Leadership Quotes
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Leadership Quotes
This treasure trove of wise advice can help you head up a group project or lead an army into battle. (Whichever comes first, really.) Click on any leadership quote below to see it in context and find out where it falls on Shmoop's pretentious scale. We'll give you details on who said it, when they said it, and in some cases, why on earth they thought it was okay to say it.
"A little less conversation, a little more action please."Source: A Little Less Conversation | Speaker: Elvis Presley
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."Source: Animal Farm | Author: George Orwell
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."Source: The Book of Isaiah | Author: The Prophet Isaiah
"As long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together."Source: Journey to the Center of the Earth | Author: Jules Verne
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."Source: Matthew 7:15 | Speaker: Jesus
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."Source: Matthew 11:28 | Speaker: Jesus
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."Source: Henry Ford's Marketing Team | Speaker: Henry Ford
"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!"Source: Battle of Bunker Hill | Speaker: William Prescott
"Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement."Source: Henry Ford's Marketing Team | Speaker: Henry Ford
"First rule of Fight Club is... you do not talk about Fight Club."Source: Fight Club | Speaker: Tyler Durden
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."Source: Critique of the Gotha Program | Author: Karl Marx
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."Source: Matthew 7:6 | Speaker: Jesus
"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."Source: The Gospel of John | Speaker: Jesus of Nazareth
"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."Source: Stars Wars Episode IV: A New Hope | Speaker: Princess Leia Organa
"Hitler didn't snub me—it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."Source: A Republican Rally in Baltimore, Maryland | Speaker: Jesse Owens
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly"Source: John 10:10 | Author: Unknown
"I am not afraid; I was born to do this."Source: Spoken as she left the town of Vancouleurs | Speaker: Joan of Arc
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."Source: Televised Press Conference | Speaker: Bill Clinton
"I have not yet begun to fight."Source: Spoken on September 23, 1779 | Speaker: Captain John Paul Jones
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."Source: 1780 Letter | Author: John Adams
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."Source: Proverbs 3:6 | Author: King Solomon
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."Source: Matthew 28:19 | Speaker: Jesus of Nazareth
"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."Source: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | Author: J.K. Rowling
"It was as though some huge force were pressing down upon you […] persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses."Source: 1984 | Author: George Orwell
"It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring."Source: Matthew 16:2-3 | Author: Matthew
"I’d rather be a hammer than a nail"Source: "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" | Speaker: Simon and Garfunkel
"Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?"Source: The Gospel of Luke | Speaker: Jesus of Nazareth
"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."Source: Trade Mart speech (undelivered) | Speaker: John F. Kennedy
"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."Source: Matthew 15:14 | Author: Matthew
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."Source: The Declaration of Independence | Author: Thomas Jefferson
"Mankind must put an end to war—or war will put an end to mankind."Source: Address to the UN General Assembly (1961) | Speaker: John F. Kennedy
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"Source: Snow White | Speaker: The Evil Queen
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."Source: Speech to the House of Commons, August 20, 1940 | Speaker: Winston Churchill
"No man is good enough to govern any woman without her consent."Source: The annual convention of the California State Suffrage Association | Speaker: Susan B. Anthony
"Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die."Source: Speech to the 23rd Republican National Convention (June 1944) | Speaker: Herbert Hoover
"Our long national nightmare is over."Source: Inaugural Address, September 9, 1974 | Speaker: President Gerald Ford
"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."Source: Problems of War and Strategy | Speaker: Mao Zedong
"Put the sword back into its place. All those who use the sword will die by the sword."Source: Matthew 26:52 | Speaker: Jesus
"See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."Source: The Gospel of Matthew | Speaker: Jesus of Nazareth
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me."Source: The Gospel of Matthew | Speaker: Jesus of Nazareth
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."Source: FDR's Inauguration Speech | Speaker: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"The President—whoever he is—has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody."Source: Farewell Address (1953) | Speaker: Harry S. Truman
"Things don't happen, they are made to happen."Source: University of North Dakota Address | Speaker: John F. Kennedy
"Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."Source: 1984 | Author: George Orwell
"We are the champions, my friends, and we'll keep on fighting 'til the end."Source: We Are the Champions | Speaker: Queen
"We have met the enemy and they are ours."Source: Letter to William Henry Harrison | Author: Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
"We must guard against […] unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex."Source: Eisenhower's Farewell Address | Speaker: Dwight Eisenhower
"We shall never surrender."Source: We Shall Fight on the Beaches speech (June 1940) | Speaker: Winston Churchill
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."Source: 1984 | Author: George Orwell
"Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it."Source: Jeremiah 10:19 | Author: Jeremiah