Top 200 Leadership Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

— Peter F. Drucker

Also featured in: Interesting Quotes, Famous Quotes, Quotes About Work

2. “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Business Quotes, Interesting Quotes

3. “The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority.”

— Kenneth H. Blanchard

Also featured in: Business Quotes, Inspirational Business Quotes, Positive Work Quotes, Influence Quotes

4. “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”

— Harry S. Truman

Also featured in: Quotes About Books And Reading, Short Motivational Quotes, Tuesday Inspirational Quotes

5. “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.”

— Ronald Reagan

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Interesting Quotes, Impact Quotes, Important Quotes

6. “He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.”

— Aristotle

7. “When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Friday Motivational Quotes, Wednesday Motivational Quotes, Boss Quotes

8. “A successful person finds the right place for himself. But a successful leader finds the right place for others. ”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Work, Inspirational Quotes for Work

9. “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

10. “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

— Vince Lombardi

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Hard Work Quotes, Powerful Motivational Quotes

11. “A leader is a dealer in hope.”

— Napoleon

Also featured in: Optimism Quotes, Quotes About Hope, Vision Quotes

12. “A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader.”

— Daisaku Ikeda

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Powerful Motivational Quotes, Empowerment Quotes, Quality Quotes

13. “There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust.”

— Klaus Balkenhol

14. “The task of the leader is to get people from where they are to where they have not been. ”

— Henry Kissinger

Also featured in: Thought Provoking Quotes

15. “A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader.”

— Fred Wilson

Also featured in: Thursday Inspirational Quotes

16. “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Work, Powerful Motivational Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Work

17. “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

Also featured in: Wisdom Quotes, Philosophy Quotes, Taoism Quotes

18. “Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.”

— Jim Rohn

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Powerful Motivational Quotes, Famous Quotes

19. “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”

— Bill Gates

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes for Work, Empowerment Quotes, Future Quotes

20. “The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”

— Colin Powell

Also featured in: Quality Quotes, Military Quotes

21. “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”

— Nelson Mandela

Also featured in: Famous Quotes, Powerful Quotes, Inspiring Quotes

22. “A leader who produces other leaders multiplies their influence.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Work, Motivational Monday Quotes, Empowerment Quotes

23. “Real leadership is being the person others will gladly and confidently follow.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Business Quotes, Short Motivational Quotes, Motivational Work Quotes

24. “You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.”

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

25. “Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but, leave him when he is wrong.”

— Abraham Lincoln

26. “Leadership is an action, not a position”

— Donald McGannon

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Work, Impact Quotes, Quality Quotes, Wednesday Inspirational Quotes

27. “Be the leader you wish you had.”

— Simon Sinek

Also featured in: Positive Quotes, Business Quotes, Short Motivational Quotes

28. “Find the right people, not the best people.”

— Jack Ma

29. “Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.”

— Brian Tracy

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Work, Problem-Solving Quotes, Good Morning Motivational Quotes

30. “What you do has far greater impact than what you say.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Also featured in: Action Quotes, Positive Inspirational Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Success

31. “When you were made a leader you weren’t given a crown, you were given the responsibility to bring out the best in others.”

— Jack Welch

Also featured in: Business Quotes, Inspirational Business Quotes, Positive Motivational Quotes, Engagement Quotes

32. “The true value of a leader is not measured by the work they do. A leader’s true value is measured by the work they inspire others to do.”

— Simon Sinek

Also featured in: Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes, Inspirational Business Quotes, Empowerment Quotes

33. “Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Business Quotes, Positive Motivation Quotes, Motivational Monday Quotes

34. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

— Harry S. Truman

Also featured in: Famous Quotes, Short Positive Quotes, Achievement Quotes, Productivity Quotes

35. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”

— Jim Rohn

Also featured in: Interesting Quotes, Powerful Motivational Quotes, Famous Quotes

36. “The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Work, Inspirational Quotes for Work, Short Inspiring Quotes

37. “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

— Jack Welch

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Work, Inspirational Quotes for Work, Inspirational Business Quotes, Motivational Monday Quotes

38. “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”

— Douglas MacArthur

39. “Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.”

— Brian Tracy

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes for Work, Short Inspirational Quotes, Motivational Monday Quotes

40. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Attitude Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Work, Empowering Quotes

41. “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”

— Arnold H. Glasow

Also featured in: Inspirational Business Quotes

42. “Bosses push, Leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership.”

— Dave Ramsey

Also featured in: Boss Quotes

43. “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

— Ralph Nader

Also featured in: Empowerment Quotes

44. “Don’t speak unless you can improve on the silence.”

— Spanish proverb

Also featured in: Serenity Quotes, Silence Quotes

45. “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

Also featured in: Business Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Work, Famous Quotes

46. “I cannot give you a formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: try to please everybody.”

— Herbert Bayard Swope

Also featured in: Failure Quotes, Witty Quotes

47. “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.

Also featured in: Courage Quotes, Life Quotes, Perseverance Quotes

48. “Leadership is influence.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Business Quotes, Short Inspirational Quotes, Motivational Monday Quotes

49. “Earn your leadership every day.”

— Michael Jordan

50. “To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.”

— Douglas Adams

Also featured in: Integrity Quotes, Quotes About Money