170 Leadership Quotes That Will Make You Feel Unstoppable

Here are 170 of the best leadership quotes I could find. The goal? To inspire you and make you feel unstoppable in your mission. Enjoy!

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. Martin Luther King Jr Click to tweet

The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes. Tony Blair Click to tweet

Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them. Winston Churchill Click to tweet

Lead from the back and let others believe they are in front. Nelson Mandela Click to tweet

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples. Mother Teresa Click to tweet

The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have. Sheryl Sandberg Click to tweet

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Simon Sinek Click to tweet

A boss has the title, a leader has the people. Simon Sinek Click to tweet

Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing. Peter F. Drucker Click to tweet

We cannot lead anyone farther than we have been ourselves. John C. Maxwell Click to tweet

One voice can change a room. Barack Obama Click to tweet

You manage things; you lead people. Grace Hopper Click to tweet

Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. George Patton Click to tweet

No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value, they become leaders. So the point is not to become a leader. The point is to become yourself, to use yourself completely – all your skills, gifts and energies – in order to make your vision manifest. You must withhold nothing. You must, in sum, become the person you started out to be, and to enjoy the process of becoming. Warren Bennis Click to tweet

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. John C. Maxwell Click to tweet

See also: change quotes, wisdom quotes, success quotes

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The Best Leadership Quotes

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Anyone, anywhere, can make a positive difference. Mark Sanborn Click to tweet

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Steve Jobs

Do what is right, not what is easy. Unknown

Set and maintain high standards. If you have to be hard on people, do it with love and a genuine wish for them to improve. Praise people when they hit the standard. Sam Altman

A good leader must hate the wrong thing more than they hate the pain of doing the right thing. Angela Jiang

Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It is about one life influencing another. John C. Maxwell

Leading people is the most challenging and, therefore, the most gratifying undertaking of all human endeavors. Jocko Willink

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Warren Bennis

In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders. Sheryl Sandberg

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. Bill Gates Click to tweet

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. Max Lucado Click to tweet

The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow. Seth Godin

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward

You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out. Steve Jobs

Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision. Peter F. Drucker

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

The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones. Brandon Sanderson

Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it. Unknown (Submitted by the Wisdom Quotes Community)

Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it. Tina Fey

You don’t need a title to be a leader. Mark Sanborn Click to tweet

If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader. Dolly Parton

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

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. Stephen R. Covey

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult. Warren Bennis

See also: positive quotes

What is Leadership?

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Leadership is an action, not a position. Donald McGannon

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

Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. Peter F. Drucker Click to tweet

Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence. Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook)

Leadership is like third grade: it means repeating the significant things. Max De Pree

Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. Bill Bradley

See also: Why good leaders make you feel safe (Ted Talk YouTube video)

Part 2. Leadership Quotes That Are…

The Most Famous Leadership Quotes

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Searching for a famous leadership quote? Check out those by Gandhi, Obama, Steve Jobs, Einstein, etc.

A leader is a dealer in hope. Napoleon Bonaparte Click to tweet

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants. Isaac Newton

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. Albert Einstein

The only safe ship in a storm is leadership. Faye Wattleton

We need to think of the future and the planet we are going to leave to our children and their children. Kofi Annan

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

Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Warren Buffett

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Lao Tzu

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. Helen Keller

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou

To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart. Eleanor Roosevelt Click to tweet

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work. Thomas A. Edison

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. Steve Jobs

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. Buddha

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

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy

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

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Napoleon Hill

We can, we will, and we must come together. Joe Biden

Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it’s a small price to pay for living a dream. Peter McWilliams

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. Theodore Roosevelt

More famous quotes

See also: Buddha quotes

Short Leadership Quotes

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One-liners, short leadership quotes, sayings and thoughts for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, backgrounds.

The price of greatness is responsibility. Winston Churchill

To lead people, walk behind them. Lao Tzu Click to tweet

We rise by lifting others. Robert Ingersoll

All leaders are readers. Jim Rohn

Hire character. Train skill. Peter Schutz

The greatest deficiency of any CEO is also the most critical of skills: clarity. Kapil Gupta

Act or do not act, but do not hedge. Peter F. Drucker

What gets measured gets improved. Peter F. Drucker

Faith moves mountains, love transforms hearts. John Paul Warren

Faster. Stronger. Smarter. More humble. Less ego. Jocko Willink

Ego clouds and disrupts everything. Jocko Willink

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. Theodore Hesburgh

Leadership distilled down to 3 words: Make a difference. Robin Sharma

Victims make excuses. Leaders deliver results. Robin Sharma

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. Margaret Fuller

The cautious seldom err. Confucius Click to tweet

Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it. John Naisbitt

Earn your leadership every day. Michael Jordan

My life didn’t please me, so I created my life. Coco Chanel

A winner is a dreamer who never gives up. Nelson Mandela

A king is one who fears nothing. Seneca (See also: fear quotes)

