Quotes About Leadership

You're just like the politicians, Alex. You want something done but you won't let people do it right. You think you can pick up a turd from the clean end? It doesn't work that way.

It's a science. There are people out there who are experts at getting others to do tomorrow what was unthinkable today.

the emotional health of a village depended upon having a man whom everyone hated.

The abbot used to say that the emotional health of a village depended upon having a man whom everyone loved to hate, and Heaven had blessed us with two of them.

Is it any wonder that our greatest men have lurched rather than walked across the landscape as they hiccupped their way into history?" "Sir, that's the best autobiography I ever heard!" I said enthusiastically.

El error puede indicar el camino de la verdad, mientras que una cabeza hueca sólo conduce a una cabeza más hueca o bien a una carrera política.

The wolf was the one animal that, again, did two things at once year after year: remained distinct and exemplary as an individual, yet served the tribe. There are no stories among Indians of lone wolves.

Christian followers of Jesus who knew about Apollonius maintained that he was a charlatan and a fraud; in response, the pagan followers of Apollonius asserted that Jesus was the charlatan and fraud. Both groups could point to the authoritative written accounts of their leader's life to score their debating points.

pastors don't want to make waves; or they don't think their congregations are "ready" to hear what scholars are saying;

among their number was the chief official, the high priest.

Sons figured out they were bigger and never forgot it. Sons didn't care about the world they left for their sons or for their daughters, although they said they did when the time came to run for office.

A mob always picked its own leaders, and it always picked the right ones.

Most politicians lie for the same reason a monkey swings by his tail, which is to say because he can.

He had no psychic powers, but there was one power he did have: he was the grownup. The adult.

One of his followers murmured agreement, but another quietly slipped away. Now there was Norton and four others. Maybe that wasn't so bad. Christ Himself could only find twelve.

I was just following orders. The people elected me. But who elected the people?

They led to the fall of leaders who embraced American ideals, and the imposition of others who detested everything Americans hold dear.

the idea of invading Iraq was first urged on him after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, he could not fail to recognize it as a way to have his revenge, complete the job his father had begun, and redeem his family's honor.

President Johnson soon Americanized the war that resulted in the death of a generation.

General Federico Tinoco

Diem complained about "all these soldiers I never asked to come here.

In the mid-1950s Winston Churchill advised his American friends to recognize that Ho Chi Minh was unbeatable, accept his victory, and try to make the best of it. This the Dulles brothers could not do—because they were Americans.

Stephen Kinzer

I don't understand how we can fight the Communist Party under the leadership of the Communist Party ... I don't understand why perestroika is being carried out by the same people who brought the country to the point where it needs perestroika.