Top 500 John C. Maxwell Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “A leader is a reader.”

— John C. Maxwell

102. “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”

— John C. Maxwell

103. “Don’t worry about yesterday it ended last night at midnight.”

— John C. Maxwell

104. “The bottomline in leadership isn’t how far we advance ourselves but how far we advance others.”

— John C. Maxwell

105. “People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life.”

— John C. Maxwell

106. “True success is obeying God.”

— John C. Maxwell

107. “If you don’t try to create the future you want, you must endure the future you get.”

— John C. Maxwell

108. “Efficiency is the foundation for survival. Effectiveness is the foundation for success.”

— John C. Maxwell

109. “The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it.”

— John C. Maxwell

110. “The road to success is long and up hill all the way.”

— John C. Maxwell

111. “Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.”

— John C. Maxwell

112. “Great leaders understand that the right attitude will set the right atmosphere, which enables the right response from others.”

— John C. Maxwell

113. “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

114. “There are two paths people can take. They can either play now and pay later, or pay now and play later. Regardless of the choice, one thing is certain. Life will demand a payment.”

— John C. Maxwell

115. “Why worry about things you can’t control when you can keep yourself busy controlling the things that depend on you?”

— John C. Maxwell

116. “Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership.”

— John C. Maxwell

117. “The value you receive from reflective thinking will depend on the kinds of questions you ask yourself.”

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

119. “I want to make a difference with people who want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference.”

— John C. Maxwell

120. “The ability to understand people is one of the greatest assets anyone can ever have.”

— John C. Maxwell

121. “Want to impress others? Talk about your successes. Want to impact others? Talk about your failures.”

— John C. Maxwell

122. “Successful people are willing to do things unsuccessful people will not do.”

— John C. Maxwell

123. “Successful people reject rejection.”

— John C. Maxwell

124. “Leadership is the power of one harnessing the power of many.”

— John C. Maxwell

125. “When you nurture people and add value to them without expecting anything in return, they feel significant.”

— John C. Maxwell

126. “The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.”

— John C. Maxwell

127. “If you focus on goals, you may hit goals – but that doesn’t guarantee growth. If you focus on growth, you will grow and always hit goals.”

— John C. Maxwell

128. “Good thinkers are always in demand. A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss.”

— John C. Maxwell

129. “It takes a team to do anything of lasting value.”

— John C. Maxwell

130. “Make personal growth a daily priority.”

— John C. Maxwell

131. “Be a river – not a reservoir.”

— John C. Maxwell

132. “Leadership is influence. It is the ability to obtain followers. When the leader lacks confidence, the followers have no commitment. A leader is great not because of his power, but because of his ability to empower others.”

— John C. Maxwell

133. “Coming together is a beginning, and staying together is progress, but only when teams sweat together do they find success.”

— John C. Maxwell

134. “Problems almost always create opportunities – to learn, grow and improve.”

— John C. Maxwell

135. “If you can learn to understand people how they think, what they feel, what inspires them, how they’re likely to act and react in a given situation- then you can motivate and influence them in a positive way.”

— John C. Maxwell

136. “Vision without passion is a picture without possibilities.”

— John C. Maxwell

137. “Always turn to God in the midst of your struggle and view people who offended you as instruments of divine sovereignty.”

— John C. Maxwell

138. “Earn the right to be heard by listening to others. Seek to understand a situation before making judgments about it.”

— John C. Maxwell

139. “If you're a leader, do everything you can to grow yourself and create the right environment for others to grow.”

— John C. Maxwell

140. “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail. – BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.”

— John C. Maxwell

141. “People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”

— John C. Maxwell

142. “The more you do, the more you fail. The more you fail, the more you learn. The more you learn, the better you get.”

— John C. Maxwell

143. “Leading well is not about enriching yourself – it’s about empowering others.”

— John C. Maxwell

144. “The difference between where we are and where we want to be is created by the changes we are willing to make in our lives. When you want something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done to get it.”

— John C. Maxwell

145. “You can change your life if you really want to. You can improve it, make it better. And it all starts with changing the way you think.”

— John C. Maxwell

146. “Making a difference in your work is not about productivity; it’s about people. When you focus on others and connect with them, you can work together to accomplish great things.”

— John C. Maxwell

147. “It’s lonely at the top, so you better know why you are there.”

— John C. Maxwell

148. “Ordinary people with commitment can make an extraordinary impact on their world.”

— John C. Maxwell

149. “Actions are remembered long after words are forgotten.”

— John C. Maxwell

150. “You build trust with others each time you choose integrity over image, truth over convenience, or honor over personal gain.”

— John C. Maxwell