Thought Leaders Quotes & Sayings

Leaders don't fall in love with mediocrity. The status quo isn't their desire to maintain but to improve. — Israelmore Ayivor

Leaders know where they can function better. They don't cry over what they cannot do. — Israelmore Ayivor

If you haven't found yourself yet, it's difficult to help someone to discover himself. False leaders make more false leaders! — Israelmore Ayivor

Inspiring leadership communication is not about great oratory or great charisma; rather it is about getting others to believe in themselves and believe in your cause, and then achieve more than they thought was possible. — Kevin Murray

Your personal brand determines the kind of leadership influence you'll provide. — Israelmore Ayivor

Leaders are not worried about what they can't do; they know themselves very well and focus on what they can do. Think this way if you are willing to lead! — Israelmore Ayivor

In the West the wise are usually thought of as leaders. In the East, the wise are very often though of as followers. — Frederick Lenz

What happens when a leader misses his steps on the ladder is what happens when a train misses the rail. Be on track. — Israelmore Ayivor

The bottom line is that you can't lead the person you can't serve! — Israelmore Ayivor

He spoke of what he called the "inner history of weakness, of what disappoints us in leaders, the timidity of thought, the hesitancy and the drift." In these cases imagination and will are often blinded by "constructed evils," he wrote. "We falter from childhood amidst shames and fears, we move in closed spaces where stale tradition enervates, we grow hysterical over success and failure, and so by surrounding instinct with terror, we prepare the soul for weakness. — Ronald Steel

Authenticity requires us to slow down. Fast times require us to slow down. To be effective, we need to slow down our pace of thought and action and focus on managing our attention. To be authentic leaders we need to act from intention and choice rather than from habit and impulse. — Henna Inam

Leaders make impacts. If your riches don't help you to make impacts, you aren't leading anyone; rather, money is leading you. — Israelmore Ayivor

To simply think about the people, as the dominators do, without any self-giving in that thought, to fail to think with the people, is a sure way to cease being revolutionary leaders. — Paulo Freire

Leaders don't settle for less. When you do so, you rob humanity of what you are supposed to deliver! — Israelmore Ayivor

I have always thought that what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others. — Ella Baker

Never take tiny dreams for granted. They contain giant success stories. — Israelmore Ayivor

Yoshino distinguishes covering from "conversion" (trying to become straight) and "passing" (staying in the closet), and points out that even after gay people come out, society exerts a "covering demand" on its minority members. I would argue that, by pleading for more magnanimous treatment of our opponents, gay thought leaders were unconsciously applying the covering demand to the LGBT equality movement as a whole. — Michelangelo Signorile

It was not so very long ago that people thought that semiconductors were part-time orchestra leaders and microchips were very small snack foods. — Geraldine Ferraro

I promise to question everything my leaders tell me. I promise to use my critical faculties. I promise to develop my independence of thought. I promise to educate myself so I can make my own judgments. — Carl Sagan

Leaders motivate people to understand that they can do better than they've already done and go farther than they've reached. — Israelmore Ayivor

Leaders heal; they don't kill. They unite; they don't disintegrate. — Israelmore Ayivor

Don't reduce your impacts to match what you earn. — Israelmore Ayivor

Those who are quieting a guilty conscience with the thought that they can change a course of evil when they choose, that they can trifle with the invitations of mercy, and yet be again and again impressed, take this course at their peril. They think that after casting all their influence on the side of the great rebel, in a moment of utmost extremity, when danger compasses them about, they will change leaders. But this is not so easily done. The experience, the education, the discipline of a life of sinful indulgence, has so thoroughly molded the character that they cannot then receive the image of Jesus. Had no light shone upon their pathway, the case would have been different. Mercy might interpose, and give them an opportunity to accept her overtures; but after light has been long rejected and despised, it will be finally withdrawn. — Ellen G. White

