Quotes About Leadership

Washington had a more relaxed style with girls and used to say ruefully that he could govern men but not boys.

The Second Continental Congress lacked many of the prerequisites of an authentic government—an army, a currency, taxing power—yet it evolved in pell-mell fashion into the first government of the United States.

We consider situation critical, politicians appear to have absolute control.

Pierpont began to emerge from his father's shadow and take charge of major deals.

By now, monarchy and aristocracy were standard code words for Hamilton and the Federalists.

Well, Grant, We've had the devil's own day, haven't we? Sherman remarked. Yes, replied Grant with a drag on his cigar. Lick 'em tomorrow though. p205

In the end, nobody would do more than Alexander Hamilton to infuse life into this parchment and make it the working mandate of the American government.

Rockefeller worked by subtle hints, doling out praise sparingly to employees and nudging them along.

There is no road to despotism more sure or more to be dreaded than that which begins at anarchy.

Rockefeller placed a premium on internal harmony and tried to reconcile his contending chieftains. A laconic man, he liked to canvass everyone's opinion before expressing his own and then often crafted a compromise to maintain cohesion. He was always careful to couch his decisions as suggestions or questions

This refusal to truckle, bend, or bow to others, this insistence on dealing with other people on his own terms, time, and turf, distinguished Rockefeller throughout his career.

What he brought to the concept was unprecedented scale and scope.

with the large interests of others on my shoulders, it cannot be done

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

True to this policy, Rockefeller tried to extricate himself from the intricate web of administrative details and dedicate more of his time to broad policy decisions.

Rockefeller and Charles clashed repeatedly over this question.

Despite his slow, ponderous style, once he had thoroughly mulled over his plan of action, he had the power of quick decision.

He had prevailed in almost every major program he had sponsored—whether the bank, assumption, funding the public debt, the tax system, the Customs Service, or the Coast Guard—despite years of complaints and bitter smears.

Although Hanna urged him to drop the suit, Watson would not relent.

Rockefeller would become their official umpire and try to govern their pool in a fair, disinterested fashion.

If Madison in the 1780s was a philosopher king, Madison in the 1790s was a formidable practicing politician, and so skillful at cutting deals that he was dubbed the big knife.

By November, Rockefeller had capitulated and accepted his resignation.

Led by Gates, these subordinates guaranteed that the Rockefeller millions were donated or invested scrupulously.

From the First Philippic of Demosthenes, he plucked a passage that summed up his conception of a leader as someone who would not pander to popular whims. "As a general marches at the head of his troops," so should wise politicians "march at the head of affairs, insomuch that they ought not to wait the event to know what measures to take, but the measures which they have taken ought to produce the event.