Leader quotes
3.2K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside leader — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Presenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-ori ented) no longer holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed.... Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection."
"Money always flows to the leader... If you want more money, simply become more of a leader."
"The world needs leaders of vision instead of leaders on television."
"To be effective, leaders must have the qualities and attitudes essential to work in a group setting."
"Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. This scarcity makes leadership valuable...It's uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It's uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It's uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It's uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle...If you're not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it's almost certain you're not reaching your potential as a leader."
"Leaders should lead as far as they can and then vanish. Their ashes should not choke the fire they have lit."
"We don't go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put constant pressure on our leaders until we get answers."
"Leaders don't look for recognition from others, leaders look for others to recognize."
"Only where leader and led together bind each other in one destiny ... does true order grow."
"Only about 2 percent of people can work entirely without supervision. We call those people 'leaders'. This is the kind of person you are meant to be and that you can be, if you decide to be."
"A leader leads from in front, by the power of example. A ruler pushes from behind, by means of the club, the whip, the power of fear."
"A leader can create a company, but a community creates a movement."
"Forgiving behavior is dealing with situations as they arise in an assertive manner and then letting go of any lingering resentment. As the leader, if you are not able to let go of the resentment, it will consume you and render you ineffective."
"The superior leader keeps informed about everything but interferes hardly at all."
"The leaders who get the most out of their people are the leaders who care most about their people."
"One of the best paradoxes of leadership is a leader's need to be both stubborn and open-minded. A leader must insist on sticking to the vision and stay on course to the destination. But he must be open-minded during the process."
"I do what I'm coached to do. That's part of being a team leader and captain. The job will change week in and week out, and it's not for you to question what your job is - it's to go out there and execute your assignments."
"U.S. leaders should think that if they are aiding terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe."
"There are leaders who know that however furious the debate, there are good men and women in all population groups - amongst blacks, amongst whites, and amongst Afrikaans and English speaking people."
"Being a leader gives you charisma. If you look and study the leaders who have succeeded, that's where charisma comes from, from the leading."
