Quotes about leader
page 19

Gulzarilal Nanda photo
Gulzarilal Nanda photo

“He is one of those extraordinary leaders of our country who had devoted all his lifetime in the service of the people especially in fighting corruption and social evils prevailing in society.”

Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) Prime Minister of India

A.R. Kidwai in: Prime Minister of India Acting http://gulzarilalnandafoundation.com/nanda-itihas.html, Gulzarilal Nanda Foundation.

Verghese Kurien photo

“Amongst the management leaders in India, Kurien is not only an icon, he is a miracle.”

Verghese Kurien (1921–2012) Indian founder of dairy-cooperative Amul

By Dr.Raghunath Mashlekar, Director General of CSIR quoted in "Thought Leaders" in p. 170.

Sunil Dutt photo
Atal Bihari Vajpayee photo

“He was a person who could bring out the best in others. There are some leaders who bring out the worst in others. He brought out the best.”

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) 10th Prime Minister of India

Arun Shourie. NDTV. "Let's Have Tea": When Atal Bihari Vajpayee Made A Point With 3 Words https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/atal-bihari-vajpayee-death-lets-have-tea-when-atal-bihari-vajpayee-made-a-point-with-3-words-1901754 August 17, 2018

Atal Bihari Vajpayee photo

“He is a young leader of opposition. Who is always criticizing me. But I see in him a great future.”

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) 10th Prime Minister of India

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru introducing Vajpayee to the visiting British Prime Minister quoted in "A. B. Vajpayee: An Eloquent Speaker and a Visionary Parliamentarian" p=37

Atal Bihari Vajpayee photo
Bal Gangadhar Tilak photo

“To bring in the mass of the people, to found the greatness of the future on the greatness of the past, to infuse Indian politics with Indian religious fervour and spirituality are the indispensable conditions for a great and powerful political awakening in India. Others, writers, thinkers, spiritual leaders, had seen this truth. Mr. Tilak was the first to bring it into the actual field of practical politics.”

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920) Indian independence activist

Sri Aurobindo, 1918, quoted from Sri Aurobindo, ., Nahar, S., Aurobindo, ., & Institut de recherches évolutives (Paris). India's rebirth: A selection from Sri Aurobindo's writing, talks and speeches. Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives. 3rd Edition (2000). [3]

Bal Gangadhar Tilak photo

“The Congress movement was for a long time purely occidental in its mind, character and methods, confined to the English-educated few, founded on the political rights and interests of the people read in the light of English history and European ideals, but with no roots either in the past of the country or in the inner spirit of the nation…. To bring in the mass of the people, to found the greatness of the future on the greatness of the past, to infuse Indian politics with Indian religious fervour and spirituality are the indispensable conditions for a great and powerful political awakening in India. Others, writers, thinkers, spiritual leaders, had seen this truth. Mr. Tilak was the first to bring it into the actual field of practical politics….. There are always two classes of political mind: one is preoccupied with details for their own sake, revels in the petty points of the moment and puts away into the background the great principles and the great necessities, the other sees rather these first and always and details only in relation to them. The one type moves in a routine circle which may or may not have an issue; it cannot see the forest for the trees and it is only by an accident that it stumbles, if at all, on the way out. The other type takes a mountain-top view of the goal and all the directions and keeps that in its mental compass through all the deflections, retardations and tortuosities which the character of the intervening country may compel it to accept; but these it abridges as much as possible. The former class arrogate the name of statesman in their own day; it is to the latter that posterity concedes it and sees in them the true leaders of great movements. Mr. Tilak, like all men of pre-eminent political genius, belongs to this second and greater order of mind.”

