Quotable Quotes (17 page)

Read Quotable Quotes Online

Authors: Editors of Reader's Digest

—
J
UDITH
S
.
M
ARTIN

 

A modest man is usually admired—if people ever hear of him.

—
E
D
H
OWE

 

Lord, where we are wrong, make us willing to change; where we are right, make us easy to live with.

—
R
EV.
P
ETER
M
ARSHALL

 

The nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people.

—
L
UCILLE
S
.
H
ARPER

 

The egotist always hurts the one he loves—himself.

—
B
ERNICE
P
EERS

 

The only cure for vanity is laughter. And the only fault that's laughable is vanity.

—
H
ENRI
B
ERGSON

 

Pride makes some men ridiculous but prevents others from becoming so.

—
C
HARLES
C
ALEB
C
OLTON

 

Too great a sense of identity makes a man feel he can do no wrong. And too little does the same.

—
D
JUNA
B
ARNES

T
HE VERY ESSENCE OF LEADERSHIP . . .

 

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

—
T
HEODORE
H
ESBURGH

 

High sentiments always win in the end. The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

—G
EORGE
O
RWELL

Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters

 

Consensus is the negation of leadership.

—
M
ARGARET
T
HATCHER

 

You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership.

—
D
WIGHT
D
.
E
ISENHOWER

 

Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny.

—
K
IN
H
UBBARD

 

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

—
G
EN.
G
EORGE
S
.
P
ATTON
J
R.

 

Rules are made for people who aren't willing to make up their own.

—
C
HUCK
Y
EAGER AND
C
HARLES
L
EERHSEN

Press On!

 

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.

—
K
EN
A
DELMAN

 

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

—
G
EN.
H
.
N
ORMAN
S
CHWARZKOPF

 

A leader who keeps his ear to the ground allows his rear end to become a target.

—
A
NGIE
P
APADAKIS

 

One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.

—
D
ENNIS
A
.
P
EER

 

The person who knows how will always have a job. But the person who knows why will be his boss.

—
C
ARL
C
.
W
OOD

 

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

—
P
UBLILIUS
S
YRUS

 

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

—
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON

 

Knowledge cannot make us all leaders, but it can help us decide which leader to follow.

—
Management Digest

 

Wise are those who learn that the bottom line doesn't always have to be their top priority.

—
W
ILLIAM
A
RTHUR
W
ARD

 

The mark of a true professional is giving more than you get.

—
R
OBERT
K
IRBY

 

Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.

—
P
ETER
D
RUCKER

in
Fortune

 

A man who enjoys responsibility usually gets it. A man who merely likes exercising authority usually loses it.

—
M
ALCOLM
S
.
F
ORBES

 

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

—
M
ARK
T
WAIN

 

He that would be a leader must be a bridge.

—
W
ELSH PROVERB

 

Life is like a dog-sled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.

—
L
EWIS
G
RIZZARD

 

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

—
W
AYNE
L
UKAS

 

If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.

—
K
URT
L
EWIN

 

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.

—
M
ARGARET
A
TWOOD

 

Asking “Who ought to be boss?” is like asking “Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?” Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.

—
H
ENRY
F
ORD

 

A great leader is the one who can show people that their self-interest is different from that which they perceived.

—
B
ARNEY
F
RANK

 

No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.

—
W
.
A
.
N
ANCE

 

First-rate men hire first-rate men; second-rate men hire third-rate men.

—
L
EO
R
OSTEN

 

It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.

—
T
OM
B
ROKAW

 

The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity.

—
M
ARGARET
J
.
W
HEATLEY

Leadership and the New Science

 

Change starts when someone sees the next step.

—
W
ILLIAM
D
RAYTON

in
Esquire

 

I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.

—
T
ALLEYRAND

 

It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.

—
S
ISTER
K
ENNY

 

W
HAT GREAT THING WOULD YOU ATTEMPT 
. . .

 

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

—
R
OBERT
H
.
S
CHULLER

 

Why not upset the apple cart? If you don't, the apples will rot anyway.

—
F
RANK
A
.
C
LARK

 

Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.

—
A
BRAHAM
L
INCOLN

 

When a man's willing and eager, the gods join in.

—
A
ESCHYLUS

 

Trust in God and do something.

—
M
ARY
L
YON

 

Action may not always be happiness, but there is no happiness without action.

—
B
ENJAMIN
D
ISRAELI

 

There is a close correlation between getting up in the morning and getting up in the world.

—
R
ON
D
ENTINGER

in
Chronicle
(Dodgerville, Wisconsin)

 

Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.

—
D
ODIE
S
MITH

I Capture The Castle

 

My view is that to sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate.

—
J
OHN
G
LENN

 

People judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold, but so has a hard-boiled egg.

—
Good Reading

 

Let him that would move the world, first move himself.

—
S
OCRATES

 

All glory comes from daring to begin.

—
E
UGENE
F
.
W
ARE

 

Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits.

—
T
HOMAS
A
.
E
DISON

 

Well done is better than well said.

—
B
ENJAMIN
F
RANKLIN

 

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

—
H
ENRY
F
ORD

 

In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: hit the line hard.

—
T
HEODORE
R
OOSEVELT

 

If you never budge, don't expect a push.

—
M
ALCOLM
S
.
F
ORBES

 

You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.

—
J
OHN
H
.
H
OLCOMB

The Militant Moderate

 

Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you're swinging.

—
D
UKE
S
NIDER

 

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

—
D
ANNY
K
AYE

 

Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pockets.

—
A
MERICAN PROVERB

 

Few wishes come true by themselves.

—
J
UNE
S
MITH

in
Sentinel
(Orlando, Florida)

 

Dig the well before you are thirsty.

—
C
HINESE PROVERB

 

Have you considered that if you “don't make waves,” nobody, including yourself, will know that you are alive?

—
T
HEODORE
I
SAAC
R
UBIN,
MD

 

Many a man with no family tree has succeeded because he branched out for himself.

—
L
EO
A
IKMAN

 

God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.

—
S
WEDISH PROVERB

 

Ask God's blessing on your work, but don't ask him to do it for you.

—
D
AME
F
LORA
R
OBSON

on
Friends
, BBC

 

It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.

—
A
L
B
ATT

 

Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.

—
J
AMES
B
ALDWIN

 

Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.

—
S
YDNEY
J
.
H
ARRIS

 

Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

—
L
EONARDO DA
V
INCI

 

Men may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.

—
L
EWIS
C
ASS

 

If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!

—
J
ONATHAN
W
INTERS

 

Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

—
C
HARLES
R
EADE

 

B
E BOLD IN WHAT YOU STAND FOR 
. . .

 

Be bold in what you stand for and careful what you fall for.

—
R
UTH
B
OORSTIN

in
The Wall Street Journal

 

Don't believe that winning is really everything. It's more important to stand for something. If you don't stand for something, what do you win?

—
L
ANE
K
IRKLAND

 

Never give in—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—except to convictions of honor and good sense.

—
W
INSTON
C
HURCHILL

 

The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.

—
V
INCE
L
OMBARDI

 

A good resolution is like an old horse which is often saddled but rarely ridden.

Other books

The Crowmaster by Barry Hutchison
The Italian's Bedroom Deal by Elizabeth Lennox
The Glendower Legacy by Thomas Gifford
Brianna by Judy Mays - Celestial Passions 01
Enchanted by Elizabeth Lowell
Cali Boys by Kelli London
Claire Delacroix by The Scoundrel
Notes From Underground by Roger Scruton