Quotes About Leadership

We know that power does corrupt, and that we cannot trust kings to have loving hearts, and clear intellects, and noble instincts

But a Prime Minister cannot escape till he has succeeded in finding a successor; and though the successor be found and consents to make an attempt, the old unfortunate cannot be allowed to go free when that attempt is shown to be a failure. He has not absolutely given up the keys of his boxes, and no one will take them from him. Even a sovereign can abdicate; but the Prime Minister of a constitutional government is in bonds.

Of whom did the party consist? — Of honest, chivalrous, and enthusiastic men, but mainly of men who were idle, and unable to take upon their own shoulders the responsibility of real work. Their leaders had been selected from the outside, — clever, eager, pushing men, but of late had been hardly selected from among themselves.

CHAPTER LXV THE NEW MINISTER

Let the Gresham or the Daubeny of the day be ever so sure that the reins of the State chariot must come into his hands, he should not visibly prepare himself for the seat on the box till he has actually been summoned to place himself there

Aid from heaven you may have," he said, "by saying your prayers; and I don't doubt you ask it for this and all other things generally. But an angel won't come to tell you who ought to be Chancellor of the Exchequer.

You can't alter a man's nature. Oswald was born to be a master of hounds, and you were born to be a Secretary of State.

When young Mark Steinmark knelt before your feet — he who now leads these stirring men of Bruges — his busy active energetic spirit could not command your love. You chose a scholar, and now are vexed because he will not rise, quick from his books, a patriot ready-armed.

I remember dear old Lord Brock telling me how much more difficult it was to find a good coachman than a good Secretary of State.

And that's about the finest ambition by which a man can be moved," said the Duke. "The man who can manage the purse-strings of this country can manage anything.

Danton, Robespierre, and Tallien wish it—the mob of Paris wishes it—but the people of France does not wish to depose their King. But unfortunately, said d'Autachamps, it is Danton, Robespierre, and the mob of Paris who have now the supreme power, and for a time will have their way

Indeed, yes; — or you will be known to all posterity as the fainéant government." "Let me tell you, Lady Glencora, that a fainéant government is not the worst government that England can have. It has been the great fault of our politicians that they have all wanted to do something.

Do something on your own hook. You men in Parliament are so much like sheep! If one jumps at a gap, all go after him, — and then you are penned into lobbies, and then you are fed, and then you are fleeced. I wish I were in Parliament. I'd get up in the middle and make such a speech. You all seem to me to be so much afraid of one another that you don't quite dare to speak out.

I have known gentlemen who have felt that in becoming members of Parliament they had achieved an object for themselves instead of thinking that they had put themselves in the way of achieving something for others. A member of Parliament should feel himself to be the servant of his country, — and like every other servant, he should serve. If this be distasteful to a man he need not go into Parliament

This was Mr Optimist, the new chairman, in praise of whose appointment the Daily Jupiter had been so loud, declaring that the present Minister was showing himself superior to all Ministers who had ever gone before him, in giving promotion solely on the score of merit. The

Men and not measures are, no doubt, the very life of politics. But then it is not the fashion to say so in public places

I think that life has taught us that you don't have to have the crown to be the queen.

A world ruled by a handful of madmen who weren't even that bright. How had it come to this?

In the meantime, the question could not even be discussed in the Cabinet, by agreement of the Prime Minister with the King.

Since defeat in the Struggle must always be envisaged, the preparation of one's own successors is as important as what one does for victory.

Ciò che avviene, non avviene tanto perché alcuni vogliono che avvenga, quanto perché la massa degli uomini abdica alla sua volontà, lascia fare, lascia aggruppare i nodi che poi solo la spada potrà tagliare, lascia promulgare le leggi che poi solo la rivolta farà abrogare, lascia salire al potere gli uomini che poi solo un ammutinamento potrà rovesciare

Hitler had learned nothing and had forgotten nothing.

As supreme commander, Eisenhower had to balance political and personal rivalries, while maintaining his authority within the alliance. He was well liked by Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, the commander-in-chief of 21st Army Group, but neither rated him highly as a soldier.

Paulus guessed immediately that he had been presented with a cup of hemlock. He exclaimed to General Pfeffer at his last generals' conference: 'I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bohemian corporal