248 Inspiring Quotes About Leadership to Elevate Your Vision

"Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised."

- Walt Disney

"The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example."

- John Wooden

"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."

- President Ronald Reagan

"Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It's about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others; success, and then standing back and letting them shine."

- Chad Hadfield

"The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority."

- Ken Blanchard

"To lead people, walk beside them. As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence … When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it ourselves!"

- Lao Tzu

"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."

- Ralph Nader

"Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence, and inspiration."

- Robin S. Sharma

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."

- Albert Schweitzer

"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

"The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision."

- Ken Blanchard

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."

- Jack Welch

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

- President John Quincy Adams

"The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them."

- John Maxwell

"I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."

- Ralph Nader

"If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader."

- Dolly Parton

"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

"The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership."

- Harvey S. Firestone

"A true leader has confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and patience 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 integrity of his intention."

- Anil Sinha

"It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership."

- Nelson Mandela

"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 equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."

- Douglas MacArthur

"If there is ever a time crying out for courageous leadership, it's now."

- Bill Hybels

"Courage is essential to leadership."

- Andy Stanley

"The best way to lead people into the future is to connect with them deeply in the present."

- James M. Kouzes and Barry Posner

"The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion."

- Paulo Coelho

"A great leader is one who serves others, not himself."

- Harold S. Geneen

"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

"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."

- 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 is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves."

- Lao Tzu

"Leadership is not a popularity contest; it's about leaving your ego at the door. The name of the game is to lead without a title."

- Robin S. Sharma

"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."

- Warren Bennis

"True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection."

- Sheryl Sandberg

"People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together."

- Michelle Obama

"The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails."

- John Maxwell

"What you do has far greater impact than what you say."

- Stephen Covey

"Leaders who don't listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say."

- Andy Stanley

"Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things."

- Jesse Jackson

"Courageous leaders embrace difficult challenges."

- Reed Markham

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

- Peter Drucker

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

- Bill Gates

"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."

- Colin Powell

"Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."

- George Patton

"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."

- General Colin Powell

"Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily, even if you had no title or position."

- Brian Tracy

"Leadership is an action, not a position."

- Donald McGannon

"There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust."

- Klaus Balkenhol

"Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better."

- Bill Bradley

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

- John C. Maxwell

"One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency."

- Arnold Glasow

"You have to enable and empower people to make decisions independent of you. As I've learned, each person on a team is an extension of your leadership; if they feel empowered by you they will magnify your power to lead. Trust is a great force multiplier."

- Tom Ridge

"Power isn't control at all–power is strength, and giving that strength to others. 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

"Trust is the essence of Leadership."

- Colin Powell

"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

"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly."

- Jim Rohn

"Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better."

- Harry Truman

"Being a leader for me is about having the courage to speak the truth, and live the truth, despite attempts to silence our thoughts, feelings, and past experiences."

- Zainab Salbi

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

- William A. Ward

"We need leaders who can meet and adapt to new challenges, build strategic partnerships, build and sustain human capital in their organizations, and have the courage to act and react to the challenges."

- Thomas Narofsky

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Theodore M. Hesburgh

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."

- John F. Kennedy

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

- Arnold Glasow

"Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes."

- Peter Drucker

"Don't tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."

- George S. Patton

"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 the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Be the leader you wish you had."

- Simon Sinek

"As a leader, it's a major responsibility on your shoulders to practice the behavior you want others to follow."

- Himanshu Bhatia

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

- Gen. George S. Patton

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant."

- Max DePree

"You manage things; you lead people."

- Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

"The task of the leader is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been."

- Henry Kissinger

"A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them."

- M.D. Arnold

"A leader is a person you will follow to a place you would not go by yourself."

- Joel Osteen

"A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position."

- John Maxwell

"Leadership requires the courage to make decisions that will benefit the next generation."

- Alan Autry

"One of the fundamental aspects of leadership, I realized more and more, is the ability to instill confidence in others when you yourself are feeling insecure."

- Howard Schultz

"A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better."

- Jim Rohn

"Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work."

- Seth Godin

"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."

- John C. Maxwell

"The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have."

- Sheryl Sandberg

"Successful leaders have the courage to take action while others hesitate."

- John Maxwell

"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

"If you don't have the courage to walk, alone others will not have the courage to walk with you."

- Apoorve Dubey

"We need fresh, new leadership with bold ideas and a new approach."

- Scott Hall

"Leadership is lonely ... I'm not going to be afraid of confrontation to get us to where we need to go. There's a big misconception where people thinking winning or success comes from everybody putting their arms around each other and singing kumbaya and patting them on the back when they mess up, and that's just not reality. If you are going to be a leader, you are not going to please everybody. You have to hold people accountable. Even if you have that moment of being uncomfortable."

- Kobe Bryant

"A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk. … In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."

- Mark Zuckerberg

"Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down."

- Grace Murray Hopper

"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

"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

"Leaders don't inflict pain, they share pain."

- Max DePree

"You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out."

- Steve Jobs

"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

"Tend to the people, and they will tend to the business."

- John Maxwell

"Each person must live their life as a model for others."

- Rosa Parks

"Leadership is something you earn, something you're chosen for. You can't come in yelling, 'I'm your leader!' If it happens, it's because the other guys respect you."

- Ben Roethlisberger

"Your job as a leaders is to stay as close in touch as possible with those closest to the action."

- Kat Cole

"The essence of leadership is essentially taking the responsibility of trying to interpret the future to the present."

- Paul Keating

"Leaders grasp nettles."

- David Ogilvy

"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

- Oliver Goldsmith

"The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them."

- Carlos Ghosn

"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Of all the things I've done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal."

- Walt Disney

"If you cannot allow people to do their jobs … nobody with substance and creativity will work for you."

