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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"More often than not when we do not like our work, it's not necessarily because of the work itself. But more often because of the people we work with and more importantly because of the lack of leadership. It is amazing how inspired and motivated we can be when we like the people and when we feel like we show up to work because our leaders care about our wellbeing. It is kind of incredible actually."
"If your business is to grow and prosper, as a leader, you need to focus on people development."
"Even when I was at CIA, I'd go to visit foreign leaders and I'd say, 'You know, I'm not a diplomat. I'm just an old CIA guy'... I said, 'If I wanted to be diplomatic, I'd have been a diplomat.'"
"Once upon a time, the most successful Democratic leader of them all, FDR, looked south and said I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill clad, ill nourished. Today our national Democratic leaders look south and say, I see one third of a nation and it can go to hell."
"The leader should know how to enter into evil when necessity commands."
"I promise to question everything my leaders tell me. I promise to use my critical faculties. I promise to develop my independence of thought. I promise to educate myself so I can make my own judgments."
"Lord Rothschild had access to all manner of leaders and experts. He was responsible only to the Prime Minister and answerable to neither the electorate nor the civil service chiefs."
"It is astonishing how foolish humans can be in groups, especially when they follow their leader without question."
"It's harder for a leader to be born in a palace than to be born in a cabin."
"Any Idiot can point out a problem .... A leader is willing to do something about it! Leaders solve problems!"
"Losers react,leaders anticipate."
"The rank of office is not what makes someone a leader. Leadership is the choice to serve others with or without any formal rank."
"If you have faith in our leaders of commerce, don't buy gold. If you do not have faith in them, maybe you should buy gold or silver."
"In some ways, I saw the garden as a metaphor for certain aspects of my life. A leader must also tend his garden; he, too, plants seeds, and then watches, cultivates, and harvests the results. Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed."
"The power of the leader is given to him by the people, so he has a duty to engage and listen more attentively and carefully to the aspirations of the people."
"The oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders."
"The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader's charisma. What matters is the leader's mission."
"No leader can be too far ahead of his followers."
"That's one of the real dangers of leader selection in many organizations: leaders are selected for overconfidence."
"Worship leader George Beverly Shea kidded Billy Graham that the latter would be unemployed in Heaven -- while Shea would still have a job leading worship."
