Quotes About Leadership

As a nation we may take pride in the fact that we are softhearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed

Hitler built a fortress around Europe, but he forgot to put a roof on it.

In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May he protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.

You'll have to learn that public life takes a lot of sweat. But it doesn't need to worry you. You won't always be right, but you musn't suffer from being wrong.

I say that the delivery of needed supplies to Britain is imperative. I say that this can be done; it must be done; and it will be done… The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

I don't mind telling you in confidence that I am keeping in fairly close touch with that admirable Italian gentleman [Mussolini].

Presidents are selected, not elected.

The trouble with this country is that there are too many politicians who believe, with a conviction based on experience, that you can fool all of the people all of the time.

The founders of the Republic dealt with things as they were presented to them, in a spirit of self-sacrificing patriotism, and, as time has proved, with a comprehensive wisdom which it will always be safe for us to consult.

They were generally run by young men who mocked authority and preached egalitarianism yet had no qualms about ordering everyone else around and stealing their comrades' girlfriends.

While the matriarch operates on the basis of knowledge, the rest of the herd operates on the basis of trust.

Yet at the same time humans are inherently irreverent. It was Saint Bonaventura, a thirteenth-century theologian, who said, "The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of its behind." We love to make fun of the higher-ups. We're always ready to bring them down. And the powerful know this all too well. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," as Shakespeare wrote.

Their bonding over birds went way beyond the way John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev bonded over Pushinka, a little dog that the Soviet leader sent to the White House.

Moreover, not unlike presidential candidates who hold babies up in the air as soon as the cameras are rolling, male chimps vying for power develop a sudden interest in infants, which they hold and tickle in order

the kingmaker. He regained both prestige and fresh mating opportunities.

With a bully for a leader, the group seems to wait for a challenger and eagerly support him if he stands a chance.

A government or a party gets the people it deserves and sooner or later a people gets the government it deserves.

We must not cultivate the spirit of the exceptional or look for the hero, another form of leader. We must elevate the people, expand their minds, equip them, differentiate them, and humanize them.

No leader, no matter how valuable he may be, can substitute himself for the popular will; and the national government, before concerning itself about international prestige, ought first to give back their dignity to all citizens, fill their minds and feast their eyes with human things, and create a prospect that is human because human consciousness and sovereign men dwell therein.

Violence alone, perpetrated by the people, violence organized and guided by the leadership, provides the key for the masses to decipher social reality. Without this struggle, without this praxis there is nothing but a carnival parade and a lot of hot air. All that is left is a slight readaptation, a few reforms at the top, a flag, and down at the bottom a shapeless, writhing mass, still mired in the Dark Ages.

Kings exercise control over people, and scholars exercise control over kings.

Knowledge will not be taken away from mankind, but scholars will disappear. When no scholar remains, stupid men will be put in command. They will go astray themselves as well as lead others astray.

Party domination and State leadership are concepts incompatible with one another.

The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and ability.