Top 500 John C. Maxwell Quotes (2026 Update)
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401. “A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can save a marriage. A word of encouragement from a leader can inspire a person to reach her potential.”

— John C. Maxwell

402. “You cannot change your life until you change something you do every day.”

— John C. Maxwell

403. “In the end, people are persuaded not by what we say, but by what they understand.”

— John C. Maxwell

404. “Not realizing what you want is a problem of knowledge. Not pursuing what you want is a problem of motivation. Not achieving what you want is a problem of persistence.”

— John C. Maxwell

405. “The best relationships are win-win. Why don’t more people go into relationships with that attitude?”

— John C. Maxwell

406. “You win people’s hearts by helping them grow personally.”

— John C. Maxwell

407. “If everyone doesn’t pay the price to win, then everyone will pay the price of losing.”

— John C. Maxwell

408. “While personal maturity may mean being able to see beyond yourself, leadership maturity means considering others before yourself.”

— John C. Maxwell

409. “Failure is not fatal. Only failure to get back up is.”

— John C. Maxwell

410. “To Stay Focused in Life: You can’t know everyone You can’t do everything You can’t go everywhere We have to pick and choose between good and a little bit better.”

— John C. Maxwell

411. “If you are not moving forward, the world is passing you by.”

— John C. Maxwell

412. “People who love life have charisma because they fill the room with positive energy.”

— John C. Maxwell

413. “Leaders have two characteristics: first they are going somewhere, and second they are able to persuade other people to go with them.”

— John C. Maxwell

414. “Discontent with the status quo is a great catalyst for vision.”

— John C. Maxwell

415. “Plan and execute your first failure so that you no longer have to fear it.”

— John C. Maxwell

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416. “Your attitude is like the minds paintbrush. It can paint everything in bright, vibrant colors-creating a masterspiece.”

— John C. Maxwell

417. “Successful people don’t wait for everything to be perfect to move forward.”

— John C. Maxwell

418. “Each person we meet has the potential to teach us something.”

— John C. Maxwell

419. “You will never fulfill your destiny doing work you despise.”

— John C. Maxwell

420. “If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.”

— John C. Maxwell

421. “If you keep your mind active, regularly take on mental challenges, and continually think about the right things, you will develop the disciplined thinking that will help you with whatever you endeavor to do.”

— John C. Maxwell

422. “When you believe in people, you motivate them and release their potential.”

— John C. Maxwell

423. “If you want to make a positive impact, no matter how far-reaching, start at home. Treat your family members like treasures.”

— John C. Maxwell

424. “For leaders to be effective, they need to connect with people.”

— John C. Maxwell

425. “I can afford to take a risk in my life. Only the insecure cannot afford to risk failure. The secure can be honest about themselves. They can admit failure. They are able to seek help and try again. They can change.”

— John C. Maxwell

426. “Have to sow excellent seeds to have an excellent life. Must start with sowing excellent thoughts.”

— John C. Maxwell

427. “No one stands taller in the climb to success than when he bends over to help up someone else.”

— John C. Maxwell

428. “Success is choosing to enter the arena of action, determined to give yourself to the cause that will better humanity and last for eternity.”

— John C. Maxwell

429. “Everything you now do is something you have chosen to do. Some people don’t want to believe that. But if you’re over age twenty-one, your life is what you’re making of it. To change your life, you need to change your priorities.”

— John C. Maxwell

430. “You can’t be a smart cookie if you have a crummy attitude.”

— John C. Maxwell

431. “Leaders create and inspire new leaders by instilling faith in their leadership abilities and helping them develop and hone leadership skills they don’t know they possess.”

— John C. Maxwell

432. “Don’t ever be impressed with goal setting. Be impressed with goal getting.”

— John C. Maxwell

433. “When your dream is bigger than you are, you only have two choices: give up or get help.”

— John C. Maxwell

434. “Every major difficulty you face in life is a fork in the road. You choose which track you will head down, toward breakdown or breakthrough.”

— John C. Maxwell

435. “Attitude: It is our best friend or our worst enemy.”

— John C. Maxwell

436. “You cannot buy or win happiness. You must choose it.”

— John C. Maxwell

437. “People will summarize your life in one sentence – Pick it now.”

— John C. Maxwell

438. “A leader can give up anything – except final responsibility.”

— John C. Maxwell

439. “Courage and initiative come when you understand your purpose in life.”

— John C. Maxwell

440. “If you believe in others and give them a positive reputation to uphold, you can help them to become better than they think they are.”

— John C. Maxwell

441. “Leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.”

— John C. Maxwell

442. “As negative thoughts produce negative actions, so positive thoughts produce positive actions.”

— John C. Maxwell

443. “Look behind you: What have you learned? Look around you: What is happening to others? Look above you: What does God expect of you? Look besides you: What resources are available to you?”

— John C. Maxwell

444. “Change the leader, change the organization.”

— John C. Maxwell

445. “Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years.”

— John C. Maxwell

446. “When your great players are team players, everybody else follows their lead. The best team doesn’t always win – it’s usually the team that gets along best.”

— John C. Maxwell

447. “You have to know who you are to grow to your potential. But you have to grow in order to know who you are.”

— John C. Maxwell

448. “Stay focused instead of getting offended or off track by others.”

— John C. Maxwell

449. “It is easier to move from failure to success than from excuses to success.”

— John C. Maxwell

450. “Because in life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with them. Stop failing backward and start failing forward!”

— John C. Maxwell