Quotations

This page provides an assortment of interesting quotes on a variety of subjects associates with leadership and personal development.

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.
Ken Adelman (American journalist, former U.N. Ambassador)

If you have fear of those that command you, spare those that obey you.
Rabbi Ben Azai (Israeli rabbi)

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.
Warren G. Bennis (1925-, American psychologist, management educator, and consultant)

The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965, British statesman, Prime Minister)

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-, American-Austrian management consultant)

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

Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973, American President (36th))

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
Henry Kissinger (1923-, American Secretary of State)

To lead people walk behind them.
Lao-Tzu (BC 600-?, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism)

When the best leader's work is done the people say, "We did it ourselves."
Lao-Tzu (BC 600-?, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism)

The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way.
Henry Miller (1891-1980, American author)

Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970, American football coach)

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men, the other 999 follow women.
Groucho Marx (1895-1977, American comic actor)

Power is the pivot on which everything hinges. He who has the power is always right; the weaker is always wrong.
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527, Italian author, statesman)

Show me the leader and I will know his men. Show me the men and I will know their leader.
Arthur W. Newcomb

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.
George S. Patton (1885-1945, American army general during World War II)

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)

Avoid people who say they know the answer. Keep the company of people who are trying to understand the question.
Billy Connolly (British commedien)

Like beauty, leadership is in the eye of the beholder. You judge yourself by your intentions while others judge you by your actions. Your intentions and the actions that others see may be miles apart. Unless you know that, you are unlikely to change your actions or try to get others to see you differently. You can become trapped in their reality and get very frustrated when they don't respond as you'd like.”
Jim Clemmer (Canadian business author)

Never do that by proxy which you can do yourself.
Italian Proverb (Sayings of Italian origin)

Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.
Jim Rohn (American businessman, author, speaker, philosopher)

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 (1858-1919, American President (26th)

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.
Norman Schwarzkopf (1934-, American general of the gulf war)

Great people are those who can make others feel that they, too, can become great.
Mark Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)

The world of the 90s and beyond will not belong to managers or those who make the numbers dance, as we used to say, or those who are conversant with all the business jargon we used to sound smart. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders - people who not only have an enormous amount of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.
Jack Welch (1935-, American businessman, former chairman of GE)

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
Stephen R. Covey (1932-, American speaker, trainer, author of "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People")

If sufficient number of management layers are superimposed on top of each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance.
Norman Augustine (American business executive, CEO of Martin Marietta)

The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)

Management by objective works -- if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-, American-Austrian management consultant)

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-, American-Austrian management consultant)

Effective managers live in the present but concentrate on the future.
James L. Hayes (American businessman, president, American Management Association)

The first myth of management is that it exists. The second myth of management is that success equals skill.
Robert Heller (British business writer, editor of Management Today)

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere.
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004, American President (40th))

A good manager doesn't try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you're the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong -- that's healthy.
Robert Townsend (1920-, American businessman, president of Avis)

A manager is an assistant to his men.
Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956, American businessman, founder of IBM)

An overburdened, over-stretched executive is the best executive, because he or she doesn't have the time to meddle, to deal in trivia, to bother people
Jack Welch

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990, American psychologist)

It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.
Bill Gates (1955-, American computer genius, businessman, co-founder of Microsoft)

In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world, all rests on perseverance.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970, American speaker, author, "Think And Grow Rich")

Many people dream of success. To me success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection.
Soichiro Honda (1906-1991, Japanese industrialist, founder of Honda Motor Corporation)

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