Famous Quotes & Sayings

W. H. Auden

All poets adore explosions, thunderstorms, tornadoes, conflagrations, ruins, scenes of spectacular carnage. The poetic imagination is therefore not at all a desirable quality in a chief of state.

W. H. Auden

No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.

Wayne Dyer

Each person must decide for himself what he wants each day. As a leader, I will expose you to the options and the likely consequences of those options. I'll even share my opinion if asked, but I'll never confuse it with the opinion, which simply doesn't exist.

Van Jones

Now, here's a good question: should serious people focus on global political instability - terrorism, failing states, nuclear weapons - or should we focus on global climate instability - droughts, floods, extreme weather? Here's the correct answer: yes, both, because climate disruption will make every other national security problem worse.

Robert K. Greenleaf

The only test of leadership is that somebody follows.

Robert K. Greenleaf

The servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve.

Robert K. Greenleaf

Leadership must first and foremost meet the needs of others.

Robert K. Greenleaf

A Leader is one who ventures and takes the risks of going out ahead to show the way and whom others follow, voluntarily, because they are persuaded that the leader's path is the right one-for them, probably better than they could devise for themselves.

Robert K. Greenleaf

Good leaders must first become good servants.

Robert K. Greenleaf

The best leaders are clear. They continually light the way, and in the process, let each person know that what they do makes a difference. The best test as a leader is: Do those served grow as persons; do they become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become leaders?

Robert K. Greenleaf

The servant-leader is servant first... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first...

Robert Hughes

The point of a library's existence is not persuasion or evangelism, but knowledge. It is irrelevant to the good library whether, as an institution, it shares or promotes your core values or mine, or the Attorney General's or Saddam Hussein's. The library is always an instrument of choice, and the choice is always yours, not your elected or designated leaders.

Rodney Alexander

I absolutely intend to return every penny given to me by my Democratic colleagues and Democratic leaders

Rodney Alexander

I knew that there were several, among African-American leaders, who had been put out by me because of my failure or reluctance to endorse Sen. Kerry

Walt Disney

The four Cs of making dreams come true: Curiosity, Courage, Consistency, Confidence.

Walt Disney

Every leader is telling a story... about what he or she values.

Walt Whitman

I say no body of men are fit to make Presidents, judges and generals, unless they themselves supply the best specimens of the same; and that supplying one or two such specimens illuminates the whole body for a thousand years.

Walt Whitman

Produce great men, the rest follows.

Sandra Day O'Connor

In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.

Sandra Day O'Connor

The really expert riders of horses let the horse know immediately who is in control, but then they guide the horse with loose reins and very seldom use the spurs. So it was with our chief [William Rehnquist]. He guided us with loose reins and used the spurs only rarely to get us up to speed with our work.

Ronnie Milsap

This business is always changing. If you're going to be a leader, you've got to take chances.

You can only make so much money in life and only enjoy so many creature comforts. The important thing is to do something meaningful-to leave something behind.

Rogers Hornsby

When I was in the batter's box, I felt sorry for the pitcher.

Roger Bannister

Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport as about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks.

Warren G

Silence - not dissent - is the one answer that leaders should refuse to accept.

Warren G. Bennis

People who know what they want and why they want it, and have the skills to communicate that to others in a way that gains support

Warren G. Bennis

It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.

Warren G. Bennis

The first job of a leader is to define a vision for the organization...the capacity to translate vision into reality.

Warren G. Bennis

Around the world, the generals are being ousted, and the poets are taking charge.

Warren G. Bennis

The ability to plan for what has not yet happened, for a future that has only been imagined, is one of the hallmarks of leadership.

Warren G. Bennis

Coaching will become the model for leaders in the future... I am certain that leadership can be learned and that terrific coaches... facilitate learning.

Warren G. Bennis

I'd always rather err on the side of openness. But there's a difference between optimum and maximum openness, and fixing that boundary is a judgment call. The art of leadership is knowing how much information you're going to pass on - to keep people motivated and to be as honest, as upfront, as you can. But, boy, there really are limits to that.

Warren G. Bennis

Leaders are people who believe so passionately that they can seduce other people into sharing their dream.