Quotes on Leadership

Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.

I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says I; The leader says WE. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, GO; the leader says Lets GO!

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.

To lead people, walk behind them.

Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.

The spirited horse, which will try to win the race of its own accord, will run even faster if encouraged.

If we want girls to receive positive reinforcement for early acts of leadership, let's discourage bossy behavior along with banning bossy labels. That means teaching girls to engage in behaviors that earn admiration before they assert their authority.

One is too small a number to achieve greatness. No accomplishment of real value has ever been achieved by a human being working alone.

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

Wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority.

Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.

Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It's dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great.

Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.

Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.