. By adopting the right leadership style you can help transform your organization and change the way your people think.


An Idle Life
Certain famous leadership quotes can spur us to move away from idleness.

To George Bernard Shaw,

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."

What can make you a leader?
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) the 35th US President, 1961-63, said:

“The human mind is our fundamental resource.”

To Samuel Johnson, "Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion."

Purpose is important to Kenneth Hildebrand. He states:

"Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes."

And according to Stephen Covey, "Strength lies in differences, not in similarities."

Where do Leaders Come From?
"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."
- Vince Lombardi

There is a Leader Somewhere in the Organization
"If people are coming to work excited...if they're making mistakes freely and fearlessly...if they're having fun...if they're concentrating doing things, rather than preparing reports and going to meetings - then somewhere you have leaders."- Robert Townsend

Famous Leadership Quotes on a Leader's True Virtue
Persistence will win the day.

"The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling."
- Lucretius

A leader has the people's well-being at heart...

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."
- Woodrow Wilson

A leader gives hope...

Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, said:

"A leader is a dealer in hope."

On Man's Leadership Success
It is said that gold is tested by fire.

And that man is tested by power.

Some famous leadership quotes on measuring how successful a leader is...

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome."
- Booker T. Washington

"It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test."- Elbert Hubbard

The Leader as a Teacher
Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote:

"The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.

The Making of a Leader
A leader is "made" although there are some who demonstrate natural leadership qualities.

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way."
- John C. Maxwell

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

What Differentiate a Leader from a Great Leader
Here are some famous leadership quotes on this theme.

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."
- Rosalynn Carter

Famous leadership quotes on leaders' ability to solve problems. Leaders must strive to become part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Leaders Make Plan and Solve Problems
"It's not the plan that is important, it's the planning."
- Graeme Edwards

"Leaders are problem solvers by talent and temperament, and by choice."
- Harlan Cleveland

"Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings."
- John F. Kennedy, speech at The American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963

A Leader Inspires
"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle."
- General Dwight David Eisenhower

A Leader is Ethical
Lee Iacocca said:

"I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it."

A Leader Gives Everything
"I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work."
- Harry S. Truman

The Worth of a Leader who Knows No Limitation
Henry Ford said:

"I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done."

Whether you are the CEO, HR Manager, HR professional, line manager or manager of any description, or supervisor, you will benefit by reading famous leadership quotes or some other inspiring quotes.

May these give you the insights and help that you need when the going gets tough.

Ronald Reagan once said that "A leader, once convinced that a particular course of action is the right one, must be undaunted when the going gets tough."

To Home Page