Quotes: Leadership
Leadership on this page is presented as a tension between power and responsibility: some contributions question how authority can corrupt and whether ends can justify means, while others insist that leading requires truth-telling, humility and moral clarity. Voices such as Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Niccolò Machiavelli tackle those dilemmas from political, ethical and practical angles.
The collection also emphasizes endurance and personal example as sources of authority. Barack Obama and other figures show leadership forged by daily action, resilience after setbacks, and the capacity to rise again. The thread running through the quotes asks how leaders balance influence, ethics and the will to inspire.
10 quotes on this theme, each with its source and insight
The quotes
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Source: Acton–Creighton correspondence, letter to Mandell Creighton, 1887 · Check the source
Verified attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The maxim appears in Acton's 1887 letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton; scholars and archives identify that correspondence as the origin.
Acton warns that unchecked authority erodes moral judgment: as power grows absolute, it breeds impunity and weakens conscience. He penned this line in an 1887 letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton while arguing that historians must judge leaders by the same moral standards as anyone else.
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Misattributed What we know
- What is documented
- Research identifies early anonymous instances (1950s) and a related 1938 advertisement; Churchill’s writings and speeches do not contain this wording.
- What remains uncertain
- The attribution is disputed and widely regarded as apocryphal: the saying likely originated as an anonymous motivational proverb later linked to Churchill.
The line distills a practical truth: keeping enthusiasm is what turns repeated setbacks into eventual progress. Its theme matches Winston Churchill’s public persona, which explains the misattribution, but scholars find no trace of this exact wording in his corpus. It’s a later, popular maxim, not a verified Churchill quote.
“When times get tough, we don't give up. We get up.”
Source: Remarks by the President on the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, January 15, 2014 · Check the source
Verified attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The sentence appears in President Obama’s remarks at NC State on January 15, 2014, and was posted the same day on his official social-media account.
A compact call to collective resilience: Obama used this line to argue that economic setbacks demand organized response, not surrender. He spoke it while unveiling a plan to link universities, industry and government to revive manufacturing and jobs.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The wording is commonly credited to Gandhi but no primary source has been found; the closest authentic passage is a 1913 text about self-change altering worldly tendencies.
- What remains uncertain
- Scholars judge the short sentence apocryphal—a later paraphrase—since the exact phrase is absent from Gandhi’s published works and shows up in modern decades.
The line captures Gandhi’s central claim that social change begins with self-transformation. It’s not found in his Collected Works; instead it compresses a longer, documented argument that changing ourselves alters social tendencies.
“I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attribution What we know
- What is documented
- Modern quotation collections and reference sites repeatedly attribute the wording to Herbert Bayard Swope, but no primary source (speech, dated column, or manuscript) has been identified.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is disputed: consistent in secondary sources and likely genuine, but not firmly verified by a contemporaneous primary citation.
The line is a practical warning from early 20th‑century journalism: trying to please everyone destroys focus and a clear voice. Commonly credited to Herbert Bayard Swope, it’s used as advice for leaders and editors who must choose priorities over popularity.
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The saying is commonly credited to Martin Luther King Jr., but scholars have not found the exact wording in his known speeches, broadcasts, or letters.
- What remains uncertain
- The attribution is disputed: the sentence appears to be a popular paraphrase of King’s thought and is often cited via later secondary sources rather than a verified primary King text.
The line captures the moral bravery King urged: start despite uncertainty, because waiting for full clarity stalls justice. It aligns with his Christian view of ‘walking by faith,’ yet the exact wording lacks primary‑source confirmation and should be cited cautiously.
“Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; forty years learning he was nobody; and forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
Source: The Call of Moses, sermon · Check the source
Disputed attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The saying is widely linked to Dwight L. Moody and reflects themes he developed in sermons and devotional collections related to Moses.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is disputed: the idea matches Moody’s known material and later collections carry the line, but the exact wording isn’t found verbatim in primary sources reviewed.
This saying distills Moody’s core conviction: God often prepares leaders by stripping away pride. He used Moses’ three forty-year phases—palace, wilderness, leadership—to argue that failure and humility make someone usable by God. The line appears in Moody sermon material, notably The Call of Moses.
“Courage is to seek the truth and to speak it.”
Source: Speech to the Youth, Albi (1903) · Check the source
Verified attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The line appears in Jaurès’s Discours à la jeunesse, delivered at Albi in 1903.
Jaurès casts courage as a civic act: to seek truth and speak it out even when society favors lies. Delivered in Albi in 1903, the line frames honesty as political resistance and ties moral clarity to democratic responsibility.
“The end justifies the means.”
Source: The Prince, 1513 · Check the source
Disputed attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The idea is associated with Niccolò Machiavelli and echoes themes in The Prince and the Discourses, but the exact wording does not appear in his surviving works.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is disputed: scholars warn the phrase is a later paraphrase and there is no solid evidence Machiavelli wrote these exact words.
This sentence captures a central political dilemma: when a goal seems vital, are extreme methods acceptable? It condenses political realism that judges actions by outcomes for security and power rather than by abstract morals. In practice it can legitimize harsh measures claimed to serve the common good.
“Paris is well worth a mass.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attribution What we know
- What is documented
- The phrase is linked to Henry IV’s 1593 abjuration at Saint-Denis but no contemporary document reliably records him saying these words.
- What remains uncertain
- The attribution is doubtful: the wording likely comes from later anecdotes; some sources credit Sully or François d’O instead.
The saying captures Henry IV’s practical politics: converting was a strategic move to secure Paris and end civil war, not a straightforward confession of faith. The exact wording isn’t found in his contemporary papers, yet the line sums up the choice he made in 1593.