500 Inspiring Leadership Quotes

Inspiring Leadership Best Quotes

Leadership qualities make you unique. A great leader is one who trains us properly, gives us the right guidance, and encourages and motivates us. In this world with a history of billions of years, many great leaders have been born who have taught others ethics, etiquette, good manners, and techniques for succeeding in life. These great leaders are always revered by us. Their words to human society are always remembered. Their words inspire us in every aspect of our lives.

Top 500 Inspiring Leadership Quotes

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True leadership is about striving to become better in all areas of life and empowering everyone around you to become the best versions of themselves.

Regardless of where you are in your journey of being a leader —- whether you have the desire to inspire or want to hone the leadership skills you already have, learning from others through inspiring leadership quotes can help you reach your goals.

Inspiring Leadership Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi

While leading nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women’s rights, build religious and ethnic harmony, and eliminate the injustices of the caste system, Mahatma Gandhi supremely applied the principles of nonviolent civil disobedience, playing a key role in freeing India from foreign domination. He was often imprisoned for his actions, sometimes for years, but he accomplished his aim in 1947 when India gained its independence from Britain.

Due to his stature, he is now referred to as Mahatma, meaning “great soul.” World civil rights leaders—from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Nelson Mandela—have credited Gandhi as a source of inspiration in their struggles to achieve equal rights for their people.

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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

“A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.”
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

“See the good in people and help them.”

“An ounce of patience is worth more than a tonne of preaching.”

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“The future depends on what we do in the present.”

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.

“If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.”

“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”

“Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world, but to change ourselves.”

“Service without humility is selfishness and egotism.”

“Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation.”

“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.”

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”

“My life is my message.”

“The real love is to love those that hate you, to love your neighbor even though you distrust him.”

“Hate the sin, love the sinner.”

God has no religion.”

“Nothing is impossible for pure love.”

“True beauty consists of purity of heart.”

“It does not require money to live neat, clean, and dignified.”

“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.”

“It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone.”

“Hate the sin, love the sinner.”

. “Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”

“In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.”

“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is fear.”

“To lose patience is to lose the battle.”

“Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.”

“Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.”

“Be the change you are trying to create.”

“Gentleness, self-sacrifice, and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.”

“The real ornament of a woman is her character, her purity.”

“Those who know how to think need no teachers.”

“Man should forget his anger before he goes to sleep.”

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

“Man, often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“It’s easy to stand with the crowd. It takes courage to stand alone.”

“The law of love could be best understood and learned through little children.”

“Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny.”

“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”

“My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.”

“Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.”

“In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.”

“Strength does not come from winning. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

“Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world, but to change ourselves.”

“If you want to change the world, start with yourself.”

“Strength does not come from physical capacity; it comes from an indomitable will.”

“Do not judge others. Be your own judge and you will be truly happy. If you try to judge others, you are likely to burn your fingers.”

“No man loses his freedom except through his own weakness.”

“Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.”

“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your actions. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

“Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people.”

“The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.”

“What barrier is there that love cannot break?”

“There are two days in the year that we can not do anything, yesterday and tomorrow.”

“A small group of determined and like-minded people can change the course of history.”

“There are two days in the year that we can not do anything, yesterday and tomorrow.”

“If we want to reach real peace in this world, we should start educating children.”

“There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.”

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”

“Those who know how to think need no teachers.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people.”

“Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“Full effort is full victory.”

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

“My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.”

“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”

“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.”

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”

“A ‘No’ uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.”

“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate but it is fear.”

“When there is war, the poet lays down the lyre, the lawyer his law reports, the schoolboy his books.”

“Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

“Change yourself – you are in control.”

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

“They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.”

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

“To lose patience is to lose the battle.”

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

“We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people.”

“When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.”

“Truth without humility would be an arrogant caricature.”

“Even if the paradise of material satisfaction, which they envisage as their final goal, were realized on earth, it would not bring mankind either contentment or peace.”

“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”

“The real love is to love those that hate you, to love your neighbor even though you distrust him.”

