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Top 25 Leadership Quotations


Ponder what it takes to be a true leader with these practical quotes that will lead you to a more precise understanding of the secrets to successful leadership...

  • "A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."
    --Anonymous

  • "No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him."
    --W. H. Auden

  • "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."
    --Warren Bennis

  • "No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it."
    -- Andrew Carnegie

  • "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

  • "Perhaps the most central characteristic of authentic leadership is the relinquishing of the impulse to dominate others."
    --David Cooper

  • "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality."
    -- Max DePree

  • "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
    --Dwight D. Eisenhower

  • "A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group."
    --Russell H. Ewing

  • "Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions. "
    -- Harold Geneen

  • "One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency."
    --Arnold Glasow

  • "All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. "
    -- John Kenneth Galbraith

  • "The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."
    --Theodore Hesburgh

  • "The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on... The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully."
    --Walter Lippmann

  • "Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve."
    --Tom Landry

  • "Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them."
    --John Maxwell

  • "The real leader has no need to lead-- he is content to point the way."
    -- Henry Miller

  • "The leader must know, most know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those about him that he knows."
    --Clarence B. Randall

  • "The person who know "how" will always have job. The person who knows "why" will always be his boss."
    --Diane Ravitch

  • "A true leader is hated by most, and respected by all. A follower is liked by all, and respected by none."
    --Scott Smigler

  • "Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word."
    --Brian Tracey

  • "You know what makes leadership? It is the ability to get men to do what they don't want to do and like it."
    --Harry S. Truman

  • "Leadership is not the private reserve of a few charismatic men and women. It is a process ordinary people use when they are bringing forth the best from themselves and others."
    --Unknown

  • "Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself."
    --Thomas J. Watson

  • "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

    Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2004) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine - A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like - love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more. Read it online at - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp

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