The best ones say something true about leading people in a sentence or two. Martin Luther King Jr.'s line about where a person stands "at times of challenge and controversy" and Peter Drucker's "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers" are two that leaders come back to often.
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Leadership Quotes From Famous Leaders
These leadership quotes come from leaders whose words have lasted, and they're grouped so you can find one that fits the point you want to make with your team.
A good quote gives your people a clearer picture of the message you're sharing, and it gives your own words the support of someone your team already respects.
Step 8 in the 10 Steps to Leadership Development series is about using wise words to make your point. The quote does part of the work, and the leader does the rest by connecting it to something the team is currently facing, then asking one question about what they'll do next.
The quotes below include some of the best-known quotes and sayings on leadership, lines from famous leaders about character and leading others, and short quotes that fit a variety of moments. Each card has a Copy quote button, so you can paste a quote and the name straight into a presentation or an email.
Jump To: Best Quotes | Character | Leading Others | Short Quotes | Leadership Development | Using a Quote | Quotes by Topic | FAQ
The Best Leadership Quotes From Famous Leaders
The best leadership quotes of all time have lasted because they say something true about leading people in a sentence or two. A leader who uses one well gives the team a line they'll remember long after the meeting ends, and a short way to come back to the point later. A few places they work include:
- A new leader's first meeting with the team.
- The opening of a leadership training session.
- A one-on-one with someone stepping into their first lead role.
- A year-end message to the team.
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"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Civil rights leader
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."
Attributed to John Quincy Adams
6th President of the United States
"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."
Attributed to Rosalynn Carter
Former First Lady of the United States
"The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers."
Peter Drucker
Management writer and consultant
"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves."
Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt
Former First Lady and diplomat
In a year-end message after a hard year, Martin Luther King Jr.'s line gives you a way to recognize how the team handled the challenges. For someone stepping into a first lead role, Peter Drucker's definition puts the focus on earning the trust of the people they'll lead.
Famous Leadership Quotes on Character and Responsibility
A leader's character shows most when something goes wrong, like a missed deadline or a decision that's unpopular but necessary. These famous leadership quotes help the leader talk about the standard they hold themselves to. They fit times like these:
- Owning a mistake in front of the team.
- A newly promoted leader who now manages former peers.
- Holding to a policy when a big customer asks for an exception.
- A team review after a project went off track.
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"The price of greatness is responsibility."
Winston Churchill
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
Attributed to Abraham Lincoln
16th President of the United States
"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."
George Washington
1st President of the United States
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."
Attributed to Thomas Jefferson
3rd President of the United States
"Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions."
Attributed to Harold Geneen
Former CEO of ITT
A newly promoted leader managing former peers can use Churchill's line to name the responsibility that comes with the new role. When you own a mistake in front of the team, George Washington's advice is a reminder that a plain answer earns more trust than an excuse.
Leadership Quotes by Famous People on Leading Others
Leading others means getting results through people, and many leaders find that harder than doing the work themselves. These leadership quotes by famous people help the leader explain how they plan to lead and what they expect the team to own. A few places they work include:
- Delegating a project the leader used to handle personally.
- A leader who has been stepping in too often.
- Building the next group of leads on the team.
- A team taking on more decisions without the leader in every meeting.
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"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
Former President of South Africa
"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."
Attributed to Ronald Reagan
40th President of the United States
"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."
Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States
"Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders."
Attributed to Tom Peters
Co-author of In Search of Excellence
"You manage things; you lead people."
Attributed to Grace Hopper
Computer scientist and U.S. Navy rear admiral
Mandela's shepherd fits the team taking on more of its own decisions, because it describes a leader who sets the direction and lets the strongest people go out front. Theodore Roosevelt's line works for the leader who has been stepping in too often, since it names the self-restraint that good delegation takes.
Short Leadership Quotes for Slides and Meetings
A short quote fits where a longer one won't, like the title slide of a presentation or the whiteboard in a team's work area. These short leadership quotes are easy to remember, and they work well in moments like these:
- The title slide for a leadership training session.
- The top of a team meeting agenda.
- A whiteboard during a busy month.
- The closing line of an email to the team.
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"A leader is a dealer in hope."
Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte
French emperor and general
"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."
Attributed to Warren Bennis
Leadership scholar and author
"To lead people, walk behind them."
Attributed to Lao Tzu
Chinese philosopher
"Example is leadership."
Attributed to Albert Schweitzer
Physician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
"Leadership is action, not position."
Attributed to Donald H. McGannon
Broadcasting executive
Use the line credited to Napoleon in an email after a difficult month, as a reminder that part of the job is giving the team a reason to expect better results. McGannon's quote belongs on the title slide of a leadership training session, where it makes the point that leading is something you do every day.
