» On leadership

…twelve interesting quotations

The internet hardly needs another page of quotations about leadership. So, here it is anyway. I hope this selection has the merit of being different and thought-provoking.

Serve to lead.

Royal military academy, Sandhurst . motto

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

Lord Acton . 1834-1902 . letter to English historian Mandell Creighton

I once said, as a sort of wisecrack, that leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.

Dwight Eisenhower . 1890-1969 . American soldier and politician . quoted, Nineteen stars (Puryear)

Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.

Jesse Jackson . 1941- . American civil rights activist and Baptist minister . [unsourced at present]

The sure sign of a weak man who ascends to glory is that he can’t tolerate having strong men around him.

Clive James . 1939- . expatriate Australian writer and poet . North face of Soho

Feel the fear, and do it anyway.

Susan Jeffers . 1938-2012 . American self-help author . title of book

Whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant.

Jesus . 7-2BC to 30-33AD . Jewish carpenter and spiritual leader . Mark 10:43

A leader is best when people barely know he exists;
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him;
worst when they despise him;
but a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say “We did it ourselves!”

Lao-Tzu . C6 BC . Chinese philosopher . Tao te ching

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

Abraham Lincoln . 1809-1865 . American politician . his response to an elderly lady who had chastised him for not calling Southerners—whom he had referred to as fellow human beings who were in error—irreconcilable enemies who must be destroyed . quoted, The 48 laws of power (Greene, Elfers)

It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.

Niccolò Machiavelli . 1469-1527 . Florentine political philosopher, historian, musician and poet . The prince

The real leader has no need to lead—he is content to point the way.

Henry Miller . 1891-1980 . American writer . The wisdom of the heart

If only we can give them faith that mountains can be moved, they will accept the illusion that mountains are moveable, and thus an illusion may become reality.

Benito Mussolini . 1883-1945 . Italian politician and leader of the National Fascist Party . on his strategy for motivating the masses

On leadership