Leadership Quotes

The quotes are separated by theme words. Quotes that do not fit a category are placed together at the end of the list.

Acceptance

When you accept yourself, the whole world accepts you.
-Lao Tzu

Appreciation

Whatever we think about and thank about, we bring about. -Wayne Dyer
Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back. -Princess Diana
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. -GK Chesterton
Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit: we cannot flower and grow without it. -Jess Lair
Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. -Voltaire
Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. -Henry Ward Beecher
We must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. -David Steindl-Rast
Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. -Margaret Cousins
As we express gratitude, we must never forget the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. -JFK

Character

There is nothing we can do better than seeking to become still better than we are. -Socrates
Character is more important than intelligence, and even personality.  It determines how we use both. -Fred Smith Sr.
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. -Nelson Mandela
Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones. -Phillip Brooks
On Character: Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. -Thomas Jefferson
Be not simply good, be good for something. -Henry David Thoreau
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. -Kahlil Gibran
Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open. -Elmer G. Letterman
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character. -Albert Einstein
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. -Stephen Covey
The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands and then work outward from there. -Robert M. Pirsig
Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. -Abraham Lincoln
Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character. -Horace Greeley
Character is like physical exercise or any form of learning; you cannot 'cram,' hoping to do in a day or week what can only be accomplished by months and years of consistent practice. -Douglas J. Rumford
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them. -Malcolm S. Forbes
Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are. -Henry Van Dyke

Commitment

Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct. -Thomas Carlyle
Never neglect an opportunity for improvement. -Sir William Jones
It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. -J. K. Rowling.
You accomplish victory step by step, not by leaps and bounds. -Lyn St. James
I cannot give up my will - I must exercise it, putting it into action. -Oswald Chambers
If a man has any greatness in him, it comes to light, not in one flamboyant hour, but in the ledger of his daily work. -Beryl Markham
Great changes may not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy. -Bill Blackman
Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act. -Leonard Cohen

Communication

When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say. -Abraham Lincoln
Respond; don't react. Listen; don't talk. Think; don't assume. -Raji Lukkoor
The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people. -Woodrow Wilson
Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble. -Frank Tyger
Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence. -Pythagoras

Compassion

Young people need models, not critics. -John Wooden

If I look at the masses, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will. -Mother Theresa

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects. -Herman Melville

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. -Barbara Johnson

Your assumptions are your windows on the world.  Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in. -Isaac Asimov

Cooperation

Tell everyone what you want to do and someone will want to help you do it. -W. Clement Stone
Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together. -Vesta Kelly
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. -Helen Keller

Courage

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during challenge and controversy. -Martin Luther King

We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore. -Andre Gide

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point. -C.S. Lewis

Our doubts are traitors, and they make us lose what we oft might win, by fearing to attempt. -William Shakespeare

It is better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand days as a lamb. -Roman proverb

If you are not willing to risk the unusual then you will have to settle for the ordinary. -Jim Rohn

Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that's what makes you strong. -Sarah Dessen

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in this world, and moral courage so rare. -Mark Twain

We must travel in the direction of our fear. -John Berryman

Courage is about doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared. -Eddie Rickenbacker

Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it with use. -Ruth Gordon

Your destiny is too great, your assignment too important, your time too valuable. Don’t let fear intimidate you. -Joel Osteen

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. -James Baldwin

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. -ee cummings

In spite of your fear, do what you have to do. -Chin-Ning Chu

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. -Ambrose Redmoon

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -Anais Nin

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Determination

Our dreams are now only limited by our ambition. -Susie Allen

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out; it's the grain of sand in your shoe. -Unknown

If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward. -MLK

It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself. -Muhammad Ali

You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through. -Rosalynn Carter

It's hard to beat a person who never gives up. -Babe Ruth

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. -Albert Camus

Good timber does not grow with ease; the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees. -Willard Marriott

Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional. -Roger Crawford

The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions. -William F. Scholavino

Empathy

Some people put walls up, not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to knock them down. -Socrates
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. -Desmond Tutu
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. -Wayne Dyer

Enthusiasm

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience. -Emily Dickinson
A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. -Tom Stoppard
We don't "have" a great day, we "make it" a great day!
-Frosty Westering
Whoever is happy will make others happy, too. -Anne Frank