Don't fall in trap of mediocrity and loose thinking. Surround yourself with intellectual people and thinkers. Be an awesome version of yourself day after day!! — Reshma Wable

fundamentally, people do not prefer independent thought and the accompanying responsibility, but rather orders, subordination, and the accompanying exemption from responsibility. In a popular democracy, the masses who elect unfit rulers are to blame for bad government, but that is not the case in a monarchy. Rather than reflecting upon their own mistakes, the people are free to enjoy speaking ill of leaders who are even more irresponsible than they. — Yoshiki Tanaka

A society with too few independent thinkers is vulnerable to control by disturbed and opportunistic leaders. A society which wants to create and maintain a free and democratic social system must create responsible independence of thought among its young. — John Dewey

Gandhi was such an important figure to the pacifists of the '30s, and he was such an extraordinary embodiment of nonviolence, that I thought it was necessary to have him in there. When he would say something about the war, it was to some extent news - and he was sure to have a response that was different from that of other world leaders. — Nicholson Baker

The time it takes to fall from the top of a mountain to the floor it shorter than what it takes to climb from the floor to the top. Only leaders with character can maintain their trusts. — Israelmore Ayivor

Never let your tiny age misguide you to think the time is not yet up. Get up and do it at any age. — Israelmore Ayivor

In vain I warned other Arab leaders, those pleasure-seeking gluttons who only listen to the fawning and simpering of those who owe them favors. There was a full complement of them at Cairo, lined up like onions, spying on each other on the sly, half of them so conceited they could not stop behaving like constipated patriarchs, the other half too thick to be able to look serious. Arrivistes who thought they had really arrived, comic-opera presidents unable to shake off their country-bumpkin reflexes, petrodollar emirs looking like rabbits straight out of the magician's hat, sultans wrapped in their robes like ghosts, disgusted at the blathering eulogies the speakers were trotting out ad infinitum. Why were they there? They cared for nothing that did not concern their personal fortunes. Busy stuffing their pockets, they refused to look up to see how dizzyingly fast the world was changing or how tomorrow's storm clouds of hate were gathering on the horizon. — Yasmina Khadra

Leaders think it's possible. They inspire followers to believe in the same good news and it becomes a blessing to them. Leadership is all about inspiring people to believe in what becomes profitable to them! — Israelmore Ayivor

Leaders are lovers of change. Without change, growth is static. To lead, you have to appreciate change; else change will depreciate you! — Israelmore Ayivor

Everyone matures. When I was Newt's age, I thought I had the right answer to things. The baby-boomers as political leaders are still on trial by the American people. — Pete Du Pont

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If you will always remember your age and forget your dream, you will live great years and narrow impacts will come out of it. — Israelmore Ayivor

The ecclesiastical system of Rome, and particularly its leaders, for a thousand years and more thought that the earth is fixed and that everything else revolves about it. — Joseph Franklin Rutherford

It is good to exercise patience. But never let your patience be the type that will keep you refrained from acting. — Israelmore Ayivor

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Was war just a power game for an elite few? Did the loss of human lives really matter to them, or was it just a way to keep score? In reading their own staff-authored speeches over and over again, had they deluded themselves, believing that any action they took was in the cause of freedom and thereby righteous? — Richard Cezar

The courageous attitudes of leaders ramble around coward followers and sooner or later, they become courageous too! — Israelmore Ayivor

You can't lead people to where you've not been yourself. When you all get stranded, you need the knowledge of someone who knows the way! — Israelmore Ayivor

God has buried your leadership roles in your gifting. To take the lead, you got to unzip the gift bag. It's your responsible to make it happen! — Israelmore Ayivor

Love people who hate you and their hatred won't get grounds to gain roots. — Israelmore Ayivor

You can't lead people if you can't lead yourself. Self-leadership qualities qualifies you to become a co-operate leader. — Israelmore Ayivor

Never reject the opportunity to take the first step. The first step is the key to obtaining the experience you have longed for. — Israelmore Ayivor

