Quotes About Leadership

No matter the difficulty, no matter the danger. He inspire them like no other since or before.

The president of General Motors was in a foul humor.

as with any leader, it would be a mistake for him to show weakness or exhibit doubts …

headquarters-bureaucrat vice presidents who are nonproducing but positioned to take the blame for those above them if anything goes wrong;

destruction. Peru's President Castañeda

It is because I believe that it is in the power of such nations to lead the world back into the paths of peace that I propose to devote myself to explaining what, in my opinion, can and should be done to banish the fear of war that hangs so heavily over the world.

Wilson imagined a conversation among European leaders as they realized they had been wrong, and Wilson right, about the war. "Do you not think it likely that the world will some time turn to America and say, 'You were right, and we were wrong. You kept your heads when we lost ours . . . Now, in your self-possession, in your coolness, in your strength, may we not turn to you for counsel and for assistance?' "23

Lenin did not care either way. Their time would come later; for now, his message had been broadcast loud and clear. No one, absolutely no one, would be allowed to stand in the way

First, those who seemed to be trying to stop further revolution might actually be allies in preserving it. Second, the real threat would come from someone who until now had been entirely removed from events, and who had the smallest political following of anyone in Russia, namely Lenin.

Wilson was raising America up as the new global colossus based on its moral authority as a universal nation.

now with his peace offer on the table, it would be even more imperative that the United States not choose sides, in order to preserve its moral leadership over the planet.

I don't think he is a bad man," Clemenceau would sometimes say of Wilson, "but I have not yet made up my mind as to how much of him is good."35

The United States (in the person of Wilson) was now in the habit of dictating unilaterally what happened in the world without asking anyone's consent, and then letting its Allies catch up.

Once lead this people into war," Wilson ruminated, "and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance . . .

When the chairman of the Democratic National Committee came to see him after the election to ask for some political favors, and reminded Wilson that he owed his election to that party and its leadership committee, Wilson coldly cut him down to size. "Remember that God ordained that I should be the next president of the United States," he told the astonished chairman. "Neither you nor any other mortal could have chosen another president."30

Under his leadership, the Cistercians had grown from a handful of monasteries to more than 350 houses by 1140. Although he was ten years younger than Abelard, Bernard was already the single most influential churchman of the age.

Dionysius II had every gift except good sense; he was also an incurable alcoholic. He soon lost patience with his two would-be political tutors and threw them out.

Men are guided instead by custom, and the personal authority

Rather, it was more beneficial, and ultimately more rational, than ones put together by politicians or rulers, who are themselves creatures of their own passions and whims.

he explained why American leadership was essential to the world. Wilson began by asserting that the Founding Fathers had set up their new nation in the hope that it would "show mankind the way to liberty.

Having seen how the democratic sausage was made, Plato was in no mood to sit at the feast.

The highest form of life, Aristotle said, was that of the householder, who "as a citizen shared in the civic life of ruling and being ruled in turn."5 That certainly sounded a lot like life in 1402 Florence as well as fifth-century BCE Athens.

Courage in battle, loyalty, leadership through example rather than birth or status: these are the first qualities of the Viking heart, German

When the Ostrogoths had swept into Italy, Theodoric looked for the best and brightest Roman for advice on how to govern. He turned to Boethius. For nearly two decades, Boethius had acted as Theodoric's chief political adviser and mentor—his surrogate father, almost. Theodoric was dazzled by Boethius's shrewd advice, by his icy calm in times of crisis, but above all by his knowledge of Greek literature, philosophy, and science.