Nicholas Soames Quotes

Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision

Real leaders do not follow polls. Real leaders change polls.

Anyone can follow a path, but only a leader can blaze one.

In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where she wants and gets up and goes.

I am and always will be a leader.

There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.

I had learned from LBJ that courage is as important as tenacity if you are to get anything done in government.

If one has no compass, when one doesn't know where one stands and where one wants to go, one can deduce that one has no leadership or interest in shaping events.

Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.

I've not been afraid to take risks, be resolute and passionate about purpose, and inspire people to do things that maybe they thought weren't possible.

History should not be left to the historians. Rather, be like Churchill. Make history, and then write it.

It's hard to look inside a person to answer a question about why anybody wants to be president. I suppose a combination of ambition, ego, and a real feeling that he could make a difference and could accomplish some things. All you ever had to do for Jimmy Carter was to tell him something was impossible, and he would usually do it.

People don't follow titles, they follow courage.

A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.

There's nothing worse than a leader who lacks ambition.

Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.

If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

Motivation, passion, and focus have to come from the top.

You have to have a sense of ego and of purpose to go into politics.

To achieve truly important things you have to be willing to put your personal reputation on the line …

We have a crisis in confidence because we have an absence of leadership.

If you have a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, I believe people will follow you. Democracy isn't just about deducing what the people want. Democracy is leading the people as well.

High office—whether elected, appointed, or simply taken—comes with power. But that is not a sufficient precondition for success. Among the world’s hundreds …, only a few really stand out for the risks that they have taken and the changes they have made