Top 100 Leadership Quotes (2023 Update)

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

— Peter F. Drucker

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— Kenneth H. Blanchard

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

— Harry S. Truman

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

— Aristotle

6. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

11. “A leader is a dealer in hope.”

— Napoleon

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

— Daisaku Ikeda

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

— Fred Wilson

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

— Henry Kissinger

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

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Inspiring Quotes

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

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

— Jim Rohn

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

— Bill Gates

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

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

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

— John C. Maxwell

23. “A leader who produces other leaders multiples their influences.”

— John C. Maxwell

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

27. “Be the leader you wish you had.”

— Simon Sinek

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

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

— Stephen R. Covey

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

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

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

— Harry S. Truman

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Boss Quotes

36. “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

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

— Brian Tracy

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

— Jack Welch

39. “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

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

— John C. Maxwell

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

— Dave Ramsey

Also featured in: Boss Quotes

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

— Ralph Nader

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

— Arnold H. Glasow

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

— Spanish proverb

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

46. “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.

47. “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

48. “Leadership is influence.”

— John C. Maxwell

49. “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

50. “Earn your leadership every day.”

— Michael Jordan