Leadership Quotes

In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.

Washington's is the mightiest name of earth - long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty; still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name no eulogy is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun, or glory to the name of Washington, is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendor leave it shining on.

The United States stands willing to work with a transformed Palestinian Authority with new leaders coming to the front.

The Master has no mind of her own. She works with the mind of the people. She is good to people who are good. She is also good to people who aren't good. This is true goodness. She trusts people who are trustworthy. She also trusts people who aren't trustworthy. This is true trust. The Master's mind is like space. People don't understand her. They look to her and wait. She treats them like her own children.

Democracy is the best chance for the best people.

It is not difficult to govern. All one has to do is not to offend the noble families.

You add value to people when you value them.

Leadership is more doing than dash.

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

Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Don't ever underestimate the power of planning. You can't make your vision come to life unless you outline each goal-driven step at a time. And you can't reach your full potential unless you plan how to make the most of your purpose and passion. When you look around and see people who are the captains of their ship, invariably they have taken pains to chart their successful course through life.

If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.

A proven leader always has a proven track record.

What is most important of this grand experiment, the United States? Not the election of the first president but the election of its second president. The peaceful transition of power is what will separate this country from every other country in the world.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

A leader is useless when he acts against the promptings of his own conscience.

While personal maturity may mean being able to see beyond yourself, leadership maturity means considering others before yourself.

How can you respect the world when you see it's being run by a bunch of kids turned old?

I've found that South Africa has produced good leaders. These are people who realize that when there is danger, they should be in the forefront and when there is victory to be celebrated, they should be in the background, allowing their colleagues and the ordinary civilians - the man in the street - to rejoice and to celebrate that victory.

The capacity of any conqueror is more likely than not to be an illusion produced by the incapacity of his adversary.

The bottomline in leadership isn't how far we advance ourselves but how far we advance others.

I say no body of men are fit to make Presidents, judges and generals, unless they themselves supply the best specimens of the same; and that supplying one or two such specimens illuminates the whole body for a thousand years.

I don't think any woman in power really has a happy life unless she's got a large number of women friends ... because you sometimes must go and sit down and let down your hair with someone you can trust totally.

I think the players win the championship, and the organization has something to do with it, don't get me wrong. But don't try to put the organization above the players.

Trust is the essence of Leadership.

Dictators can be deterred, they can be crushed - but they can never be appeased.

I think Hillary Clinton could do whatever she puts her mind to. I really do. She's incredibly dedicated to public service, she is smart as a whip, and she's effective.

The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery.

The art of governing consists simply of being honest, exercising common sense, following principle, and doing what is right and just.

To be an influencer, you have to love people before you can try to lead them.

First you train the followers to accomplish the mission. Second, you resource them: Make sure that they have the tools to do the job. Third, you reward them: You give them medals or bonuses.

A government can be no better than the public opinion which sustains it.

To praise princes for virtues they do not possess is to insult them without fear of consequences.

The superior man undergoes three changes. Looked at from a distance, he appears stern; when approached, he is mild; when he is heard to speak, his language is firm and decided.

Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves.

I'm not the perfectionist anymore. It's my staff. They're the ones always insisting on doing something better and better.

Rulers come and go. It's the people who are the real rulers of the country.

Learn to lead in a nourishing manner.Learn to lead without being possessive.Learn to be helpful without taking the credit.Learn to lead without coercion.

The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances.

After watching the State of the Union address the other night [1994], I'm reminded of the old adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Only in this case, it's not flattery, but grand larceny: the intellectual theft of ideas that you and I recognize as our own. Speech delivery counts for little on the world stage unless you have convictions, and, yes, the vision to see beyond the front row seats.

You may give give a man office, but you cannot give him discretion

A true leader produces more leaders.

You cannot kindle a fire in any other heart until it is burning in your own.

Some men can get results if kindly encouraged, but give me the kind that do things in spite of hell.

He conquers twice, who shows mercy to the conquered.

When abroad, behaveto everyone as if interviewing an honored guest; in directing the people, act as if you were assisting at a great sacrafice; DO NOT DO TO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD NOT LIKE DONE TO YOURSELF: so there will be no murmuring against you in the country, and none in the family; your public life will arouse no ill-will nor your private life any resentment.

A fundamental responsibility of leadership is make sure that everybody knows the mission, understands it, lives it.

The true measure of leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.

When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself. They'll want to do what's best for Apple, not what's best for them, what's best for Steve, or anybody else.

Your goal as a leader isn't to be indispensable to the people you lead; it is to leave your people something that is indispensable to them.

It must be a conviction Government. As Prime Minister I could not waste time having internal arguments.

A company is known by the people it keeps.

There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hope soon to be swept away.

People who are not prepared to do unpopular things and defy the clamor of the multitude are not fit to be ministers in time of difficulty.

I have surrounded myself with very smart people.

If princes and kings were not exalted they might be overthrown.

Thomas Jefferson made a comment about the Presidency and age. He said that one should not worry about one's exact chronological age in reference to his ability to perform one's task. And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

My greatest reward is that I have been able to build this wonderful organization.

Kings are not born: they are made by artificial hallucination.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

The collective influence of you and the other leaders will bring the rest along. If this does not happen, divided interest and loyalty will occur within the group.