Best Inspiring Leadership Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr

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Martin Luther King Jr was a leader of the American civil rights movement. He organized a number of peaceful protests as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, including the March on Washington in 1963. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and, at the time, he was the youngest person to have done so.

“A true leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”

“Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.”

“When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.”

“That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.”

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

“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. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.”

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so, we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”

“We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.”

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

“The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.”

“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”

“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”

“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”

“We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace.”

“The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favour wish that he might have done you a greater one.”

“A riot is the language of the unheard.”

“We cannot walk alone.”

“I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

“Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service… You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

“There is no gain without struggle.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.”

“If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”

“Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”

“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”

“I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.”

“The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.”

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

“We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

“Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

“Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”

“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

“Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.”

“A lie cannot live.”

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

“Nonviolence is an absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.”

“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

“It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.”

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”

“The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”

“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.”

“Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”

“There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.”

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

“We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress”

“Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.”

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important”

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”

“The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”

“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.”

“Dr King Quote “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”

“Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.”

“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

“It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.”

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

“Only in the darkness can you see the stars”

“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”

“No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.”

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”

“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”

“Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

Most Inspiring Leadership Quotes by Abraham Lincoln

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One of Abraham Lincoln’s great leadership traits was his sense of integrity and strong principles. He was willing to compromise but his core principles did not change. He inspired loyalty and dedication. Lincoln’s communication skills were extraordinary.

“You can’t make a weak man strong by making a strong man weak.”

“Tact: the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”

“I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

“When I’m getting ready to reason with a man I spend one third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say—and two thirds thinking about him and what he is going to say.”

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

“You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry.”

“You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”

“You can’t make a weak man strong by making a strong man weak.”

“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”

“In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honourable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”

“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

“And in the end, it is not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.”

“No man is good enough to govern another man, without that other’s consent. I say this is the leading principle–the sheet anchor of American republicanism.”

“You think slavery is right and should be extended; while we think slavery is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.”

“Those who write clearly have readers, those who write obscurely have commentators.”

“Every head should be cultivated.”

“You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.”

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.”

“Education does not mean teaching people what they do not know. It means teaching them to behave as they do not behave.”

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

“My mind is like a piece of steel, very hard to scratch anything on it and almost impossible after you get it there to rub it out.”

“I will prepare and someday my chance will come.”

“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.”

“Get books, sit yourself down anywhere, and go to reading them yourself.”

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”

“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”

“That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”

“I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.”

“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.”

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”

“If you would win a man to your cause first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”

“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other thing.”

“I have a congenital aversion to failure.”

“Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.”

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

“I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.”

“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”

“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”

“I desire to so conduct the affairs of the administration that if, at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall have at least one friend left—and that friend shall be down inside of me.”

“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

“The legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot, by individual effort, for at all, or do so well, for themselves.”

“My Best Friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.”

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”

“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”

“I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.”

“Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.”

“Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.”

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

“There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.”

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”

“Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.”

“I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.”

“The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.”

“It’s not me who can’t keep a secret. It’s the people I tell that can’t.”

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”

“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”

“Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.”

“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”

“What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.”

“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”

“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.”

“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.”

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”

“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.”

“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”

“All I have learned, I learned from books.”

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

“My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.”

“I am slow to learn and slow to forget that which I have learned.”

“This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.”

“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”

“I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.”

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”

“The one victory we can ever call complete will be that one which proclaims that there is not one slave or one drunkard on the face of God’s green earth.”

“All I ask for the negro is that if you do not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy.”

“Let us remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling.”

“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

Unique Inspiring Leadership Quotes by Nelson Mandela

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Nelson Mandela will be remembered for his struggle and leadership for freedom, equality, truth, love, peace, and justice. He inspired many of us through his life, struggle, words, and deeds, as he walked the walk as well as talked the talk, unlike many compatriots who manipulate similar ideals for self-aggrandizement.

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

“Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.”

“Many people in this country have paid the price before me and many will pay the price after me.”

“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.”

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

“Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”

“I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”

It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

“Many people in this country have paid the price before me and many will pay the price after me.”

