Quotable Quotes (17 page)

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Authors: Editors of Reader's Digest

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—
J
UDITH
S
.
M
ARTIN

 

A modest man is usually admired—if people ever hear of him.

—
E
D
H
OWE

 

Lord, where we are wrong, make us willing to change; where we are right, make us easy to live with.

—
R
EV.
P
ETER
M
ARSHALL

 

The nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people.

—
L
UCILLE
S
.
H
ARPER

 

The egotist always hurts the one he loves—himself.

—
B
ERNICE
P
EERS

 

The only cure for vanity is laughter. And the only fault that's laughable is vanity.

—
H
ENRI
B
ERGSON

 

Pride makes some men ridiculous but prevents others from becoming so.

—
C
HARLES
C
ALEB
C
OLTON

 

Too great a sense of identity makes a man feel he can do no wrong. And too little does the same.

—
D
JUNA
B
ARNES

T
HE VERY ESSENCE OF LEADERSHIP . . .

 

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

—
T
HEODORE
H
ESBURGH

 

High sentiments always win in the end. The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

—G
EORGE
O
RWELL

Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters

 

Consensus is the negation of leadership.

—
M
ARGARET
T
HATCHER

 

You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership.

—
D
WIGHT
D
.
E
ISENHOWER

 

Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny.

—
K
IN
H
UBBARD

 

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

—
G
EN.
G
EORGE
S
.
P
ATTON
J
R.

 

Rules are made for people who aren't willing to make up their own.

—
C
HUCK
Y
EAGER AND
C
HARLES
L
EERHSEN

Press On!

 

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.

—
K
EN
A
DELMAN

 

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

—
G
EN.
H
.
N
ORMAN
S
CHWARZKOPF

 

A leader who keeps his ear to the ground allows his rear end to become a target.

—
A
NGIE
P
APADAKIS

 

One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.

—
D
ENNIS
A
.
P
EER

 

The person who knows how will always have a job. But the person who knows why will be his boss.

—
C
ARL
C
.
W
OOD

 

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

—
P
UBLILIUS
S
YRUS

 

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

—
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON

 

Knowledge cannot make us all leaders, but it can help us decide which leader to follow.

—
Management Digest

 

Wise are those who learn that the bottom line doesn't always have to be their top priority.

—
W
ILLIAM
A
RTHUR
W
ARD

 

The mark of a true professional is giving more than you get.

—
R
OBERT
K
IRBY

 

Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.

—
P
ETER
D
RUCKER

in
Fortune

 

A man who enjoys responsibility usually gets it. A man who merely likes exercising authority usually loses it.

—
M
ALCOLM
S
.
F
ORBES

 

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

—
M
ARK
T
WAIN

 

He that would be a leader must be a bridge.

—
W
ELSH PROVERB

 

Life is like a dog-sled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.

—
L
EWIS
G
RIZZARD

 

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

—
W
AYNE
L
UKAS

 

If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.

—
K
URT
L
EWIN

 

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.

—
M
ARGARET
A
TWOOD

 

Asking “Who ought to be boss?” is like asking “Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?” Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.

—
H
ENRY
F
ORD

 

A great leader is the one who can show people that their self-interest is different from that which they perceived.

—
B
ARNEY
F
RANK

 

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

—
W
.
A
.
N
ANCE

 

First-rate men hire first-rate men; second-rate men hire third-rate men.

—
L
EO
R
OSTEN

 

It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.

—
T
OM
B
ROKAW

 

The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity.

—
M
ARGARET
J
.
W
HEATLEY

Leadership and the New Science

 

Change starts when someone sees the next step.

—
W
ILLIAM
D
RAYTON

in
Esquire

 

I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.

—
T
ALLEYRAND

 

It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.

—
S
ISTER
K
ENNY

 

W
HAT GREAT THING WOULD YOU ATTEMPT 
. . .

 

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

—
R
OBERT
H
.
S
CHULLER

 

Why not upset the apple cart? If you don't, the apples will rot anyway.

—
F
RANK
A
.
C
LARK

 

Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.

—
A
BRAHAM
L
INCOLN

 

When a man's willing and eager, the gods join in.

—
A
ESCHYLUS

 

Trust in God and do something.

—
M
ARY
L
YON

 

Action may not always be happiness, but there is no happiness without action.

—
B
ENJAMIN
D
ISRAELI

 

There is a close correlation between getting up in the morning and getting up in the world.

—
R
ON
D
ENTINGER

in
Chronicle
(Dodgerville, Wisconsin)

 

Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.

—
D
ODIE
S
MITH

I Capture The Castle

 

My view is that to sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate.

—
J
OHN
G
LENN

 

People judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold, but so has a hard-boiled egg.

—
Good Reading

 

Let him that would move the world, first move himself.

—
S
OCRATES

 

All glory comes from daring to begin.

—
E
UGENE
F
.
W
ARE

 

Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits.

—
T
HOMAS
A
.
E
DISON

 

Well done is better than well said.

—
B
ENJAMIN
F
RANKLIN

 

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

—
H
ENRY
F
ORD

 

In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: hit the line hard.

—
T
HEODORE
R
OOSEVELT

 

If you never budge, don't expect a push.

—
M
ALCOLM
S
.
F
ORBES

 

You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.

—
J
OHN
H
.
H
OLCOMB

The Militant Moderate

 

Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you're swinging.

—
D
UKE
S
NIDER

 

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

—
D
ANNY
K
AYE

 

Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pockets.

—
A
MERICAN PROVERB

 

Few wishes come true by themselves.

—
J
UNE
S
MITH

in
Sentinel
(Orlando, Florida)

 

Dig the well before you are thirsty.

—
C
HINESE PROVERB

 

Have you considered that if you “don't make waves,” nobody, including yourself, will know that you are alive?

—
T
HEODORE
I
SAAC
R
UBIN,
MD

 

Many a man with no family tree has succeeded because he branched out for himself.

—
L
EO
A
IKMAN

 

God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.

—
S
WEDISH PROVERB

 

Ask God's blessing on your work, but don't ask him to do it for you.

—
D
AME
F
LORA
R
OBSON

on
Friends
, BBC

 

It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.

—
A
L
B
ATT

 

Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.

—
J
AMES
B
ALDWIN

 

Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.

—
S
YDNEY
J
.
H
ARRIS

 

Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

—
L
EONARDO DA
V
INCI

 

Men may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.

—
L
EWIS
C
ASS

 

If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!

—
J
ONATHAN
W
INTERS

 

Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

—
C
HARLES
R
EADE

 

B
E BOLD IN WHAT YOU STAND FOR 
. . .

 

Be bold in what you stand for and careful what you fall for.

—
R
UTH
B
OORSTIN

in
The Wall Street Journal

 

Don't believe that winning is really everything. It's more important to stand for something. If you don't stand for something, what do you win?

—
L
ANE
K
IRKLAND

 

Never give in—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—except to convictions of honor and good sense.

—
W
INSTON
C
HURCHILL

 

The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.

—
V
INCE
L
OMBARDI

 

A good resolution is like an old horse which is often saddled but rarely ridden.

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