Quotes About Leadership

more contemptible than a criminal, is the employer who rejects men for being too good.

Architects are servants, not leaders. They are not to assert their little egos, but to express the soul of their country and the rhythm of their time. They are not to follow the delusions of their personal fancy, but to seek the common denominator, which will bring their work close to the heart of the masses. Architects -ah, my friends, theirs is not to reason why. Theirs is not to command, but to be commanded.

Pues conseguimos lo que queríamos. Y cuando vimos qué era lo que queríamos, era demasiado tarde. Estábamos atrapados, sin ningún sitio adonde ir. Los mejores hombres de entre nosotros se fueron de la fábrica la primera semana del plan. Perdimos nuestros mejores ingenieros, superintendentes, capataces y trabajadores especializados. Un hombre que se autorrespeta no se convierte en una vaca lechera para nadie.

Can you rule a thinking man? We don't want any thinking men.

No saben por que están aquí. En cambio, nosotros lo sabemos. No saben quién es su prisionero. Nosotros, sí. No saben por qué sus jefes quieren que lo vigilen. En cambio, nosotros sabemos muy bien por qué queremos sacarlo de aquí. No se dan cuenta del objetivo de su lucha, pero nosotros sí sabemos cuál es el de la nuestra. Si mueren no sabrán por qué. nosotros sí lo sabemos.

The problem is that political Islam believes in Caliphate.

Why do tyrants understand the dangers of a democratic imagination more than our policy makers appreciate its necessity?

Change we need

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

It's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

The American story has never been about things coming easy. It has been about rising to the moment when the moment is hard. About rejecting panicked division for purposeful unity. About seeing a mountaintop from the deepest valley. That is why we remember that some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American came from a president who took office in a time of turmoil: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

What Washington Needs is Adult Supervision.

That's what the leadership was teaching me, day by day: that the self-interest I was supposed to be looking for extended well beyond the immediacy of issues, that beneath the small talk and sketchy biographies and received opinions, people carried with them some central explanation of themselves. Stories full of terror and wonder, studded with events that still haunted or inspired them. Sacred stories.

I experienced failure and learned to buck up so I could rally those who'd put their trust in me. I suffered rejections and insults often enough to stop fearing them. In other words, I grew up—and got my sense of humor back.

Here's the truth: the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons, and Iran doesn't have a single one. But when the world was on the brink of nuclear holocaust, Kennedy talked to Khrushchev and he got those missiles out of Cuba. Why shouldn't we have the same courage and the confidence to talk to our enemies? That's what strong countries do, that's what strong presidents do, that's what I'll do when I'm president of the United States of America.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountain top and pointed the way to the Promised Land. Yes we can!

It [is] that courage that Africa most desperately needs.

And it's safe to assume that those in power would think longer and harder about launching a war if they envisioned their own sons and daughters in harm's way.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that, in our democracy, government is us.

I recalled a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called "The Drum Major Instinct." In it, he talks about how, deep down, we all want to be first, celebrated for our greatness; we all want "to lead the parade." He goes on to point out that such selfish impulses can be reconciled by aligning that quest for greatness with more selfless aims. You can strive to be first in service, first in love.