Leaders live by choice, not by accident. Mark Gorman

The test of leadership is, is anything or anyone better because of you? Mark Sanborn

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

More short quotes

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Inspirational Leadership Quotes

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Our destiny is not written for us, but by us. Barack Obama Click to tweet

Inventories can be managed, but people must be led. H. Ross Perot

As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think. Toni Morrison

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. John D. Rockefeller

If your objective is to be as good as you can be, then you’re going to want criticism. Ray Dalio

Make people feel like the hero of their journey and they will do more. Maxime Lagacé

The test of organization is not genius. It is its capacity to make common people achieve uncommon performance. Peter F. Drucker

Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. Peter F. Drucker

Stop researching every aspect of it and reading all about it and debating the pros and cons of it. Start doing it. Jocko Willink

To be more requires a man who is conceited enough to believe that the world really needs him and depends on his getting into power. Peter F. Drucker

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

Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things. Jesse Jackson

It’s not about money or connections – it’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone. Mark Cuban (See also: hard work quotes)

You can be a leader in your workplace, your neighborhood, or your family, all without having a title. Travis Bradberry

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-Exupéry

The important thing is this: to be able to give up in any given moment all that we are for what we can become. DeSeaux

Leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory. Jocko Willink

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today. Malcolm X Click to tweet

Leaders are people who believe so passionately that they can seduce other people into sharing their dream. Warren Bennis

Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal. E. Joseph Cossman

A year from now you will wish you had started today. Karen Lamb

The task of the leader is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been. Henry Kissinger

It’s your unlimited power to create and to love that can make the biggest difference in the quality of your life. Tony Robbins

For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find the happiness that you had thought could never be yours. Dale Carnegie

Great masters neither want nor need your worship. Your greatest gift to them and yourself is to emulate their divinity by claiming it as your own. Alan Cohen

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. Henry Ford

We’re here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark. Whoopi Goldberg

Leaders don’t force people to follow – they invite them on a journey. Charles S. Lauer

See also: quotes about strength

Deep Leadership Sayings

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

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. Warren Bennis Click to tweet

A leader operating in enemy territory should always project positivity and optimism. Naval Ravikant

A tyrant is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. Plato

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Eric Hoffer

Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it. David Star Jordan

You are judged in this world by how well you bring things to an end. A messy or incomplete conclusion can reverberate for years to come. Robert Greene

You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go. Jeanette Rankin

To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult. Friedrich Nietzsche

Leaders shouldn’t attach moral significance to their ideas: Do that, and you can’t compromise. Peter F. Drucker

Being a leader is making the people you love hate you a little more each day. Patrick Ness

Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing. Mary D. Poole

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion. Alexander the Great

Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want. Dianne Feinstein

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. Jimmy Dean

Show me the man you honor and I will know what kind of man you are. Thomas John Carlisle

If you are rich and powerful but unhappy, what’s the point of being rich and powerful? Thich Nhat Hanh

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See also: The 9 Traits That Define Great Leadership (inc.com)

Wise Leadership Sayings

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The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. Warren Bennis Click to tweet

Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led. Warren Bennis

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

More leaders have been made by accident, circumstance, sheer grit, or will than have been made by all the leadership courses put together. Warren Bennis

There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all. Peter F. Drucker

It is not so much that man is a herd animal, said Freud, but that he is a horde animal led by a chief. Ernest Becker

Pity the leader caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers. John Gardner

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

Leadership is not just about giving energy… it’s unleashing other people’s energy. Paul Polman

Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar. Orrin Woodward

Leaders walk a fine line between self-confidence and humility. Stanley McChrystal

Leadership is liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible. Max De Pree

If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything. Tom Rath

If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old. Peter F. Drucker Click to tweet

If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever. Thomas Aquinas

To be happy we need something to solve. Happiness is therefore a form of action. Mark Manson

Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right. Peter F. Drucker

There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish. Warren Bennis

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

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them. Diogenes

When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute. Simon Sinek

A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. John C. Maxwell

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller

If you really want the key to success, start by doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Brad Szollose

If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable. Seneca

More words of wisdom

Part 3. Conclusion

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People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. John C. Maxwell Click to tweet

Call to action: Read 5 Steps to Great Leadership (verywellmind.com)

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