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

“Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.”

“Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonouring them.”

“Courageous people do not fear forgiving for the sake of peace.”

“We forgive, but not forget.”

“It was a useful reminder that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency, and that if their heart is touched, they are capable of changing.”

“I realized that they could take everything from me except my mind and my heart. They could not take those things. Those things, I still had control over, and I decided not to give them away.”

“It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.”

“There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair—that way lies defeat and death.”

“It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”

“A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favour. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens.”

“It reaffirmed my long-held belief that education was the enemy of prejudice. These were men and women of science, and science had no room for racism.”

“Sometimes, it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

“Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.”

“I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.”

“I am the master of my fate and the captain of my destiny.”

“It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”

“There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.”

“We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

“Tread softly. Breathe peacefully. Laugh hysterically.”

“Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.”

“There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair—that way lies defeat and death.”

“A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

“One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.”

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb”

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

“One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.”

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

“I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”

“In my country, we go to prison first and then become President.”

“It is not where you start, but how high you aim that matters for success.”

“Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their songs.”

“Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great

“Great thinking comes from a great mind.”

“Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”

“I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.”

“Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.”

“It was ANC policy to try to educate all people, even our enemies. We believed that all men, even prison service warders, were capable of change, and we did our utmost to try to sway them.”

“It will forever remain an accusation and a challenge to all men and women of conscience that it took as long as it has before all of us stood up to say, ‘Enough is enough.’”

“She married a man who soon left her; that man became a myth; and then that myth returned home and proved to be just a man after all.”

“Difficulties break some men but make others.”

“Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process.”

“The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.”

“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.”

“Men have different capacities and react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker ones, and both became stronger in the process.”

“We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”

“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

“Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

“Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.”

“Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.”

“There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill

“Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.”

“A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

“Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”

“Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”

“Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.”

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

“Know your enemy — and learn about his favourites sport.”

“Quitting is leading too.”

“When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.”

“I never lose. I either win or learn.”

“I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”

“Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”

“I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonouring them.”

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

“You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.”

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

“Although I am a gregarious person, I love solitude even more.”

“As long as many of our people still live in utter poverty, as long as children still live under plastic covers, as long as many of our people are still without jobs, no South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom.”

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.”

“It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”

“A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

“Where you stand depends on where you sit.”

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

“Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.”

“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”

“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

“I am the captain of my soul.”

“A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”

“Appearances matter — and remember to smile.”

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb

“It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.”

“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”

“Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.”

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”

“Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer.”

“Let your greatness blossom.”

“Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically.”

“Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”

Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly.”

“I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.”

“I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now and will do so until the end of my days.”

“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation.”

“It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”

“We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

“There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.”

“I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.”

Powerful Inspiring Leadership Quotes by Winston Churchill

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Historians widely attribute Winston Churchill as being “the greatest statesman of the 20th century.” Churchill was an effective leader and statesman because of his tremendous ability to inspire people; his unique strategic insight; his relentless passion; and his imperturbable personality.

“Personally, I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”

“Vengeance is the most costly and dissipating of luxuries.”

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”

“Never, never, never give up.”

“Time and money are largely interchangeable terms.”

“Every man should ask himself each day whether he is not too readily accepting negative solutions.”

“If you destroy a free market, you create a black market.”

“The price of greatness is responsibility.”

“One ought to be just before one is generous.”

“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”

“It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them.”

“Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.”

“Harsh laws are at times better than no laws at all.”

“Everyone has his day, and some days last longer than others.”

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”

“It is not in our power to anticipate our destiny.”

“All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope.”

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, it’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time-a tremendous whack.”

“All I can say is that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.”

“Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library.”

“You will never get to the end of the journey if you stop to shy a stone at every dog that barks.”

“For myself I am an optimist—it does not seem to be much use being anything else.”

“The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go.”

“Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

“You never can tell whether bad luck may not after all turn out to be good luck.”

“You must put your head into the lion’s mouth if the performance is to be a success.”

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

“Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.”

“One always measures friendships by how they show up in bad weather.”

