110 Quotes About Leadership to Seek Inspiration and Feel Motivated

According to SAEDNEWS, Unlock your leadership potential with this comprehensive collection of 110 quotes that inspire and motivate. Whether you're looking to guide a community, inspire a team, or grow personally, these quotes will help you ignite the best version of yourself.

Great Quotes About Leadership

1. "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. "A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus." — Martin Luther King Jr.

3. “You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That’s assault, not leadership.” — President Dwight D. Eisenhower

4. "Leaders grasp nettles." — David Ogilvy

5. “You manage things; you lead people.” — Grace Murray Hopper, U.S. Navy rear admiral

6. "A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, and his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." — Lao Tzu

7. “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” — Ralph Nader

8. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." — Margeret Mead

9. "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." — Charles Darwin

10. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” — President Abraham Lincoln

11. "Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why." — Bernard Baruch

Inspirational Leadership Quotes by Famous Personalities

12. “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

13. “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” — William Arthur Ward

14. “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” — Bill Gates

15. “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” — President Ronald Reagan

16. “A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.” — Leroy Eimes

17. “The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears, and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.” — George Orwell

18. “A leader is a dealer in hope.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

19. “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.” — Gen. Colin Powell

20. “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.” — Rosalynn Carter

21. “In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go and gets up and goes.” — John Erskine

22. “Always do right. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” — Mark Twain

Most Encouraging Leadership Quotes to Find Your Own Way

23. "In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." — Thomas Jefferson

24. "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

25. “He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious." — Sun Tzu

26. "Champions keep playing until they get it right." — Billie Jean King

27. “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done." — Bruce Lee

28. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston Churchill

29. “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes." — Peter Drucker

30. “You don’t get any medal for trying something; you get medals for results." — Bill Parcells

31. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." — Helen Keller

32. “He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly." — James Allen

Famous Leadership Quotes

33. “Mastery is great, but even that is not enough. You have to be able to change course without a bead of sweat, or remorse." — Tom Peters

34. "The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.” — John Maxwell

35. "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

36. "Don't tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." — George S. Patton Jr.

37. "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." — John F. Kennedy

38. “Good leaders build products. Great leaders build cultures. Good leaders deliver results. Great leaders develop people. Good leaders have a vision. Great leaders have values. Good leaders are role models at work. Great leaders are role models in life." — Adam Grant

39. "Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing." — Albert Schweitzer

40. "Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them." — Diogenes of Sinope

41. “The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born—there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born." — Warren Bennis

42. "Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm." — Publilius Syrus

Best Leadership Quotes to Keep Going in Life

43. "Silent gratitude isn't very much to anyone." — Gertrude Stein

44. "Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan." — John F. Kennedy

45. "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." — Dwight D. Eisenhower

46. "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." — John C. Maxwell

47. "The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it." — Theodore Roosevelt

48. "To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart." — Eleanor Roosevelt

49. "A leader ... is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind." — Nelson Mandela

50. "Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." — Robert Louis Stevenson

Insightful Quotations on Leadership and Motivation

51. "Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility." — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

52. "The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders, and continually develops them." — John Maxwell

53. "A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together." — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

54. "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." — Jim Rohn

55. “Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work." — Seth Godin

Leadership Quotes That Highlight the Importance of Responsibilities

56. "There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity, and courage." — Chan Master Fuchan Yuan

57. “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

58. "The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionable integrity." — Dwight D. Eisenhower

59. "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." — Max DePree

60. "Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths." — John Peter Zenger

61. "To have long-term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way." — Pat Riley

62. "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." — Rosalynn Carter

63. "The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on." — Walter Lippmann

64. "Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand." — Gen. Colin Powell

65. "Leadership cannot just go along to get along. Leadership must meet the moral challenge of the day." — Jesse Jackson

Best Leadership Quotes for Workplace

66. "The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been." — Henry Kissinger

67. “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” — Aristotle

68. "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success. Leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." — Stephen Covey

69. "One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency." — Arnold H. Glasow

70. "I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people." — Mahatma Gandhi

71. "Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard." — Warren Bennis

72. "People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything." — Thomas Sowell

73. "Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing." — Tom Peters

74. "The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership." — Harvey S. Firestone

75. "The greatest gift of leadership is a boss who wants you to be successful." — Jon Taffer

76. "Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else through hard work." — Vince Lombardi

77. "The art of communication is the language of leadership." — James Humes

78. "Leadership is the key to 99% of all successful efforts." — Erskine Bowles

79. "Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." — Margaret Fuller

80. “Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things." — Peter Drucker

81. "Education is the mother of leadership." — Wendell Willkie

82. "You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart." — An Wang

Inspiring Leadership Quotes for Taking Action

83. "Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” — U.S. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

84. "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams

85. “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” — Jack Welch

86. “Earn your leadership every day.” — Michael Jordan

87. “To lead people, walk beside them. As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence… When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” — Lao Tzu

88. “Make sure you’re not just waiting for someone else to fix things, or hoping that things will improve… Figure out what’s going on and make a plan to improve things.” — Kenneth W. Thomas

89. “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” — President Theodore Roosevelt

90. “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” — Arnold Glasow

91. “Leadership is the capacity to transform vision into reality.” — Warren G. Bennis

92. “What you do has far greater impact than what you say.” — Stephen Covey

93. “The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.” — John Buchan

Powerful Leadership Quotes About Vision

94. “Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.” — Oscar Wilde

95. “In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” — Harry Truman

96. “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” — Gen. George S. Patton

97. “You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.” — Sam Rayburn

98. "The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet." — Theodore M. Hesburgh

99. “The led must not be compelled. They must be able to choose their own leader.” — Albert Einstein

100. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” — Steve Jobs

101. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor but without folly.” — Jim Rohn

102. “The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision." — Ken Blanchard

103. “If you think you are leading and turn around to see no one following, then you are just taking a walk.” — Benjamin Hooks

104. "Leadership is the capacity to translate a vision into reality." — Warren Bennis

Motivational Leadership Quotes

105. "A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." — Lao Tzu

106. "Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them." — John C. Maxwell

107. "Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems." — Brian Tracy

108. "Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better." — Bill Bradley

109. "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent." — Abraham Lincoln

110. “I am reminded of how hollow the label of leadership sometimes is and how heroic followership can be.” — Warren Bennis

As you explore these powerful leadership quotes, remember that you have the potential to inspire yourself and those around you. Whether in your professional journey or your efforts to make a positive impact in the community, embrace these lessons to become the leader the world needs. Your journey begins with a single step—lead yourself toward success!