Leadership and Real Leaders Quotes

"Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint." Lewis H. Lapham

"The best example of leadership, is leadership by example." Jerry McClain of Seattle, WA

"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it." Andrew Carnegie

"If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission." Admiral Grace Hopper

"Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions." Harold Geneen

"The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such." Andre Maurois

"The only real training for leadership is leadership." Antony Jay

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt

"Probably my best quality as a coach is that I ask a lot of challenging questions and let the person come up with the answer." Phil Dixon

"Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table." Hubert H. Humphrey

"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." James Baldwin

"The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way." Henry Miller

"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives." Theodore Roosevelt

"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. . . . The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully." Walter Lippmann

"In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions." Margaret Wheatly

"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters." Albert Einstein

"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely." Karen Kaiser Clark

"Don't be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small steps." David Loyd George

"A friend of mine characterizes leaders simply like this: "Leaders don't inflict pain. They bear pain." Max DePree

"When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally." Lao Tse

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." George Patton

"To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
"We did it ourselves!" Lao-tsu

"Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead." Ross Perot

"We must become the change we want to see." Mahatma Gandhi

"A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops." General of the Armies John J. Pershing

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." Proverbs 29:18

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln

"In war, three quarters turns on personal character and relations; the balance of manpower and materials counts only for the remaining quarter." Napoleon I