Famous People Quotes

There a many famous people quotes that leaders utilize for the purpose of making a key point clear in their communications to ensure team members clearly understand what is expected, both in terms of performance and behavior.

Powerful quotations can provide guidance and motivation for positive change.

Famous quotations and sayings from actors, politicians, business leaders and even some 'not so famous people' can add credibility to your message when used appropriately.

"This website contains everything an individual needs in order to become ready for a successful business. I really think that these free tools will assist me in my catering business."

- Geraldine Walker

When sending an important message to your team, do a little bit of research to find a memorable quote or saying that will support the main message you want to get across.

You may find that it is that one special quote (possibly a quote from someone famous - or not), which provides the spark necessary for real change.

That one famous quote that your people will internalize can become the catalyst for positive change on your team and in your company.

Consider these quotations from famous people from all walks of life.

Top Famous People Quotes

"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."

- Mother Teresa

"When I started out. I'd drive a hundred miles to do my act for free."

- Jim Carrey

"This is the true joy in life - being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one."

- George Bernard Shaw

"We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"It is difficult to live in the present. Ridiculous to live in the future. And impossible to live in the past."

- Jim Bishop

"Action springs not from thought. But from a readiness for responsibility."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird, that cannot fly."

- Langston Hughes

"A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn't particularly feel like it."

- Alistair Cooke

"If something comes to life in others because of us, then we have made an approach to immortality."

- Norman Cousins

"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."

- Thomas Edison

"Your current conditions do not reflect your ultimate potential, but rather the size and quality of goals upon which you are currently focusing."

- Unknown

"Make big plans; Aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die."

- Daniel Burnham

"I feel the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have."

- Louis E. Boone

"All human progress is preceded by new questions."

- Anthony Robbins

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."

- Abraham Lincoln

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it."

- Lou Holtz

"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther."

- Thomas Carlyle

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself."

- Amelia Earhart

"Dreams have as much influence as actions."

- Stephane Mallarme

"Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom."

- Theodore Isaac Rubin

"Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open."

- Rose Lane

"Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of with the world looking on."

- Francois, Duc De La Rochefoucauld

"The stakes are much too high for government to be a spectator sport."

- Barbara Jordan

"Results? Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know 50,000 things that won't work."

- Thomas A. Edison

"Blessed is the person who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact."

- George Eliot

"There is no security on this earth: There is only opportunity."

- General Douglas MacArthur

"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are."

- Max DuPree

"Never measure the height of a mountain, until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was."

- Dag Hammarskjold

"All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and even the impossible may only be so as of now."

- Pearl S. Buck

"A hero is a man or woman who defies adversity by doing what he or she believes is right in spite of fear."

- Unknown

"The innovator is not an opponent of the old. He is a proponent of the new."

- Lyle E. Schaller

"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely."

- Rodin

"From now on, any definition of a successful life, must include serving others."

- George Bush

"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."

- William Ellery Channing

"Great minds have purposes. Little minds have wishes."

- Washington Irving

"Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous: It is nothing if it is not ridiculous."

- Thornton Wilder

"Nothing in life has any meaning except the meaning you give it."

- Unknown

"The man who is waiting for something to turn up might start on his shirt sleeves."

- Garth Henrichs

"Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything."

- Alexander Hamilton

"You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."

- Woodrow Wilson

"The highest reward fo a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."

- John Ruskin

"One who is plenteously provided for from within needs but little from without."

- Goethe

"Our deeds follow us, and what we have been makes us what we are."

- John Dykes

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece!"

- Unknown

"Be a life long or short, its completeness depends on what it was lived for."

- David Starr Jordan

"Never cut down a tree in the wintertime: never make a negative decision in the low time."

- Robert H. Schuller

"It is not doing the things we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do that makes life blessed."

- Goethe

"Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear."

- Unknown

"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."

- Will Rogers

We hope you enjoyed reading the above famous quotations, which can become powerful tools that you can use to lead your team to greater results and increased productivity.

Think about this... what famous quote do people remember from a U.S President that helped to bring down the Berlin wall?

Everyone remembers Ronald Reagan's famous quote "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

We all remember key quotes, phrases or slogans that instantly creates a feeling or emotion. For example, when you hear "Just do it!", "Quality is Job #1", "Think Different", "Got Milk" and "Melts In Your Mouth", we instantly think of Nike, Ford, Apple, cold great tasting milk and M&M's creamy milk chocolate.

So it makes perfect sense that we would utilize words and phrases that create a clear picture in the mind of our team members - and perhaps an emotion, which drives home a key point maximum impact.

Check out these additional famous quotation links below, as well as our quotations boards on Pinterest..

Follow @leadershiptool1