Leadership

Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. ~ Swami Sivananda
A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd. ~Rumi
Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him. ~ Booker T. Washington
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ~ Mark Twain
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr
"The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. ~ Margaret Chase Smith
Persons of high self-esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek to prove their value by measuring themselves against a comparative standard. ~ Nathaniel Branden
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~ William Arthur Ward
A leader ... is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind." Nelson Mandela
Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another. ~ John C. Maxwell
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
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them." ~ John C. Maxwell
You are not here merely to make a living … You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. ~ Woodrow Wilson
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men. ~ Lao Tzu
Don't tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. ~ George S. Patton Jr.
A leader isn't someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own. ~ Beth Revis
The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets people to do the greatest things. ~ Ronald Reagan
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. ~ Rosalyn Carter
The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. ~ Colin Powell
Always remember, Son, the best boss is the one who bosses the least. Whether it's cattle, or horses, or men, the least government is the best government. ~ Ralph Moody
If you really want the key to success, start by doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing. ~ Brad Szollose
In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn't necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it. ~ Seth Godin
If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar. ~ Orrin Woodward
A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them. ~ M.D. Arnold
Show me the man you honor and I will know what kind of man you are. ~ Thomas John Carlisle (What about women, Tommy, any honorable women out there in your day?
The challenge of leadership is to be strong but not rude; be kind but not weak; be bold but not a bully; be humble but not timid; be proud but not arrogant; have humor but without folly. ~ Jim Rohn
When you put together deep knowledge about a subject that intensely matters to you, charisma happens. You gain courage to share your passion, and when you do that, folks follow. ~ Jerry Porras
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
It is absolutely necessary ... for me to have persons that can think for me, as well as execute orders. ~ George Washington
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet. ~ Father Theodore M. Hesburgh
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
I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ~ Ralph Nader
"The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. ~ Charles Schwab
The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. ~ Charles Schwab
You cannot do a kindness too soon, because you never know how soon it will be too late. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Keep your eyes open and try to catch people in your company doing something right, then praise them for it. ~ Tom Hopkins
To have long-term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way. ~ Pat Riley
A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better. ~ Steve Jobs
A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. ~ John Maxwell
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. ~ George Patton
Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement. ~ Golda Meir
Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. ~ Peter Drucker
Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want. ~ Dianne Feinstein
The things we fear most in organizations – fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances – are the primary sources of creativity. ~ Margaret Wheatley
What is needed is people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others. ~ Ella J. Baker, Civil Rights Activist
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when the work is done, they will say: we did it ourselves. ~ Lao Tzu
When people made up their minds that they wanted to be free and took action, then there was a change. ~ Rosa Parks
Never doubt that a small number of dedicated people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead
Clearly no one knows what leadership has gone undiscovered in women of all races, and in black and other minority men. ~ Gloria Steinem
There go the people. I must follow them for I am their leader. ~ Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, French Politician
True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed…. Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection. ~ Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook
Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it. ~ Warren Bennis, Management Consultant
Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish. ~ Anne Bradstreet, Poet
You have to look at leadership through the eyes of the followers and you have to live the message. I have learned that people become motivated when you guide them to the source of their own power. Anita Roddick, Entrepreneur
We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. ~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt
There is no investment you can make which will pay you so well as the effort to scatter sunshine and good cheer through your establishment. ~ Orison Swett Marden
No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.
Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon
True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason. ~Alfred North Whitehead
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. ~Hubert Humphrey
There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. ~G.K. Chesterton
It is a mistake to imagine that potentially great men are rare. It is the conditions that permit the promise of greatness to be fulfilled that are rare. ~ Fred Hoyle
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. ~George S. Patton
It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking to it that one overcomes it; often it is by working on the one next to it. Some things and some people have to be approached obliquely, at an angle. ~André Gide
Listen to your gut ... stick with what you know ... sometimes the best investments are the ones you don’t make. ~ Donald Trump
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants. ~Isaac Newton, letter to Robert Hooke, 5 February 1675
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. ~Jonathan Swift, "Thoughts on Various Subjects," Miscellanies, 1711
Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them. ~ Robert Jarvik
O, it is excellent To have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant. --Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, II, 2
We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves. - Galileo Galilei