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920) Indian independence activist

Sri Aurobindo, (From an introduction to a book entitled Speeches and Writings of Tilak.), quoted from Sri Aurobindo, ., Nahar, S., Aurobindo, ., & Institut de recherches évolutives (Paris). India's rebirth: A selection from Sri Aurobindo's writing, talks and speeches. Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives. 3rd Edition (2000). https://web.archive.org/web/20170826004028/http://bharatvani.org/books/ir/IR_frontpage.htm

Dominicus Corea photo
Nicolae Ceaușescu photo
Viktor Lutze photo

“SA men should be leaders, not ludicrous apes.”

Viktor Lutze (1890–1943) SA Stabschef

Adolf Hitler, in a twelve-point directive about cleaning up the SA issued to Lutze.

Otto Ohlendorf photo
Pedro Albizu Campos photo
Fabio Cannavaro photo

“Cannavaro has that unmistakable presence as a leader and in my impression, is exactly like that tough and cool-headed defense he shows on the pitch.”

Fabio Cannavaro (1973) Italian footballer

Iker Casillas, when asked to describe Cannavaro after joining Real Madrid http://www.cannaddicted.com/English/Fabio/Quotes.htm

Rex Grossman photo

“When the storm came, he stepped up. You’re going to go through storms; you can’t get away from them. It’s how you handle them, and what our team got a chance to see is how our leader handled the storm. He handled it well and steadied the ship.”

Rex Grossman (1980) American football player, quarterback

Lovie Smith's response after Grossman and Devin Hester lead the Bears to victory.
http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=2801

Russell Brand photo
Ernest Bevin photo

“He is a powerful fellow, with a bull neck and a huge voice - a born leader…if there is trouble, mark my words! You will hear more of Bevin!”

Ernest Bevin (1881–1951) British labour leader, politician, and statesman

David Lloyd George in conversation with Lord Riddell (1 March 1919), quoted in J. M. McEwen (ed.), The Riddell Diaries 1908-1923 (London: The Athlone Press, 1986), p. 258.

Samuel P. Huntington photo

“Avoidance of a global war of civilizations depends on world leaders accepting and cooperating to maintain the multicivilizational character of global politics.”

Samuel P. Huntington (1927–2008) American political scientist

Source: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996), Ch. 1: The New Era in World Politics, § 1 : Introduction: Flags And Cultural Identity

Józef Piłsudski photo

“Józef Piłsudski will remain in the memory of our nation as the founder of independence and as the victorious leader who fended off a foreign assault that threatened the whole of Europe and its civilization. Józef Piłsudski served his country well, and has entered our history forever.”

Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935) Polish politician and Prime Minister

Declaration of the Sejm (Lower House) of the Polish Parliament, May 12, 1995, the 60th anniversary of Piłsudski's death. Józef Piłsudski http://members.lycos.co.uk/jozefpilsudski/index2.html
About him

Mahendra Chaudhry photo

“It is disgraceful that the Prime Minister should deceive Church leaders to get their support for the Bill. He then had the audacity to mislead the nation by claiming that the Bill had the support of Christians.”

Mahendra Chaudhry (1942) Fijian politician

(Commenting on allegations made by Roman Catholic Archbishop Petero Mataca that Qarase had misled church leaders about the true contents of the legislation).
Opposition to the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission

Koila Nailatikau photo
Paulo Freire photo
Prem Rawat photo
Ferdinand Marcos photo
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy photo
Robert Greene photo
Alan M. Dershowitz photo
James P. Gray photo
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck photo
Will Durant photo
Richard II of England photo

“I am your leader: follow me.”

Richard II of England (1367–1400) King of England

Remark to the peasants at Smithfield, London, during the Peasants' Revolt, quoted in Gwilym Dodd, The Reign of Richard II (Tempus, 2000), p. 20

George Ball (diplomat) photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“The truth is plain to see — if you want freedom, take pride in your country; if you want democracy, hold onto your sovereignty, and if you want peace, love your nation. Wise leaders always put the good of their own people and their own country first. The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots. The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbours, and honor the differences that make each country special and unique.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Address to United Nations General Assembly, quoted in * 2019-09-24
Trump UN speech knocks globalism: The future belongs to nationalism
Tim Pearce
Washington Examiner
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-un-speech-knocks-globalism-the-future-belongs-to-nationalism
2010s, 2019, September

Benjamin Creme photo
Uthman photo
William Blum photo

“The word "communist" (as well as "Marxist") has been so overused and so abused by American leaders and the media as to render it virtually meaningless.”