Flexibility

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. -George Bernard Shaw

If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one. -Mother Teresa

Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. -George Bernard Shaw

When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. -Viktor Frankl

When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there. -Zig Ziglar

Forgiveness

You wanna fly, you got to give up the stuff that weighs you down. -Toni Morrison

If you judge people you have no time to love them. -Mother Teresa

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. -Buddha

One forgives to the degree that one loves. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Never does the human soul appear so strong & noble as when it forgoes revenge & dares to forgive injury. -Edwin H. Chapin

Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is an attitude. -MLK

Honesty

A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror. -Ken Keyes

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. -Abraham Lincoln

Let us be very sincere in our dealings with each other and have the courage to accept each other as we are. -Mother Teresa

If we are honest and fair, then we are known by that. If we are not, alas, we are known by that as well. What we want to do is do right, but you have to say it, you have to show it, and not stop. -Maya Angelou

Hope

Each difficult moment has the potential to open my eyes and open my heart. -Myla Kabat-Zinn

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. -Helen Keller

Winter always turns into spring. -Nichiren

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is. -Anne Frank

It's never too late to be what you might have been. -George Eliot

Humility

Be willing to be a beginner every single morning. -Meister Eckhart

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. -Thomas Carlyle

To get even near humility, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert. -C.S. Lewis

Let him who would move the  world, first move himself. -Socrates

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. -John Wooden

It is easy to see the faults of others. It is hard to see our own. -Buddha

No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is. - Irvin Himmel

We must get over wanting to be needed. -C.S. Lewis

A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men. -Thomas Carlyle

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

Humility is the proper estimate of oneself. -Charles Spurgeon

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions. -Confucius

Influence

A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Example has more followers than reason. -Christian Nestell Bovee

When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else, and it'll become like a wildfire.
-Whoopi Goldberg

Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference. -Jane Goodall

When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.
-George Washington Carver

Initiative

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. -Lao Tzu

Continuous improvement is impossible without continuous innovation. -Darryl Ech

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. -John Wooden

Only you can control your future. -Dr. Seuss

If we wait until we are ready, we'll be waiting the rest of our lives. -Daniel Handler

You are the only person on earth who can use your ability. -Zig Ziglar

There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. -Nelson Mandela

Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome. -Samuel Johnson

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

Act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done by hesitation. -Thomas Henry Huxley

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. -Thomas Edison

Integrity

A person may forget 90% of what a leader says, but he will never forget how the leader lives. -Ken Boa

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest. -Gandhi

Nothing is more damaging to you than to do something that you believe is wrong. -Abraham

You were born an original. Don't die a copy. -John Mason

Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are. -August W. Hare

joy/Happiness

A good laugh is sunshine in the house. -William Makepeace Thackeray

The great man is he that does not lose his child's heart. -Mencius

Pursue meaningful adventures. -Chris Guillebeau

Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions. -Dalai Lama

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. -Heraclitus

There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it. -Edith Wharton

I've got nothing to do today but smile. -Paul Simon

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things. -Robert Brault

Sprinkle joy. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. -Benjamin Disraeli

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, 'This is what it is to be happy.' -Sylvia Plath

I've found that there is always some beauty left - in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can help you. -Anne Frank

We are not meant to be perpetually solemn: We must play. -C.S. Lewis

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. -Thornton Wilder

Kindness

With one kind gesture you can change a life. One person at a time you can change the world. -Steve Maraboli

Genuine kindness is no ordinary act, but a gift of rare beauty. -Sylvia Rosetti

When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people. -Abraham Joshua Heschel

Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud. -Maya Angelou

Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. -George Sand

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. -Mahatma Gandhi

Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel. -King Solomon

Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. -Norman B. Rice

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. -Dalai Lama

When happy, be kind. When angry, be kind. When hopeful, be kind. When discouraged, be kind. When ever, be kind. -Cory Booker

Leadership

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. -John F. Kennedy

True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders. -Robert Townsend

Leadership is action, not position. -Donald H. McGannon

The superior leader keeps informed about everything but interferes hardly at all. -Lao Tzu

Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort. -John Ruskin

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love

Kids go where there is excitement.  They stay where there is love. -Zig Ziglar

Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. -James Baldwin

A life without love is like a year without summer. -Swedish Proverb

Every moment we have a choice. We can choose love or we can choose fear. Choose. -Eric Schleien

