Authors: Editors of Reader's Digest
â
J
UDITH
S
.
M
ARTIN
Â
A modest man is usually admiredâif people ever hear of him.
â
E
D
H
OWE
Â
Lord, where we are wrong, make us willing to change; where we are right, make us easy to live with.
â
R
EV.
P
ETER
M
ARSHALL
Â
The nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people.
â
L
UCILLE
S
.
H
ARPER
Â
The egotist always hurts the one he lovesâhimself.
â
B
ERNICE
P
EERS
Â
The only cure for vanity is laughter. And the only fault that's laughable is vanity.
â
H
ENRI
B
ERGSON
Â
Pride makes some men ridiculous but prevents others from becoming so.
â
C
HARLES
C
ALEB
C
OLTON
Â
Too great a sense of identity makes a man feel he can do no wrong. And too little does the same.
â
D
JUNA
B
ARNES
T
HE VERY ESSENCE OF LEADERSHIP . . .
Â
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.
â
T
HEODORE
H
ESBURGH
Â
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.
âG
EORGE
O
RWELL
Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters
Â
Consensus is the negation of leadership.
â
M
ARGARET
T
HATCHER
Â
You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership.
â
D
WIGHT
D
.
E
ISENHOWER
Â
Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny.
â
K
IN
H
UBBARD
Â
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
â
G
EN.
G
EORGE
S
.
P
ATTON
J
R.
Â
Rules are made for people who aren't willing to make up their own.
â
C
HUCK
Y
EAGER AND
C
HARLES
L
EERHSEN
Press On!
Â
A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.
â
K
EN
A
DELMAN
Â
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.
â
G
EN.
H
.
N
ORMAN
S
CHWARZKOPF
Â
A leader who keeps his ear to the ground allows his rear end to become a target.
â
A
NGIE
P
APADAKIS
Â
One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.
â
D
ENNIS
A
.
P
EER
Â
The person who knows how will always have a job. But the person who knows why will be his boss.
â
C
ARL
C
.
W
OOD
Â
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
â
P
UBLILIUS
S
YRUS
Â
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
â
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON
Â
Knowledge cannot make us all leaders, but it can help us decide which leader to follow.
â
Management Digest
Â
Wise are those who learn that the bottom line doesn't always have to be their top priority.
â
W
ILLIAM
A
RTHUR
W
ARD
Â
The mark of a true professional is giving more than you get.
â
R
OBERT
K
IRBY
Â
Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.
â
P
ETER
D
RUCKER
in
Fortune
Â
A man who enjoys responsibility usually gets it. A man who merely likes exercising authority usually loses it.
â
M
ALCOLM
S
.
F
ORBES
Â
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
â
M
ARK
T
WAIN
Â
He that would be a leader must be a bridge.
â
W
ELSH PROVERB
Â
Life is like a dog-sled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
â
L
EWIS
G
RIZZARD
Â
The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.
â
W
AYNE
L
UKAS
Â
If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.
â
K
URT
L
EWIN
Â
We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.
â
M
ARGARET
A
TWOOD
Â
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.
â
H
ENRY
F
ORD
Â
A great leader is the one who can show people that their self-interest is different from that which they perceived.
â
B
ARNEY
F
RANK
Â
No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.
â
W
.
A
.
N
ANCE
Â
First-rate men hire first-rate men; second-rate men hire third-rate men.
â
L
EO
R
OSTEN
Â
It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.
â
T
OM
B
ROKAW
Â
The things we fear most in organizationsâfluctuations, disturbances, imbalancesâare the primary sources of creativity.
â
M
ARGARET
J
.
W
HEATLEY
Leadership and the New Science
Â
Change starts when someone sees the next step.
â
W
ILLIAM
D
RAYTON
in
Esquire
Â
I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.
â
T
ALLEYRAND
Â
It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.
â
S
ISTER
K
ENNY
Â
W
HAT GREAT THING WOULD YOU ATTEMPTÂ
. . .
Â
What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?
â
R
OBERT
H
.
S
CHULLER
Â
Why not upset the apple cart? If you don't, the apples will rot anyway.
â
F
RANK
A
.
C
LARK
Â
Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.
â
A
BRAHAM
L
INCOLN
Â
When a man's willing and eager, the gods join in.
â
A
ESCHYLUS
Â
Trust in God and do something.
â
M
ARY
L
YON
Â
Action may not always be happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
â
B
ENJAMIN
D
ISRAELI
Â
There is a close correlation between getting up in the morning and getting up in the world.
â
R
ON
D
ENTINGER
in
Chronicle
(Dodgerville, Wisconsin)
Â
Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.
â
D
ODIE
S
MITH
I Capture The Castle
Â
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.
â
J
OHN
G
LENN
Â
People judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold, but so has a hard-boiled egg.
â
Good Reading
Â
Let him that would move the world, first move himself.
â
S
OCRATES
Â
All glory comes from daring to begin.
â
E
UGENE
F
.
W
ARE
Â
Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits.
â
T
HOMAS
A
.
E
DISON
Â
Well done is better than well said.
â
B
ENJAMIN
F
RANKLIN
Â
You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
â
H
ENRY
F
ORD
Â
In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: hit the line hard.
â
T
HEODORE
R
OOSEVELT
Â
If you never budge, don't expect a push.
â
M
ALCOLM
S
.
F
ORBES
Â
You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.
â
J
OHN
H
.
H
OLCOMB
The Militant Moderate
Â
Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you're swinging.
â
D
UKE
S
NIDER
Â
Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
â
D
ANNY
K
AYE
Â
Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pockets.
â
A
MERICAN PROVERB
Â
Few wishes come true by themselves.
â
J
UNE
S
MITH
in
Sentinel
(Orlando, Florida)
Â
Dig the well before you are thirsty.
â
C
HINESE PROVERB
Â
Have you considered that if you “don't make waves,” nobody, including yourself, will know that you are alive?
â
T
HEODORE
I
SAAC
R
UBIN,
MD
Â
Many a man with no family tree has succeeded because he branched out for himself.
â
L
EO
A
IKMAN
Â
God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.
â
S
WEDISH PROVERB
Â
Ask God's blessing on your work, but don't ask him to do it for you.
â
D
AME
F
LORA
R
OBSON
on
Friends
, BBC
Â
It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.
â
A
L
B
ATT
Â
Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.
â
J
AMES
B
ALDWIN
Â
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.
â
S
YDNEY
J
.
H
ARRIS
Â
Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.
â
L
EONARDO DA
V
INCI
Â
Men may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.
â
L
EWIS
C
ASS
Â
If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!
â
J
ONATHAN
W
INTERS
Â
Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
â
C
HARLES
R
EADE
Â
B
E BOLD IN WHAT YOU STAND FORÂ
. . .
Â
Be bold in what you stand for and careful what you fall for.
â
R
UTH
B
OORSTIN
in
The Wall Street Journal
Â
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?
â
L
ANE
K
IRKLAND
Â
Never give inâin nothing, great or small, large or pettyâexcept to convictions of honor and good sense.
â
W
INSTON
C
HURCHILL
Â
The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.
â
V
INCE
L
OMBARDI
Â
A good resolution is like an old horse which is often saddled but rarely ridden.