Being a leader is not an easy task. In order to be a truly effective leader, one must constantly push oneself further in order to learn to expect the same from others. It can be frustrating as much as it can be rewarding. Every now and then, even leaders need an injection of inspiration and motivation. Quotes can do just that. The right quote can ignite a flame in our minds and spark creativity, inspiration and motivation.
Here are 36 Inspirational Quotes on Leadership to help you do just that.
- “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward
- “It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.” – Adlai E. Stevenson II
- [tweetthis]”Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson[/tweetthis]
- “Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” – Seth Godin
- “Trust starts with trustworthy leadership. It must be built into the corporate culture.” –Barbara Brooks Kimmel
- “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.” – Ronald Reagan
- “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” – George Patton
- “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” – John C. Maxwell
- “The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.” – Brandon Sanderson
- [tweetthis]”Earn your leadership every day.” – Michael Jordan[/tweetthis]
- “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader
- “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” – Publilius Syrus
- 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
- Where there is no vision, the people perish. – Proverbs 29:18
- “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
- “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
- “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi
- “Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.” – Charles Swindoll
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
- “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown
- “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill
- “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected”. – Steve Jobs
- “If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.” – Thomas Aquinas
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” – Jack Welch
25. “Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations”. – Peter Drucker
- “A leader takes people where they would never go on their own.” – Hans Finzel
- “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Don’t blow off another’s candle for it won’t make yours shine brighter.”- Jaachynma N.E. Agu
- “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
- “The challenge of leadership is to be strong but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” – Jim Rohn
“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
- “‘Give as few orders as possible,’ his father had told him once long ago. ‘Once you’ve given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.” – Frank Herbert (from Dune)
- “A leader isn’t someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to others so that they may have the strength to stand on their own.” – Beth Revis
- “In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” – Max De Pree
- People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. —John Maxwell
- “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.” – Colin Powell
Do you have a favorite quote? Is there one that I missed?