Top 500 John C. Maxwell Quotes (2025 Update)
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401. “Inspiring others to do better work is the accomplishment of a leader.”

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

406. “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

407. “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

408. “A person who has a dream knows what he is willing to give up in order to go up.”

— John C. Maxwell

409. “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

410. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

413. “We cannot lead anyone farther than we have been ourselves.”

— John C. Maxwell

414. “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

415. “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

416. “When we trust God, He can make the ordinary extraordinary!”

— John C. Maxwell

417. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

420. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

426. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

430. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

434. “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

435. “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

436. “Discipline – Success doesn’t just happen. You have to be intentional about it, and that takes discipline.”

— John C. Maxwell

437. “Commitment comes as a result of choice, not conditions.”

— John C. Maxwell

438. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

441. “Look at our society. Everyone wants to be thin, but nobody wants to diet. Everyone wants to live long, but few will exercise. Everybody wants money, yet seldom will anyone budget or control their spending.”

— John C. Maxwell

442. “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

443. “A dream becomes a reality as a result of your actions, and your actions are controlled, to a large extent, by your habits.”

— John C. Maxwell

444. “A leader who develops people adds; a leader who develops leaders multiplies.”

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

446. “Our challenge is to think right in a wrong world. Our challenge is to think positive in a negative world.”

— John C. Maxwell

447. “A lot of people believe they are successful because they have everything they want. They have added value to themselves. But I believe significance comes when you add value to others and you can’t have true success without significance.”

— John C. Maxwell

448. “Leadership is evoking in others the capacity to dream.”

— John C. Maxwell

449. “A person who refuses to risk change fails to grow.”

— John C. Maxwell

450. “You’ll never know how close you are to a million-dollar idea unless you’re willing to listen.”

— John C. Maxwell