"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
— Thomas Paine

"You can not lead a battle if you think you look silly on a horse."
— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
— Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and to impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
— Woodrow Wilson

"Jesus said several times, “Come, follow me.” His was a program of “do what I do,” rather than “do what I say.” His innate brilliance would have permitted him to put on a dazzling display, but that would have left his followers far behind. He walked and worked with those he was to serve. His was not a long-distance leadership. He was not afraid of close friendships; he was not afraid that proximity to him would disappoint his followers. The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led."
— Spencer W. Kimball

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

"Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan."
— John F. Kennedy

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."
— Albert Schweitzer

"Leadership is action, not position"
— Donald H. McGannon

"Personally, I like it much better when someone else does the decision making. That way you have legitimate grounds to whine and complain. I tend to find both whining and complaining quite interesting and amusing, though sometimes--unfortunately--it's hard to choose which one of the two I want to do.
Sigh. LIfe can be so tough sometimes."
— Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones)

"And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too."
— Queen Elizabeth I

"I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people."
— Rosa Parks

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."
— Rosalynn Carter

""In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be, by remaining what we are.""
— Max Depree (Leadership Is an Art)

"Women's philanthropic leadership is fundamental to their advancement in society."
— Kay Ballard

"And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
— Matthew 15:14

"If you're not confused, you're not paying attention. "
— Thomas J. Peters (Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution)

"There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust."
— Klaus Balkenhol

"At that moment, in the sunset on Watership Down, there was offered to General Woundwort the opportunity to show whether he was really the leader of vision and genius which he believed himself to be, or whether he was no more than a tyrant with the courage and cunning of a pirate. For one beat of his pulse the lame rabbit's idea shone clearly before him. He grasped it and realized what it meant. The next, he had pushed it away from him."
— Richard Adams (Watership Down: A Novel)

"The ruler attains wholeness in the correct governance of the people."
— Laozi

"Your biggest enemy is the unknown and assumptions."
— LTG Christianson

"It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community, be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader. This could be a good time! ~ There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its own destination. ~ The Elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate."
— Prayer of the Hopi Elders

"A bit of advice
Given to a young Native American
At the time of his initiation:
"As you go the way of life,
You will see a great chasm. Jump.
It is not as wide as you think.""
— Joseph Campbell

"A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. Fail to honor people, They fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, `We did this ourselves."
— Laozi (Tao Te Ching)

""...You have any suggestions, make them. I'm in charge but humble. No need to salute when you see me."
Fraser said, "Mind if we snicker every once in a while behind your back?"
"Hell, no," I said. "Everyone else does.""
— Robert B. Parker (The Widening Gyre)

"We have to build the framework in which we will execute the tasks."
— LTG Christianson

""Leadership is an action, not a position.""
— Donald McGannon

"Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want."
— Diane Feinstein

"The president had shifted to the 'we' mode now, something he invariably did when a potentially unpopular decision was at hand. For the easy ones, it was always 'I.' When he needed a crutch, and especially when he would need someone to blame, he opened up the decisionmaking process and included Critz."
— John Grisham (The Broker)

"The slaves in Rome were incapable of leisure and so their masters gave them entertainment to keep them pacified.”"
— Oliver DeMille

"Our house is on fire! We’re saving our children not dusting our pretties."
— Rachael DeMille

"Show me the man you honor and I will know what kind of man you are."
— Thomas Carlisle

"If you don't know the conceptual underpinnings, anything is good."
— LTG Christianson

"That's Not Right!
"
— LTG Christianson

"I'm accustomed to being top man. I been a bull goose catskinner for every gyppo logging operation in the Northwest and bull goose gambler all the way from Korea, was even bull goose pea weeder on that pea farm at Pendleton -- so I figure if I'm bound to be a loony, then I'm bound to be a stompdown dadgum good one."
— Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

"Bailey might not have great intelligence or abilities, but his whole aim, thought and study was that of the born leader--to look out for himself; and he did it with that born-leader's confidence and intensity that draws along the ordinary uncertain man, who soon confuses his own interest and his own safety with that of the leader."
— James Gould Cozzens (The Just and the Unjust)