Leader Quotes

500+ Sourced quotes

John Kotter

Newt Gingrich

Frances Perkins

Walter Lippmann

James Callaghan

Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell

Jerry Falwell

No amount of study or learning will make a man a leader unless he has the natural qualities of one.

Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell

A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they aren't still there, he's no longer a political leader.

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.

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

John C. Maxwell

Not only the priceless heritage of our fathers, of our seamen, of our Empire builders is being thrown away in a war that serves no British interests - but our alliance leader Stalin dreams of nothing but the destruction of that heritage of our fathers?

Leadership is hard to define and good leadership even harder. But if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader. As a leader I am tough on myself and I raise the standard for everybody; however I am very caring because I want people to excel at what they are doing so that they can aspire to be me in the future.

The quality of his being one with his people, of having no artificial or natural barriers between him and them, made it possible for him to be a leader without ever being or thinking of being a dictator.

Frances Perkins

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born — that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. And the way we become leaders is by learning about leadership through life and job experiences, not with university degrees.

I'm not a natural leader. I'm too intellectual; I'm too abstract; I think too much.

Leaders are not pale reflectors of major social conflicts; they play up some, play down others, ignore still others.

James MacGregor Burns

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.

Walter Lippmann

Self-determination has to mean that the leader is your individual gut, and heart, and mind or we're talking about power, again, and its rather well-known impurities. Who is really going to care whether you live or die and who is going to know the most intimate motivation for your laughter and your tears is the only person to be trusted to speak for you and to decide what you will or will not do.

The leader of men in warfare can show himself to his followers only through a mask, a mask that he must make for himself, but a mask made in such form as will mark him to men of his time and place as the leader they want and need.

The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers.... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.

A conservative government survives essentially by dampening expectations and subduing hopes. Conservatism is basically pessimistic, reformism is basically optimistic.
The Honourable Leader of the Opposition, Sir Billy Snedden, has broken his promise: the promise he made to me before the election. He promised not to tell any lies about me, if I didn't tell the truth about him.

A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice.

James Callaghan

In Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada has at last produced a political leader worthy of assassination.

You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.

The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

Woodrow Wilson called for leaders who, by boldly interpreting the nation's conscience, could lift a people out of their everyday selves. That people can be lifted into their better selves is the secret of transforming leadership.

James MacGregor Burns

A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

Success in almost any field depends more on energy and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains why we have so many stupid leaders.

Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens, people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.

It is to be hoped that the leaders of this movement will place the nation above the party.

Franz von Papen

In real life, the most practical advice for leaders is not to treat pawns like pawns, nor princes like princes, but all persons like persons.

James MacGregor Burns