- Condoleezza Rice

"A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions."

- Bo Bennett

"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."

- Indra Nooyi

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."

- Mark Zuckerberg

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."

- Steve Jobs

"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm."

- Publilius Syrus

"We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details."

- Jeff Bezos

"Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear."

- George Addair

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

- Winston Churchill

"A leader is a dealer in hope."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"When people feel trusted, they'll do almost anything under the sun not to disappoint the person who gave them the gift of trust."

- Rob LeBow

"Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems."

- Brian Tracy

"I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. 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

"Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned."

- Harold Geneen

"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

"When you hand good people possibility, they do great things."

- Biz Stone

"There is no limit to what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit."

- John Wooden

"You don't lead by hitting people over the head —that's assault, not leadership."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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

- Woodrow Wilson

"The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said."

- Peter Drucker

"I believe in a quiet, strong, and grounded leadership. I think some of the best leaders are those whose work is widely known and respected but who, themselves, are relatively unknown."

- Rachael Chong

"A leader is someone who brings people together."

- George W. Bush

"Trust is fundamental, reciprocal, and pervasive. If it is present, anything is possible. If it is absent, nothing is possible."

- George P. Shultz

"To add value to others, one must first value others."

- John Maxwell

"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Earn your leadership every day."

- Michael Jordan

"Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult."

- Warren Bennis

"To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them."

- Amanda Scarborough

"Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody's looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you're misunderstood."

- Charles Swindoll

"A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage."

- Sydney Smith

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

- T.S. Eliot

"The men who have done big things are those who were not afraid to attempt big things, who were not afraid to risk failure in order to gain success."

- B.C. Forbes

"He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader."

- Aristotle

"The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough."

- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

"I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself."

- Robert E. Lee

"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

- Warren Buffett

"See the good in people and help them."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."

- General Colin Powell

"We don't develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."

- Barbara de Angelis

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

- Steve Jobs

"Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

- Nelson Mandela

"You just can't beat the person who never gives up."

- Babe Ruth

"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing."

- Warren Bennis

"None of us is as smart as all of us."

- Ken Blanchard

"I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things."

- Mother Teresa

"Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there."

- Virginia Burden

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

- Helen Keller

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that count."

- Winston Churchill

"Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them."

- Diogenes of Sinope

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand."

- Woodrow Wilson

"Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

- Calvin Coolidge

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

- Edith Wharton

"The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground."

- Winston Churchill

"Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead

"To have long-term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way."

- Pat Riley

"When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier."

- Roy E. Disney

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

- Abraham Lincoln

"He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander."

- Aristotle

"Be humble in your confidence yet courageous in your character."

- Melanie Koulouris

"People respond well to those that are sure of what they want."

- Anna Wintour

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

- Maya Angelou

"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."

- Phil Jackson

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

- Helen Keller

"Change is the end result of all true learning."

- Leo Buscaglia

"Go forth and set the world on fire."

- St. Ignatius of Loyola

"The question isn't who's going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

- Ayn Rand

"Resilience is knowing that you are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up."

- Mary Holloway

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

- Charles Darwin

"Champions keep playing until they get it right."

- Billie Jean King

"Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan."

- John F. Kennedy

"Instruction does much, but encouragement, everything."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first."

- Iyanla Vanzant

"Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future."

- Deepak Chopra

"The expert in anything was once a beginner."

- Helen Hayes

"You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is."

- Will Rogers

"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 spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything."

- Tom Rath

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it."

- Charles R. Swindoll

"There is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."

- Elbert Hubbard

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Always deliver more than expected."

- Larry Page

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."

- Anais Nin

"We teach calculus in schools, but I believe the most important formula is courage plus dreams equals success."

- Marlee Matlin

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

- Anne Frank

"Leadership never ascends from the pew to the pulpit, but invariably descends from the pulpit to the pew."

- Martin Luther King III

"The accountability rests with me."

- Skip Prosser

"Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow men."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Don't be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small steps."

- David Lloyd George

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

- Mark Twain

"The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live."

- Mortimer Adler

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

- Albert Einstein

"Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right."

- Ezra T. Benson

"No man ever listened himself out of a job."

- Calvin Coolidge

"Big egos have little ears."

- Robert Schuller

"You can't change conditions. Just the way you deal with them."

- Jessica Watson

"Things are always changing. Part of being successful here is being comfortable with not knowing what's going to happen."

- Susan Wojkicki

"The most effective way to do it is to do it."

- Amelia Earhart

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."

- Alexander Graham Bell

"There are many things you can do overnight, but there is no overnight success."

- Tory Burch

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."

- Marie Curie

"Courage is being scared to death –but saddling up anyway."

- John Wayne

"To see what is right and not do it, is the want of courage."

- Confucius

"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."

- Mark Twain

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Simplicity is the key to brilliance."

- Bruce Lee

"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."

- Bruce Lee

"The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings."

- Kakuzo Okakura

"You don't get any medal for trying something, you get medals for results."

- Bill Parcells

"We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility."

- Rabindranath Tagore

"I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention."

- Diane Sawyer

"Wisdom requires a flexible mind."

- Dan Carlin

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."

- Lao Tzu

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

"Only if we understand will we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help will we all be saved."

- Jane Goodall

"The greatest wisdom consists in knowing one's own follies."

- Madeleine de Souvré

"Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before."

- Elizabeth Edwards

"A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason."

- J.P. Morgan

"A great man is always willing to be little."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"I cannot change the world, but I can change a small part of it."

- Kay Florentino

"Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it."

- Karl Marx

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice."

- William James

"You can do anything, but not everything."

- David Allen

"Silent gratitude isn't very much to anyone."

- Gertrude Stein

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

"The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes."

"The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."

"If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you."

"Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas?"

"I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening."

"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."

"True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less."