The more we give love, the greater our capacity to do so. -Dr. David Hawkins

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. -MLK

Love is not a feeling of happiness. Love is a willingness to sacrifice. -Michael Novak

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. -Rumi

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another. -Thomas Merton

I don't necessarily have to like my players and associates but as the leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. That is the strength of any organization. -Vince Lombardi

I believe that every single event in life that happens is an opportunity to choose love over fear. -Oprah

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. -Lao Tzu

To love at all is to be vulnerable. -C. S. Lewis

To find someone who will love you for no reason, and to shower that person with reasons, that is the ultimate happiness.
-Robert Brault

Beauty is not in the face. Beauty is the light in your heart. -Kahlil Gibran

The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers. -Deepak Chopra

He who loves, sees. -C. S. Lewis

Motivation

In life you don't have to be great to get started, but to get started to be great. -Keith Davis
The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise. -Maya Angelou

Optimism

Some see things as they are and ask, 'Why?' I dream things that never were and ask, 'Why not?' -Robert F. Kennedy

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.
-A.A. Milne

I love the man who can smile in trouble, gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. -Thomas Paine

I dwell in possibility. -Emily Dickinson

Thinking too well of people often allows them to be better than they otherwise would. -Nelson Mandela

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses. -Abraham Lincoln

Do not allow yourself to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best. -Mother Teresa

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us. -Voltaire

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. -Dr Seuss

Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out. -Titus Livius

A real desire to believe all the good you can of others and to make others as comfortable as you can will solve most of the problems.
-C.S. Lewis

People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be. -Abraham Lincoln

Patience

In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. -Deepak Chopra

Respect

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him. -Booker T. Washington
I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble. -Rudyard Kipling
I do not agree with the big way of doing things. To us what matters is an individual. To get to love the person we must come in close contact with him. If we wait till we get the numbers, then we will be lost in the numbers. And we will never be able to show that love and respect for the person.
-Mother Teresa

Responsibility

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Selflessness

All getting separates you from others; all giving unites to others. -St. Francis of Assisi

When you are not feeling particularly friendly…put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. -C.S. Lewis

I think what has this day brought me, and what have I given it? -Henry Moore

He who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own. -Confucius

It's not about being in the spotlight it's about being a spotlight. -Robi Long

A man should make all he can, and give all he can. -Nelson Rockefeller

Sensitivity

It is the weak who are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong. -Leo Rosten

Service

SEE A NEED; MEET A NEED. -Unknown

I used to wonder why someone didn’t do something. Then I realized...I’m someone. -Petra Haisam

To do for the world more than the world does for you - that is success. -Henry Ford

Volunteers do not necessarily have the time for service, they have the heart. -Elizabeth Andrew

Well done is better than well said. -Benjamin Franklin

Do not tell me how hard you work. Tell me how much you get done. -James Ling

In life you don't get everything you pay for, but you must pay for everything you get. -Frederick Douglass

I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more. -Jonas Salk

To do more for the world, then the world does for you--that is success. -Henry Ford

Success

Champions don't give up, they get up. -Keith Davis

Winners look at where they are going to, losers look at what they are going through. -Keith Davis

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. -Booker T. Washington

Success is something you attract by the person you become. -Jim Rohn

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. -Dale Carnegie

It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final. -Roger Babson

Success will never be a big step in the future: Success is a small step taken just now. -Jonatan Mårtensson

It's not where you are today that counts. It's where you are headed. -Arthur F. Lenehan

To achieve greatness, start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. -Arthur Ashe

Trust

The only way to have a friend is to be a friend. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

General Quotes

You can't have more if you settle for less. -Keith Davis

What we see depends mainly on what we look for. -Sir John Lubbock

He who looks outside dreams, he who looks inside awakens. -Carl Jung

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. -Mother Teresa

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. -Auguste Rodin

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. -Lao Tzu

Think deeply, speak gently, love much, laugh often, work hard, give freely and be kind. -Unknown

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -Martin Luther King Jr.

In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go? -Buddha

You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb. -Andrew Carnegie

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. -W.M. Lewis

We all leave footprints in the sand; the question is, will we big a big heal, or a great soul. -Anonymous

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. -Aristotle

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. -Frederick Douglass

Playing it safe is the riskiest choice we can ever make. -Sarah Ban Breathnach

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end. -Ursula Le Guin

Take your work, not yourself seriously. -Mike Smith

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. -Epictetus