50 Best Inspirational Quotes that Will Make You a Great Leader

Are you a leader or aspiring to become a leader? Are you currently blank on what to do to create an impact in your current leadership position? Are you doubting your ability to lead others?

We spent our time collecting these inspirational and motivational quotes from intellectuals who were successful in their careers and leadership roles. From great men of old like Alexander the Great to modern day leaders like Barack Obama and leadership experts like John Maxwell.

Leadership goes beyond winning the vote, entitlement, and gaining many followers. What matters in leadership is your ability to lead well. There cannot be a good leader without basic leadership qualities.

By reading through these quotes, your dream of becoming a great leader can be realized.

Great Inspirational Quotes that Define Leadership

1. “Leadership is influence.” – John C. Maxwell

2. “Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.” – George W. Bush

3. A leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. —John Maxwell

4. Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better. —Bill Bradley

5.  Education is the mother of leadership. —Wendell Willkie

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

7. “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus” – Martin Luther King Jr.

8. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. —Warren Bennis

9.  If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. —John Quincy Adams

10. “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes.” – Peter Drucker

11. "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. —John F. Kennedy

12. “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – Norman Schwarz

13. "I think one of the keys to leadership is recognizing that everyone has gifts and talents. A good leader will learn how to harness those gifts toward the same goal."—Ben Carson

Inspirational Quotes that Describe the Quality of a Good Leader

14. “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.” – Alexander the Great

15. “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.” – Ray Kroc

16. "What you do has a far greater impact than what you say." —Stephen Covey

17. “Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and inactions.” – Harold S. Green

18. “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

---

Filtering rays of the sunshine, Brighten Up My Day, My heart swells with hope and …

Read more

---

19. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

20. “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

21. “The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.” – Sir Winston Churchill

22. "The hope of a secure world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood"—Martin Luther King Jr

23. “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” —Aristotle

24. "Without passion, you don't have energy, without energy, you have nothing"—Donald Trump

25. “People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.” – John Maxwell

26. “A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” —John Maxwell

27. “One must be convinced to convince, to have the enthusiasm to stimulate the others.” – Stefan Zweig

28. “The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston S. Churchill

29. “Earn your leadership every day.” – Michael Jordan

30"Creative power can pull down mountains of evil and level hilltops of injustice"—Martin Luther King Jr

31. “The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.” – J. Paul Getty

32. "Successful people don't have fewer problems"—Ben Carson

---

Shop on Jumia

---

Inspirational Quotes that Describe the Roles of a Good Leader

33. "The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You cannot blow an uncertain trumpet."—Theodore Hesburgh

34. “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” —Harvey Firestone

35. “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader

36. "A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better." -Jim Rohn

37. Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish. —Sam Walton

38. You manage things; you lead people. —Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

39. Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” —Jack Welch

Inspirational Quotes on How to Lead

40. “Never give an order that can't be obeyed.” —General Douglas MacArthur

41. “You have to lead people gently toward what they already know is right.” – Phil Crosby

42. “Don’t find fault, find a remedy.” – Henry Ford

43. “A ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward.” —Ovid

44. “Get the best people and train them well.” – Scott McNealy

45. "Aim for the highest"—Andrew Carnegie

46. “Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things.” – Rev. Jesse Jackson

47. “When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.” – Ronald Reagan

48. "A right delayed is a right denied"—Martin Luther King Jr