Trout sat back and thought about the conversation. He shaped it into a story, which he never got around to writing until he was an old, old man. It was about a planet where the language kept turning into pure music, because the creatures there were so enchanted by sounds. Words became musical notes. Sentences became melodies. They were useless as conveyors of information, because nobody knew or cares what the meanings of words were anymore.
So leaders in government and commerce, in order to function, had to invent new and much uglier vocabularies and sentence structures all the time, which would resist being transmuted to music. — Kurt Vonnegut

[Ford said] ".. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur. "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going in for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. — Douglas Adams

I meet people who use the term 'plant spirit' as a matter of course. Initially I thought they were all rather woo-woo, but as I met more brilliant, accomplished plant spirit thought leaders, my thoughts started to shift to, "What am I missing here?" — Zoe Helene

Leaders show examples. They have something to offer and they'll offer it by the process of how they got it. Anyone who has no examples to show may not lead better. — Israelmore Ayivor

Develop the muscles for hard work and never be an early quitter. — Israelmore Ayivor

Opportunities loiter in every corner. Everyone may see them, but it's only great leaders that stop by to give them lifts! — Israelmore Ayivor

Try not to leave your work for someone else to do. If possible, carry the work of someone and add it to yours. That's a trait of leaders! — Israelmore Ayivor

The real character of leaders does not show in fair weathers. When the sun of life begins to go hot, you will see for yourself some leaders are already melting off! — Israelmore Ayivor

Contrary to popular opinion, leaders aren't created out of fame. Fame is just a shadow. When you enter dark times in, it leaves you. — Israelmore Ayivor

It was a real surprise to me to come across the evidence that Christianity might once have been a danced religion. Certainly, some of the early church leaders thought this was great and spoke of what seems to have been circle dancing, perhaps around an altar. — Barbara Ehrenreich

For generation after generation, Adamses and Brookses and Boylstons and Gorhams had gone to Harvard College, and although none of them, as far as known had ever done any good there, or thought himself the better for it, custom, social ties, convenience, and, above all, economy, kept each generation in the track. Any other education would have required a serious effort, but no one took Harvard College seriously. All went there because their friends went there, and the College was their ideal of social self-respect.

Harvard College, as far as it educated all, was a mild and liberal school, which sent young men into the world with all they needed to make respectable citizens, and something of what they wanted to make useful ones. Leaders of men it never tried to make. — Henry Adams

I've always thought the pre-Revolutionary system was more elegant, but it did concentrate too much power in the hands of one person. Keyes says that at least you knew who the man was then. The person who represents a Lobby in Congress is never the one who makes the real decisions; the real leaders are rarely identifiable and are never held responsible for their actions. If a puppet gets in trouble they sacrifice him and haul out another. I don't doubt that that's true, at least some of the time, but it's certainly not the whole story. If a Lobby consistently acts against the public interest, its voting power dwindles away. Keyes says that's a cynical illusion: all the polls reflect is how much money a Lobby has put into advertising. — Joe Haldeman

Leaders face battles. They don't run away from troubles. — Israelmore Ayivor

The leader's job is to show the way. The bottom line is that you can't tell anything about the condition of the way if you've not traveled on it yourself! — Israelmore Ayivor

I do not worry very much about the young men and women, including many returned missionaries, who are of such an age that in all likelihood they will be married within a relatively short time. I feel they should not be put under pressure by counsel from Church leaders to rush into it. But neither do I believe that they should dally along in a fruitless, frustrating, and frivolous dating game that only raises hopes and brings disappointment and in some cases heartache.