Leadership Development Quotes for Growing as a Leader
Leadership development is the part of the job that never finishes, for the leader and for the people the leader is growing into the next generation of leaders. These leadership development quotes help the leader talk about growth without making it sound like a criticism. They fit times like these:
- A development plan conversation with a team member.
- A leader planning their own growth for the coming year.
- Choosing who on the team to prepare for a lead role.
- A leadership book club or study group.
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"Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness."
John C. Maxwell
Author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
"Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult."
Attributed to Warren Bennis
Author of On Becoming a Leader
"I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."
Attributed to Ralph Nader
Consumer advocate
"Leaders who don't listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say."
Attributed to Andy Stanley
Pastor and author
"Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration."
Attributed to Robin Sharma
Author and leadership speaker
Maxwell's Law of the Lid ties the team's results to the leader's own development, so it's a good one to keep in front of you while you plan your own growth. When you're choosing who to prepare for a lead role, the line credited to Ralph Nader treats building new leaders as part of the job. For a place to write down the next step, the free personal development plan template is Step 1 in this series.
How to Use a Leadership Quote to Make Your Point
A leadership quote works best when the leader uses it to open a conversation with the team. Read the quote, connect it to one situation the team is facing, then ask one question about what they'll do next. A few ways a quote helps a leader make a point include:
- Making the main point of a meeting easy to remember.
- Giving people a clear picture of where the team is headed.
- Adding support to a new idea the leader is proposing.
- Explaining why the leader is holding firm on a decision.
- Opening a hard conversation in a way that feels less personal.
LAUREN'S TEAM MEETING
Lauren supervises an eleven-person accounts receivable team. She was checking every invoice batch herself before it went out, which took about six hours of her week. At the team meeting she read the line credited to Tom Peters, "Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders," and asked one question: which of these checks could one of you own?
Two senior clerks offered to take over the batch review. Lauren wrote her checks into a one-page checklist, reviewed their first two batches with them, and then stepped back.
A month later the error rate was unchanged, Lauren had her six hours back, and one of the clerks was teaching the checklist to a new hire.
Lauren used the quote to explain why she was letting go of the checks, and the question encouraged the team to make a recommendation on who would take them on. Their decision stuck and the team acted on it the same week.
Leadership Quotes by Topic
For quotes on a specific subject, pick a topic below. Each card opens a page of quotes grouped by the situations leaders run into, and the leadership quotes for managers page has all eleven topics plus quotes on managing people and running meetings.
Character and Trust
Quotes on Honesty
For talking about telling the truth at work, from owning a mistake to giving straight feedback.
Quotes on Integrity
For doing the right thing when a shortcut is right there, and for setting the standard your team follows.
Mindset and Drive
Quotes on Determination
For long projects and missed targets, when your team needs a reason to keep going.
Quotes on Achievement
For marking a finished project or a target your team hit, and for setting the next one.
Teams, Customers and Sales
Customer Service Quotes
For leaders of front-line teams, from the morning huddle to training new hires.
Leadership Quotes FAQ
The questions below address what leaders most commonly ask about leadership quotes.
Click on the (+) sign below to expand each question. Click the (-) sign to collapse it again.
What are the best leadership quotes?
What are some famous leadership quotes by famous people?
Winston Churchill told a Harvard audience in 1943 that "the price of greatness is responsibility," and Nelson Mandela wrote in Long Walk to Freedom that a leader is like a shepherd who "stays behind the flock."
What are some short leadership quotes?
Short quotes work well on a slide or a whiteboard. "A leader is a dealer in hope" is credited to Napoleon, and "Leadership is action, not position" is credited to Donald H. McGannon.
What are good leadership development quotes?
John C. Maxwell wrote in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (1998) that "leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness." The line credited to Ralph Nader, that the function of leadership is "to produce more leaders, not more followers," fits a conversation about growing the people on your team.
How do I use a leadership quote to make a point?
Pick a quote that fits one situation your team is facing, read it, connect it to that situation in a sentence or two, then ask one question about what the team will do next. The quote opens the conversation, and the question turns it into action.
What does "Attributed to" mean on these quotes?
It means the quote is widely credited to that person, but there's no dated source behind it, like a book or an interview. Every quote without it traces back to a source you can cite.
Who said "The wisdom of the wise and the experience of ages may be preserved by quotation"?
It's often credited to the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, but his father, Isaac D'Israeli, wrote it in Curiosities of Literature. It's a good reminder to check who said a quote before you put a name on a slide.
Continue the 10 Steps Series
Richard Gorham has led teams in financial services for more than 30 years, from retail branches and operations to investments and insurance, and he still leads a team today.
He founded Leadership-Tools.com in 2002 to give managers free, practical tools like the ones he used in his various leadership roles. Every tool here has been used in a real workplace and comes with a filled-in example you can follow.
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