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Quotes about leadership

138 quotes from 99 people

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The most important skill for any leader is the ability to take credit for things that happen on their own.
Scott Adams1957–2026The Dilbert Principle (1996)
- Comedy
It is the law of service. He who wishes to live long must serve, but he who wishes to rule does not live long…
Hermann Hesse1877–1962Journey to the East (1932)
Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we can.
John Irvingborn 1942Until I Find You (2005), ch. 25, p. 493
- Decisions
Don’t give over all of your critical faculties to people in power, no matter how admirable those people may appear to be.
Frank Herbert1920–1986Dune Genesis (1980)
- Power
I felt like a moth in a chandelier — all at once there were lots of pretty choices, but I wasn’t quite sure where to fly.
Richard Bachborn 1936The Bridge Across Forever (1984)
- Decisions
No one can depute authority. It comes too much from personal accidents, and too little from reason or law to be handed over to others.
Anthony Trollope1815–1882The Duke’s Children (1879), Ch. 66
- Power
I yield to no man in sympathy for the gallant men under my command; but I am obliged to sweat them tonight, so that I may save their blood tomorrow.
Stonewall Jackson1824–1863To Col. Sam Fulkerson, who reported on the weariness of their troops and suggested that they should be given an hour or so to rest from a forced march in the night. (24 May 1862); as quoted in Mighty Stonewall (1957) by Frank E. Vandiver, p. 250
- War & Peace
No age is wanting in able men; it is the duty of wise masters to find them out, win them over, and get work done by means of them, without listening to the calumnies of selfish men against them.
Aurangzeb1618–1707Ruqat-i-Alamgiri, as quoted in William Irvine, Later Mughals, Vol. II: 1719–1739 (1922)
Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives … and you can either help somebody, you can be compassionate toward people, you can treat some people with dignity — or not.
George Lucasborn 1944Interview with Bill Moyers for The Mythology of Star Wars (1999)
- Character
- Decisions
It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness.
Marie Antoinette1755–1793Letter to her mother, Empress Maria Theresa (June 1775), after Louis XVI’s coronation at Reims; as quoted in Antonia Fraser, Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2001), p. 135
- Responsibility
In choosing a president, we really don’t choose a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or liberal. We choose a leader.
Rudy Giulianiborn 1944Speech before the Republican Party convention in New York. August 30, 2004.
- Presidency
The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.
John Buchan1875–1940Montrose and Leadership (1930), p. 24; republished in Men and Deeds (1977)
Now, you’re either on the bus or off the bus. If you’re on the bus, and you get left behind, then you’ll find it again. If you’re off the bus in the first place — then it won’t make a damn.
KKKen Kesey1935–2001As quoted in Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), ch. 6
- Decisions
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
Rosa Parks1913–2005Quiet Strength (2000)
- Decisions
- Fear
As actors it is easy for us to play the hero. We get to fight the bad guys and stand up for justice. In real life, the choices are not always so clear.
Kirk Douglas1916–2020“Kirk Douglas On Trumbo: ‘I Was Threatened That Using A Blacklisted Writer Would End My Career’” by Pete Hammond, Deadline (19 November 2015)
- Acting
- Decisions