The young men should take the initiative in this matter. It goes without saying that they should be encouraged to live worthy of the companionship of a wonderful partner. They should be taught to put aside any thought of selfish superiority and recognize and follow the teaching of the Church that the husband and wife walk side by side with neither one ahead or behind. — Gordon B. Hinckley

Leadership is not a raw gift given to a group of people. It is the product of any type of gift everyone one has. It therefore means, any kind of gift is a leadership gift! — Israelmore Ayivor

But I don't know what my side is, he thought, as he went back to his chair by the window. The Liberation, of course, yes, but what is the Liberation? Not an ideal, the freedom of the enslaved. Not now. Never again. Since the Uprising, the Liberation is an army, a political body, a great number of people and leaders and would-be leaders, ambitions and greed clogging hopes and strength, a clumsy amateur semi-government lurching from violence to compromise, ever more complicated, never again to know the beautiful simplicity of the ideal, the pure idea of liberty. And — Ursula K. Le Guin

When I wrote 'The West Wing,' the juice behind it was that in popular culture, our leaders in government are generally portrayed as Machiavellian, or as idiots. I thought, well, how about writing about a group of hyper-competent people? — Aaron Sorkin

You can't shower happiness on others without getting few drops back on yourself. — Israelmore Ayivor

The leader's commandment is made up of pledges to solve local and global problems, and not to create more problems to add to the existing ones. — Israelmore Ayivor

You put your own joy in prison if you work hard to make other people's happiness suffocate. — Israelmore Ayivor

Feminism is a way of understanding reality, not just a series of things to do. Feminism challenges our predilection for one right answer, one right God, one size fits all.
As a feminist, one can be spiritual or secular. One can lead an outwardly conservative life and yet, in feminist terms, be profoundly radical. So too, feminist leaders (like everyone else) can be sexist, or racist, or class-blind, in either their professional or personal lives. Or in both.
Feminist of my generation told the truth about women's condition. We were messengers from the past, or from the future. As ever, some people thought that killing, or at least defaming, the messengers was a way of making us and our truths disappear.
I'm counting on you not to do that. — Phyllis Chesler

A compassionate government does not need to pay too much attention to those who don't have needs. True leadership is to fulfill a need of the needy. People who have needs need attention indeed! Be a true leader! — Israelmore Ayivor

One of the great leaders of America was Daniel Webster. That great bulging brow of his and those blazing eyes used to hold the Senate spellbound as he stood there and talked to them not with silly quips or funny remarks. The Senate in those days was not composed of half-baked comedians but of strong, noble statesmen who carried the weight of the nation on their shoulders. Someone said, "Mr. Webster, what do you consider the most serious thought that has ever entered your mind?" He said, "The most solemn thought that has ever entered my mind is the accountability to my Maker. — A.W. Tozer

The speed at which progress rolls is not determined by the number of people who started pushing it, but by the number of people who are passionate to hold on doing so. — Israelmore Ayivor

People will know you for who you are, but will remember you for what you have done. True leaders make long lasting impacts! — Israelmore Ayivor

Leadership is about focus and concentrations. To be in focus, choose a clear direction. To concentrate, remain in that direction! — Israelmore Ayivor

Anyone who wants to prevent you from making other people happy is an enemy. If you are stopping yourself from making others happy, you are your own enemy. — Israelmore Ayivor

Your character and attitude is what takes the lead in your leadership role and you follow them as a true leader. Poor character and attitude is eventually poor leadership. — Israelmore Ayivor

I think this is a moment where Donald Trump recognized the Republican establishment was much weaker, the party leaders were much weaker than they thought they were in terms of being able to dictate any outcomes. — Ben Domenech

Sometimes, people don't need our homes to live in or our bodies to lean on. All they need are our hands to lift them up. — Israelmore Ayivor

A leader does not lose focus because he wants to please his followers. — Israelmore Ayivor

When the leader grows, the organization grows. — Israelmore Ayivor

You break the legs of your leadership chair when you chase after other people's assignments instead of pursing yours! — Israelmore Ayivor

A leader's attitude tells how often he will be the winner; his character determines how long he will be the winner. — Israelmore Ayivor

You don't become the person you wish to become; you become the person you choose to become. True leadership does not come true wishes; it comes by choices! — Israelmore Ayivor

Passion gives power while attitude designs excellence! You can do it because you have the passion; you can do it very well because you have the right attitude! — Israelmore Ayivor