“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

“When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.”

“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

“I never worry about action, but only about inaction.”

“War never pays its dividends in cash on the money it costs.”

“Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential.”

“In finance, everything that is agreeable is unsound and everything that is sound is disagreeable.”

“It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.”

“I have in my life concentrated more on self-expression than self-denial.”

“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.”

“I like things to happen, and if they don’t happen, I like to make them happen.”

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile—hoping it will eat him last.”

“The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.”

“Without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed.”

“I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over, I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.”

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

“There is always much to be said for not attempting more than you can do and for making a certainty of what you try. But this principle, like others in life and war, has it exceptions.”

“The true guide of life is to do what is right.”

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something in your life.”

“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.”

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

“Broadly speaking short words are best and the old words when short, are best of all.”

“We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.”

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

“There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right and not to fear to do or say what you believe to be right.”

“What is adequacy? Adequacy is no standard at all.”

“One ought to be just before one is generous.”

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.”

“My tastes are simple: I am easily satisfied with the best.”

“To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to change often.”

“All wisdom is not new wisdom.”

“Every man should ask himself each day whether he is not too readily accepting negative solutions.”

“To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real.”

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

“I may be drunk Miss, but in the morning, I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”

“I object on principle to doing by legislation what properly belongs to human good feeling and charity.”

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

“Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.”

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

“Craft is common both to skill and deceit.”

“In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.”

“Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.”

“There is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.”

“Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.”

“I’m prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

“We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.”

“It is the time to dare and endure.”

“In a war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.”

“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

“Evils can be created much quicker than they can be cured.”

“Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.”

“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

“We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.”

“We must beware of needless innovation, especially when guided by logic.”

“If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.”

“We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.”

“Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace, and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.”

“If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”

“Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterward to explain why it didn’t happen.”

“It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.”

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

“The first duty of the university is to teach wisdom, not a trade; character, not technicalities. We want a lot of engineers in the modern world, but we do not want a world of engineers.”

“The English never draw a line without blurring it.”

“You cannot cure cancer by a majority.”

“If we win, nobody will care. If we lose, there will be nobody to care.”

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FAQ

1. What is the best quality of great leaders?

Ans: A great leader should have integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, and gratitude.

2. Who are the five famous great leaders?

Ans: The five famous great leaders are

Mahatma Gandhi.
Martin Luther King Jr
Abraham Lincoln
Nelson Mandela
Winston Churchill

3. What is Abraham Lincoln’s most famous quote?

Ans: Abraham Lincoln’s most famous quote is –

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”

4. What is the most famous quote by Nelson Mandela?

Ans: Nelson Mandela’s most famous quote is –

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

5. What are the most famous quotes by Mahatma Gandhi?

Ans: Mahatma Gandhi’s most famous quotes are –

“Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.”

6. Who is a true leader quote?

Ans: “Every true leader is a true follower. Every true follower is a true leader. You are followed because of the dreams you pursue; you pursue others because of the dreams they follow!” “What many people do not understand is: It’s not about who you think you know, but about who actually knows you.

7. What are inspiring leadership quotes for managers?

Margaret Thatcher: “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” Seth Godin: “Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.” Steve Jobs: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Michael Jordan: “Earn your leadership every day.

8. What is a good leadership quote?

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion. A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, and his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

9. What makes a great leader?

A good leader should have integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, and gratitude. They should be learning agility and flexing their influence while communicating and delegating effectively. See how these key leadership qualities can be learned and improved at all levels of your organization.

10. What makes a good leader in one word?

The one word I believe defines leadership as greater than any other, is INFLUENCE. In fact, my all-time favorite definition of leadership comes from the founder of Toastmasters International, Ralph Smedley.

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Dev Kirtonia

Hi, I’m Dev Kirtonia, Founder & CEO of Dev Library. A website that provides all SCERT, NCERT 3 to 12, and BA, B.com, B.Sc, and Computer Science with Post Graduate Notes & Suggestions, Novel, eBooks, Biography, Quotes, Study Materials, and more.