Leadership & Management: Leadership Quotes

"Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters"

Alexander the Great, Leader

"No man ruleth safely, but he that is willingly ruled"

Thomas Kempis, Writer

"In this world no one rules by love; if you are but amiable, you are no hero; to be powerful, you must be strong, and to have dominion you must have a genius for organizing"

John Henry Newman, Clergyman

"First of all, I can't forget my first responsibility - which is to be the Leader of the Opposition and that's to provide an alternative government"

Stephen Harper, Politician

"That's where my job comes in. Getting the E.U. and U.S. to agree"

John Bruton, Politician

"Manage yourself first, and others will take your orders"

David Seabury, Psychologist

"You have to lead people gently toward what they already know is right"

Phil Crosby, Author

"We are led by lawyers who do not understand either technology or balance sheets"

Thomas Friedman, Journalist

"You don't have to be noisy to be effective"

Phil Crosby, Author

"I started out as a young Ninja and killed all of the Shoguns. I am a Shogun now and I'm holding my spot. There probably won't be another Shogun after this"

Shaquille O'Neal, Athlete

"It's the government's obligation to look really to the third parties to get the support to govern"

Stephen Harper, Politician

"Being a CEO still means sitting across the table from big institutional investors, and showing your leadership, and having them believe in you"

Christie Hefner, Businessman

"The great men of a nation reach out to all mankind. They are unifying, not divisive; internationally conciliating, and still great nationally"

Gustav Stresemann, Politician

"In politics, merit is rewarded by the possessor being raised, like a target, to a position to be fired at"

Christian Nestell Bovee, Author

"Discipline is simply the art of making the soldiers fear their officers more than the enemy"

Claude Adrien Helvetius, Philosopher

"Influence is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got"

Andrew Young, Clergyman

"All these boundaries - Africa, Asia, Malaysia, America - are set by men. But you don't have to look at boundaries when you are looking at a man - at the character of a man. The question is: What do you stand for? Are you a follower, or are you a leader?"

Hakeem Olajuwon, Athlete

"In the past, it was easier to believe in my own effectiveness. If I worked hard, with good colleagues and good ideas, we could make a difference. But now, I sincerely doubt that"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"I think it is quite dangerous for an organisation to think they can predict where they are going to need leadership. It needs to be something that people are willing to assume if it feels relevant, given the context of any situation"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"For me, this is a familiar image - people in the organization ready and willing to do good work, wanting to contribute their ideas, ready to take responsibility, and leaders holding them back, insisting that they wait for decisions or instructions"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"I believe that the capacity that any organisation needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"One of the people that I respect the most now, a person I think has done a heck of a lot for this world as a leader, is Margaret Thatcher. She helped create a world that offers us a lot of excitement as we look to the next century"

Sanford I. Weill, Businessman

"There is small risk a general will be regarded with contempt by those he leads, if, whatever he may have to preach, he shows himself best able to perform"

Xenophon, Soldier

"The true test of a leader is whether his followers will adhere to his cause from their own volition, enduring the most arduous hardships without being forced to do so, and remaining steadfast in the moments of greatest peril"

Xenophon, Soldier

"I'm sad to report that in the past few years, ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion, leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"I emphasize self-esteem, self-confidence, and dignity, not as an ideal, but as a real test of community organization. Without leadership development, community organizations do not have staying power"

Paul Wellstone, Politician

"I've been involved with Carnegie Hall for the last 13 years, and Chairman for the last six. I feel really good about what we've done growing our educational programs there, building a board that has made Carnegie Hall really a world-class institution"

Sanford I. Weill, Businessman

"I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"When leaders take back power, when they act as heroes and saviors, they end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and deeply stressed"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable"

Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer

"This assumption of Negro leadership in the ghetto, then, must not be confined to matters of religion, education, and social uplift; it must deal with such fundamental forces in life as make these things possible"

Carter G. Woodson, Historian

"We forget that the most successful statesmen have been professionals. Lincoln was a professional politician"

Felix Frankfurter, Judge

"I do not admire politicians; but when they are excellent in their way, one cannot help allowing them their due"

Horace Walpole, Author

"Nigera is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be"

Chinua Achebe, Writer

"That's what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that's great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on"

Mike Krzyzewski, Coach

"The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests"

Gail Sheehy, Writer

"Now, look, it's true, Americans do want leaders that will come to Washington, D.C. and work together to get things done, but that comes with a very important caveat, it depends what they're trying to do"

Marco Rubio, Politician

"The IFP is here to put into practice what we preach"

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Leader

"I am not the kind of leader who pontificates about what should be done - I don't operate on scenarios, and I am not a prophet"

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Leader

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