William Blum (1933–2018) American author and historian

The Left has done the same to the word "fascist".
Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Introduction

Tony Abbott photo

“For me, as for every leader of the Liberal Party, encouragement for the family, support for small business and respect for values and institutions that have stood the test of time are at the heart of my public life.”

Tony Abbott (1957) Australian politician

Page vii of Tony Abbott's introduction to 2013 edition of his book Battlelines.
Leader of the Opposition (2009-2015), Battlelines book, (2013)

Donald J. Trump photo

“We had a great event yesterday, an event that was so beautiful, young African American leaders. One of the things I asked them, and I’ve been thinking about this for a long time… And great people, great people. Some of them are here tonight. Do you like the name African American or Black? And they said, “Black!” all at the same time. No, true. I tell you. Because you say, “African American or Black?” And they said almost immediately, “Black.””

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

But we had an incredible group of people and what happened is NBC… It was such a love fest. It was so incredible. It went on for 45 minutes. It was a love fest. It was incredible. NBC turned down… There they are right there. They turned down… Comcast, which owns NBC… Actually NBC, I think, we call it MSDNC, right? MSDNC. But NBC I think is worse than CNN. I actually do. And Comcast, a company that spends millions and millions of dollars on their image… I’ll do everything possible to destroy their image because they are terrible. They are terrible. They’re a terrible group of people. And they paid me a fortune for years for the Apprentice. They paid me a fortune. And when I left the show, it was doing great. When I left the show, 14 seasons, think of that, they got a big movie star. I won’t tell you his name. Nobody would know. Actually nobody will know his name because he was on for such a short period of time. But the show went down the tubes very quickly after they had Trump. But the country in five years from now, of course you want to upset them, five years or nine years or 13 years. Or 18 years! 10 more years. Nah. Oh, they go crazy when you say it. When you say to them five more years, so it’s five, but you then say maybe nine, maybe 13, maybe 17, maybe 21, or not, maybe 21. Let’s do this. Let’s term limit ourselves at 25 years. No more than 25 years. No more. Okay. They’ll pass something in the Senate. Tim, pass it in the Senate with Lindsey, a 25 year term limit please.
2020s, 2020, February, Donald Trump Charleston, South Carolina Rally (February 28, 2020)

Anthony Fauci photo

“It's really, really tough because you have to be honest with the American public and you don't want to scare the hell out of them. And then other times, in attempts to calm people down, [leaders] have had people be complacent about it. This is particularly problematic in a ‘gotcha” town like Washington.”

Anthony Fauci (1940) American immunologist and head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

About the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States, quoted in 'You don't want to go to war with a president' https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/03/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus-crisis-118961, 3 March 2020, Politico.

Glenn Greenwald photo

“Our leaders invent nothing but new taxes, and conquer nothing but the pockets of their subjects.”

Thomas Hodgskin (1787–1869) British writer

Source: The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted (1832), p. 14

Arnab Goswami photo

“Congress leaders have been intimidating me and threatening me with physical violence. I am deeply grateful that the Supreme Court has noted the violence against me and my wife.”

Arnab Goswami (1973) Indian news anchor

https://www.opindia.com/2020/04/arnab-goswami-grateful-supreme-court-interim-protection-congress-fir/ https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/grateful-to-sc-for-upholding-constitutional-right-to-report-broadcast-arnab-goswami20200424155249/ https://www.newsx.com/national/arnab-goswami-deeply-grateful-to-sc-for-defending-his-freedom-of-expression-says-congress-filed-over-150-firs-to-intimidate-him.html

Nikita Khrushchev photo

“We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can aid their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism until suddenly they awake to find that they have communism.”

Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Allegedly said shortly before his 1959 visit to the United States. Subsequent investigation by the Library of Congress and the US Information Agency found no source. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (following Lenin in State and Revolution) considered socialism a necessary transitional stage to communism, and Khrushchev affirmed this position in regard to existing communist-led states, not the United States. See " Khrushchev Could Have Said It http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/online-exhibits/files/original/809230f1ccf3f96b76341d3a02b6506b.pdf" by Morris K. Udall.
Disputed

Benjamin Creme photo

“The first quality of a leader of people – always the first quality – is a devotion to truth.”

Leon MacLaren (1910–1994) British philosopher

Leon MacLaren, Principles of Music, 1978

Bhanu Choudhrie photo

“As business leaders, we should resist the temptation to believe that learning stops after a bachelor's degree, an MBA, or a few years in the workplace. We need only be humble enough to accept the wisdom we are offered.”

"Expanding Your Mind, Growing Your Business" https://www.exed.hbs.edu/testimonials/owner-president-management-bhanu-choudhrie, Harvard Business School (2019)

Bran Ferren photo

“When the first alien spacecraft lands in Washington, I want the little green people to walk first into the National Gallery of Art. I want our art to explain who and what we are before our leaders do.”

Bran Ferren (1953) American technologist

Source: The New York Times Magazine, The Creators, 1999 https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/millennium/m4/ferren.html

Mick Jagger photo

“Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
...Raise your glass to the hard working people
...Who need leaders but get gamblers instead”

Mick Jagger (1943) British rock musician, member of The Rolling Stones

"Salt of the Earth" (co-written with Keith Richards) on the Rolling Stones' 1968 album Beggars Banquet (1968).
Lyrics

Simon Sinek photo

“Great leaders and great organizations are good at seeing what most of us can’t see. They are good at giving us things we would never think of asking for.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Simon Sinek photo

“There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Simon Sinek photo

“Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

Simon Sinek photo

“The greatest contribution of a leader is to make other leaders.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team

Simon Sinek photo

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

Mark Manson photo
Milton Friedman photo
Mikhail Gorbachev photo
Rosa Luxemburg photo
Helena Roerich photo
John F. Kennedy photo
Wilfrid Laurier photo

“This was a leader who listened to all sides, perhaps too much.”

Wilfrid Laurier (1841–1919) 7th prime minister of Canada

Source: About, Chapter 4 Part 7 of Canadian History: Post-Confederation by John Douglas Belshaw

John F. Kennedy photo
Confucius photo

“Virtuous, worthy, wise and capable people are chosen as leaders.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

The Analects, A Great Utopia (The World of Da-Tong)

Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

“You have got to have something in which to believe. You have got to have leaders, organization, friendships, and contacts that help you to believe that, and help you to put out your best.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Remarks to the Leaders of the United Defense Fund (April 29, 1954). Source: Eisenhower Presidential Library. Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20210125121539/https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/eisenhowers/quotes from the original https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/eisenhowers/quotes on January 25, 2021.
1950s

Alicia Garza photo

“I think there's a few things that we need to be doing. So one is we have to stop treating leaders like superheroes. We are ordinary people attempting to do extraordinary things”

Alicia Garza (1981) Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter International movement

An Interview with the Founders of Black Lives Matter, Ted Talks, https://www.ted.com/talks/alicia_garza_patrisse_cullors_and_opal_tometi_an_interview_with_the_founders_of_black_lives_matter?language=en (October 2016)

Leopold I of Belgium photo

“Those who need leaders are not qualified to choose them.”

Michael Malice (1976) American writer

Tweeted on March 2, 2020 https://twitter.com/michaelmalice/status/1234604154741497857, repeated subsequently.

