Quotes from great leaders throughout history give us a glimpse of their core beliefs and can often help us see things from a different perspective. They can provide the inspiration we need in dire times, or just give us a push in the right direction.
Here are 12 of the most inspiring leadership quotes of all times:
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
(John Quincy Adams)
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
(John Fitzgerald Kennedy)
Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.
(Sam Walton)
To lead people, walk behind them.
(Lao Tzu)
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower
(Steve Jobs)
To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.
(Andre Malraux)
When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out.
(Napoleon Bonaparte)
A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.
(Douglas MacArthur)
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)
He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.
(Aristotle)
Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.
(Peter Drucker)
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
(Theodore Roosevelt)