76 Best Leadership Quotes to Help You Become a Better Leader

In this post, we cover 76 best leadership quotes to help you become a better leader.

Do you think about changing the world? Do you encourage people and push them towards a better and brighter future? Well, then our leadership quotes are a must-read for you. Our quotes by famous leaders will inspire you to polish your leadership skills. Undoubtedly, leadership is a gift from God. But one needs practice, inspiration and motivation to polish these skills.

If you have a vision and want to change it into fine reality then these inspiring leadership quotes are of great help for you. Firstly, they will introduce you to the words of the world’s greatest leaders. Secondly, from these leadership quotes, you will be able to understand the strenuous struggle and enormous efforts of the world leaders that brought the change.

Famous Leadership Quotes from the World’s Most Influential Leaders

1. Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership. –James Humes
2. A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them. –M.D. Arnold
3. The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes. –Tony Blair
4. True leadership lies in guiding others to success-in ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well. –Bill Owens
5. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. –Martin Luther King Jr.
6. Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want. –Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator
7. I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people. —Mahatma Gandhi
8. Leadership is something you earn, something you’re chosen for. You can’t come in yelling, ‘I’m your leader!’ If it happens, it’s because the other guys respect you. –Ben Roethlisberger
9. People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss is covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives. –Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
10. 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

Some people are remarkably blessed with leadership qualities. They use their skills and power to influence people around them. World history is full of such influential leaders. Many of them have departed from this world but people still remember their words and actions.  If you are looking for the words of such powerful and influential leaders, please read the famous leadership quotes from influential leaders. 

Funny Leadership Quotes to Make You Smile

1. Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men — the other 999 follow women. –Groucho Marx
2. First rule of leadership: everything is your fault. –A Bug’s Life
3. It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse. –Adlai Stevenson
4. Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it. –John Naisbitt
5. Life is like a dogsled team. If you aren’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes. –Lewis Grizzard
6. The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. –Theodore M. Hesburgh
7. It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse. –Adlai Stevenson
8. People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. –Thomas Sowell
9. The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it. –Elaine Agather
10. Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works too. –Robert Half
11. You do not lead by hitting people over the head–that’s assault, not leadership. –Dwight Eisenhower
12. I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? –Benjamin Disraeli

Humour is a significant tool that can be used to influence people. Our present leaders have to work at it. Leaders are enthusiastic, well-focused and serious. But it doesn’t mean they lack a sense of humour. In fact, they know best how to use the sense of humour to influence people. Some of the world’s best leaders have left good examples for us. If you look at the above given funny leadership quotes collection, you will get to know how witty and intelligent were our leaders. 

Some of these funny leadership quotes are by leaders who are no more with us but their words are still with us to give us a good laugh, and, most importantly, to inspire us!

True Leader Quotes That’ll Make You Rethink about It

1. True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed….Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.
2. Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection. –Sheryl Sandberg
3. The true leader must submerge himself in the fountain of the people. –Vladimir Lenin
4. True Leaders do not manipulate others, they inspire them. –Myles Munroe
5. 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
6. A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position. –John Maxwell
7. A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless. –Charles de Gaulle
8. Don’t be a pleaser of people just because of the fear of losing your position. You cease to be a true leader when you do so! –Israelmore Ayivor,
9. Changing an organization, a company, a country – or a world – begins with the simple step of changing yourself. –Tony Robbins
10. A true leader is one who creates a favorable environment to bring out the energy and ability of his team. A great leader creates more great leaders and does not reduce the institution to a single person. –Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Nowadays, it is quite easy for anyone to come up and influence people, thanks to social media. Where social media has introduced us to a lot of new content creators, it has also given rise to many new leaders. But most of these leaders are influencing our youth negatively. It has become very difficult for us to recognize true leaders, leaders who act with integrity and take stand for people.

We need to understand that anyone enchanting for change can’t be our leader or a true leader unless he shows loyalty and inspires excellence.  Read our true leader quotes to get inspiration. These true leadership quotes will make you rethink about your leaders.

Short Leadership Quotes to Share with Your Team

1. Leadership is a choice, not a position. –Stephen Covey
2. Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. –Bill Bradley
3. Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence, and inspiration. –Robin S. Sharma
4. Management is doing the right thing; leadership is doing the right things. –Peter F. Drucker
5. The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. –Kenneth H. Blanchard
6. Anyone anywhere can make a positive difference. –Mark Sanborn
7. Even the largest army is nothing without a good general. –Afghan
8. He who rules must fully humor as much as he commands. –George Eliot
9. Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. –Peter Drucker
10. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. –Warren Bennis
11. If there is no wind, row. –Latin Proverb
12. Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. –John F. Kennedy

Are you working with a team and looking for some ways to motivate the squad? Read these short leadership quotes. We are quite confident to say that these short leadership quotes will inspire your team to perform better. You can also get these leadership quotes framed and put them in your office or working space. We hope these short and direct words will become your team’s motivation for the darkest days.

