Whether you need a little leadership inspiration today or want to inspire your team and/or social networks, here are the top 25 leadership quotes from the world’s greatest leaders—past and present- courtesy of http://blog.pgi.com/ and PGi CEO @BolandJones.

2. “The nation will find it very hard to
look up to the leaders who are
keeping their ears to the ground.”
—Sir Winston Churchill

3. “The first responsibility of a leader
is to define reality. The last is
to say thank you. In between,
the leader is a servant.”
—Max DePree

4. “The best executive is the one who has sense
enough to pick good men to do what he
wants done, and self-restraint enough to
keep from meddling with them while they do
it.”
—Theodore Roosevelt

5. “He who has never learned to obey
cannot be a good commander.”
—Aristotle

6. “A leader takes people where they want to
go. A great leader takes people where they
don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to
be.”
—Rosalynn Carter

7. “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to
boost the self-esteem of their personnel.
If people believe in themselves, it’s
amazing what they can accomplish.”
—Sam Walton

8. “No man will make a great leader
who wants to do it all himself, or to
get all the credit for doing it.”
—Andrew Carnegie

9. “As we look ahead into the next
century, leaders will be those who
empower others.”
—Bill Gates

10. “Do what you feel in your heart to
be right, for you’ll be criticized
anyway.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt

11. “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as
you are dead and rotten, either write things
worth reading or do things worth writing.”
—Benjamin Franklin

12. “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy
can totally transform one million
realities.”
—Maya Angelou

13. “It is better to lead from behind and put
others in front, especially when you
celebrate victory when nice things occur.
You take the front line when there is
danger. Then people will appreciate your
leadership.”
—Nelson Mandela

14. “The growth and development of people
is the highest calling of leadership.”
—Harvey Firestone

15. “Leaders aren’t born, they are
made.”
—Vince Lombardi

16. “Look at a day when you are
supremely satisfied at the end. It’s
not a day when you lounge around
doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had
everything to do, and you’ve done
it.”
—Margaret Thatcher

17. “A leader is best when people barely
know he exists, when his work is done,
his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it
ourselves.”
—Laozi

18. “Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, concerned citizens
can change the world.
Indeed it is the only thing
that ever has.”
—Margaret Mead

19. “If your actions inspire others to
dream more, learn more, do more
and become more, you are a
leader.”
—John Quincy Adams

20. “A genuine leader is not a searcher
for consensus, but a molder of
consensus.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.

21. “Innovation distinguishes between
a leader and a follower.”
—Steve Jobs

22. “I have learned over the years that when
one’s mind is made up, fear diminishes;
knowing what must be done does away with
fear.”
—Rosa Parks

23. “Lead me, follow me or get out of my
way.”
—Warren Bennis

24. “If you have no character to lose,
people will have no faith in you.”
—Mahatma Gandhi

25. “Big jobs usually go to the men who prove
their ability to outgrow small ones.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

26. “We must have perseverance and above
all confidence in ourselves. We must
believe that we are gifted for something,
and that this thing must be attained.”
—Marie Curie

27. Follow PGi’s CEO @bolandjones on Twitter
for more leadership tips and quotes.