David Cay Johnston photo

“Whether you love or hate Ronald Reagan, he was a great leader. He really fundamentally changed America.”

David Cay Johnston (1948) Investigative journalist and author

David Cay Johnston; How The One Percent Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (Jun 23, 2009)

Báb photo
David Lloyd George photo

“No one can doubt that Lenin was one of the greatest leaders of men ever thrown up in any epoch.”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

War Memoirs: Volume II (1938), p. 1887
War Memoirs

Attila photo

“Leaders should steer the Huns, never letting them remain purposeless.”

Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire

Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/

Attila photo

“A leader without a competitive spirit is weak and easily gives up in the face of the slightest problem.”

Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire

Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg photo

“Germany and England have undertaken all steps to avoid a European war. ... [W]e have lost control and the landslide has begun, As a political leader I am not abandoning my hope and my attempts to keep the peace as long as my démarche in Vienna has not been rejected.”

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1856–1921) German chancellor during World War I

Speech to the Prussian Ministry of State (30 July 1914), quoted in Konrad H. Jarauschl, ‘The Illusion of Limited War: Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg's Calculated Risk, July 1914’, Central European History, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1969), p. 69

Jason Kenney photo

“[Canada] is an imperfect country, but it is still a great country, just as John A. Macdonald was an imperfect man but was still a great leader.”

Jason Kenney (1968) Canadian politician and 18th Premier of Alberta

On the renaming of Langevin School in Calgary to Riverside School https://globalnews.ca/news/7912688/alberta-indigenous-history-jason-kenney-cancel-culture/ (1 June 2021)
2020s

Vince Lombardi photo
Gautama Buddha photo

“All church leaders agreed that the fears of the church members were not unfounded.”

Sebastian Tudu (1967) Roman catholic Bishop

Bangladeshi Christians Skip Traditional Christmas Midnight Mass https://www.voanews.com/east-asia/bangladeshi-christians-skip-traditional-christmas-midnight-mass (December 24, 2015)

Walter Cronkite photo

“We are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders.”

Walter Cronkite (1916–2009) American broadcast journalist

Free the Airwaves! (2002)

Yang Yuanqing photo

“We want to transform ourselves from a PC market-share leader into a PC-plus innovation leader. This will ensure we have sustained growth, profitability, and the strong foundation to build a great global company that can last for generations.”

Yang Yuanqing (1964) Chinese businessman

Thriving in a ‘PC-plus’ world: An interview with Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/thriving-in-a-pc-plus-world# in McKinsey & Company (1 June 2013)

Gordon Brown photo

“We should be a leader in Europe, not leaving it”

Gordon Brown (1951) British Labour Party politician

EU referendum: Gordon Brown urges Labour voters to stay in https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36513921 BBC News (13 June 2016)
Post premiership

Mary L. Trump photo

“Nobody has failed upward as consistently and spectacularly as the ostensible leader of the free world.”

Source: Too Much and Never Enough (2020), Ch. 14 A Civil Servant in Public Housing, p. 197.

Abigail Thorn photo
Nithyananda photo
Neo Masisi photo

“As women, we need to continue to rise in our capacity as leaders in civil society, private sector, public sector and other spheres-to look at how we can help each other thrive in environments where we grow, where we are supported and protected.”

Neo Masisi (1962) first lady of Botswana

Source: Botswana: First Lady Neo Jane Masisi Speech Delivered At the Virtual Launch of the W Summit Diamond Impact Week 2020 https://allafrica.com/stories/202012040594.html (4 December 2020)

“As you will one day discover, a leader is not a leader because of the way that he or she behaves. He is a leader only because of the way that he is treated by others.”

Source: The Heritage Universe, Resurgence (2002), Chapter 16, “And Then There Were None” (p. 187)

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
David Mitchell photo

“True Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.”

Ziad K Abdelnour (1960) Lebanese-born American investment banker, financier, activist and author

Source: Economic Warfare Quotes