Bad Leadership Quotes Everyone Must Read

1. Bad leadership is an oxymoron. –Joseph C. Rost
2. A good leader takes care of those in their charge. A bad leader takes charge of those in their care. –Simon Sinek
3. Good leadership is pervasive, persuasive, and persistent. Bad leadership is poisoned with pedantry, posturing, self-importance. –Marcia Whicker
4. We can influence people for bad or good. –Johnny Hunt
5. Good attitudes among players do not guarantee a team’s success, but bad attitudes guarantee its failure. –John Maxwell
6. You don’t necessarily need atomic bombs to destroy a nation. Politicians who value their pockets more than the life of citizens always do that every day. –Israelmore Ayivor
7. Everybody in the world is capable of democratic development. Some people in the world are unlucky enough to get stuck with really bad political leadership and with really bad political institutions. –Condoleezza Rice
8. One of the most deadly causes of destruction of divine destinies is when a leader is failing, but he or she does not know it. Ignorance about your role is a death plot against people’s successes. –Israelmore Ayivor

You must have heard that a good team can’t do anything unless it has a good leader. Well, this is quite right. Good leaders are important for driving a team. They can transform a team into force and use it wisely. But have you ever thought about bad leaders? What if a good team gets a bad leader? That can be a chaotic combination, to be honest. A bad leader can ruin everything, including a well-organized team.

If you look at world history, you will get to know how some nations, despite their strenuous struggle and enormous efforts, remained deprived. Their miseries increased because they opted a bad leader. Check out our bad leadership quotes to have an eye-opening insight into bad leadership.

Inspiring Leadership Quotes for Students to Learn

1. Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. –Margaret Fuller
2. The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. –William Arthur Ward
3. Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. –Jack Welch
4. No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change; become a better version of yourself. –Madonna
5. A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves.
6. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. –John Quincy Adams
7. Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. –Nelson Mandela
9. Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar. –Orrin Woodward

We know as a student one has to learn a lot of quotes and sayings to ace the exam. Keeping in view our valuable student readers, we curated these leadership quotes. These leadership quotes are quite easy, short and precise. Most importantly, they are comprehensive. Once you learn these quotes about leadership, you don’t have to learn anything else about leadership. We are sure you will ace the exam by quoting these important leadership quotes. Don’t forget to share these leadership quotes with your friends so that they also get good grades like you!

Motivational Leadership Quotes by Women Leaders

1. Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes. –Margaret Wheatley
2. I just want women to always feel in control. Because we’re capable, we’re so capable. –Nicki Minaj
3. The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have. –Padmasree Warrior
4. Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing. –Mary D. Poole
5. I don’t go by the rule book. I lead from the heart, not the head.—Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales
6. Run to the fire; don’t hide from it. –Meg Whitman
7. Every moment wasted looking back, keeps us from moving forward. In this world and the world of tomorrow, we must go forward together or not at all. –Hillary Clinton
8. Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, what shouldn’t. –Michelle Obama
9. Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence, and making sure that impact lasts in your absence. –Sheryl Sandberg

One can’t deny the importance and influence of female leaders. In recent years, very talented female leaders have come forward. Regardless of their gender, their teachings and influence are not confined to one gender only. They are a role model for everyone. But female leadership is not the latest trend. If you look at history, you will realise that female leaders have always been there to mentor people.

Some studies have even proven that women leaders are better mentors as compared to men. Check out the above given remarkable famale leadership quotes by some female leaders and get inspired. 

Also checking our empowerd women quotes to get motivated.

Quotes about Leadership and Teamwork to Motivate Collaboration

1. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. –Helen Keller
2. If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of the giants. –Isaac Newton
3. Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results. –Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
4. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. –Michael Jordan
5. Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. –Andrew Carnegie
6. If there is anyone secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from my own. –Henry Ford

Companies grow when people from different backgrounds team up and work. Individual ideas can’t work unless a skilled team execute them nicely. But unfortunately, sometimes we don’t realise the importance of teamwork. Rather them collaborating to solve the problems we split up and think all problems are due to our collaboration.  If you or your team is facing such crises, we have a quick and easy solution for you.

All you have to do is read the above-given leadership quotes and then share them with your team. These quotes about leadership will surely inspire and motivate your team workers.  We hope, after reading these leadership quotes, you and your team will team up and work on that dream project that has been due. 

Final Thoughts on Leadership Quotes

We put enormous efforts to compile the best leadership quotes for our valuable leaders. We hope you find them motivating and inspiring.  The best thing about our quotes collection is that it is easy and comprehendible for everyone. Moreover, the leadership quotes are short and catchy; hence, easy to learn! If that’s so, don’t forget to share these leadership quotes with your friends and family. We hope they enjoy them as much as you did!