The leaders of thought and of action grope their
way forward to a new life, realizing, sometimes dimly, sometimes clear-sightedly,
that the life of material gain, whether for a nation or an individual, is of value
only as a foundation, only as there is added to it the uplift that comes from
devotion to loftier ideals. — Theodore Roosevelt

Guna impact not just matter but also the mind. Thus, thought and emotions also display the three tendencies. Therefore some people are lazy followers, some are driven leaders who want to change the world and some decide when to follow and when to lead, and know that the world can be changed only cosmetically with technology, but not in essence, at a psychological level. Tamas guna stops us from thinking, so we follow the trend. Rajas guna stops us from trusting anyone but ourselves. Sattva guna makes us care for those who are frightened, intimidated by the diverse and dynamic reality of the world. — Devdutt Pattanaik

There it was that I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown old, a prisoner to the Inquisition, for thinking in astronomy otherwise than the Franciscan and Dominican licensers thought. And though I knew that England then was groaning loudest under the prelatical yoke, nevertheless I took it as a pledge of future happiness, that other nations were so persuaded of her liberty. Yet was it beyond my hope that those worthies were then breathing in her air, who should be her leaders to such a deliverance, as shall never be forgotten by any revolution of time that this world hath to finish. — John Milton

Great leaders inspire us to go places we would never go on our own, and to attempt things we never thought we had in us. — Hans Finzel

Always dare to be in the company of those stronger than you. Sooner or later, you will be stronger than those who were once stronger than you, but unfortunately, they joined the company of those who are weaker than them! — Israelmore Ayivor

A person with passion will not look somewhere to see who is not doing it; they will focus and do what they can. — Israelmore Ayivor

One thing that I feel very, very strongly is that we talk about Islamic countries, Islamic people, Islamic leaders, as either moderates or extremists. It's almost like there are only two categories of Muslims. And actually, that doesn't show respect. It shows lack of understanding of the diversity of Muslim thought. — David Miliband

Leaders fail when they begin to fall in love with negative mindsets of other people! — Israelmore Ayivor

We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else. Words shape thought, stir feeling, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure. The "men-of-words"- priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen. — Eric Hoffer

The Talented Tenth of the Negro race must be made leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among their people. — W.E.B. Du Bois

We have seen an unprecedented gathering of the leaders of black America coming together to speak with one voice, ... The whole spectrum of black thought was represented on this stage ...
This tells us that a new day is dawning in America. — Louis Farrakhan

Never undermine the power of passion. You have a very high chance of achieving anything you are passionate about. — Israelmore Ayivor

Between a plan and it's achievement is a leader in the middle. With his one arm he makes the plan. With the other one he carries them through. — Israelmore Ayivor

There were many empresses and queens in power throughout the world. It is said that these legendary women ruled judicially, and that they brought about a most remarkable amity among kingdoms and the nations that surrounded them. And as for subjects, well, you've never heard a single instance of revolt, have you? Indeed not, for these women were supreme leaders, and one of the greatest mysteries in history is that they lost their power. I suppose it had something to do with a male heir, somewhere or other, who bored by such a peaceful existence,thought it might be more interesting if the question of authority were decided by brute force. — Nancy Madore

When you are a person people can trust, they will call on upon you, love to be around you and work with you. — Israelmore Ayivor

I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell. — Harry Truman

In working with top leaders and thought philosophers of our time, I will tell you that among their secrets of success is a regular practice of acknowledging and appreciating what they have. It can offer an oracle into the future because it not only tells you where you are, but it also helps clarify where you want to go in life. — Jack Canfield

No one has the right to pee on your dreams! — Israelmore Ayivor

I do not like to encourage personalized politics, so we would not like it to be thought that just because certain political personalities were attacked, this means the situation is very grave. The true gravity of the situation comes from the fact that ordinary members of the NLD are repressed all the time. We don't want a completely paralyzed political organization, while a select few leaders are protected by international attention. — Aung San Suu Kyi