Great Leadership Quotes for Kids

Anyone can be a leader and the world definitely needs lots more good leaders! What is leadership? It is all around you and shows up in many ways.  Leadership is…

• Doing the right thing without being asked or when no one is watching
• Helping others in need
• Guiding others on the right path
• Setting a good examples for others and being a good role model
• Stand up for others even when it may be the hard thing to do

Leadership is one of the most important skills you can learn to be the best person you can be and make the world a better place.  The great thing is, you have the opportunity to practice leadership every single day in your home, at school, in sports and everywhere in between. Good leaders are not bossy and loud.  They are:

• Good at listening
• Proactive
• Honest
• Generous
• Strong communicators
• Confident
• Fair
• In control of themselves

Here are some great quotations that help define what makes a great leader and how leadership can make you a better person:

1. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell
2. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
3. “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” – Andrew Carnegie
4. “The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I”.  They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.”  – Peter Drucker
5. “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. ” – Margaret Fuller
6. “Good leaders must first become good servants.” – Robert Greenleaf
7. “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy
8. “I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.” – John Hume
9. Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.  – Vince Lombardi
10. “Leadership is action, not position.” – Donald H. McGannon
11. “A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves. ” – Unknown
12. “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan<
13. “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” – Albert Schweitzer
14. “He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.” – Aristotle
15. “If there is no wind, row.” – Latin Proverb

Here is great video showing kids discussing the meaning of leadership….

Topics for Discussion:

• What is your favorite quotation about leadership above?  Why?
• What opportunities do you have every day to practice leadership?
• Talk about someone you know who is a great leader.  What is it about them that makes them so?
• What is one thing you can do to become a better leader?

Take Action:

• Volunteer to help others or take a leadership position in your class
• Listen more and be more helpful and home and with your siblings
• Join a team or an organization like the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.  They are all about building leadership skills.
• Think about what you can do to improve your leadership skills. Consider using this worksheet to set some goals for yourself

Additional Resources:

• Check out all of our posts and videos of great role models who demonstrate leadership
• See all of our other great quotes for kids

Here are some IMK posts that show the importance of reading and education:

• 13 Year Old Shelby Grenenc is One Good Egg
• Hailey Scheinman – Taking Sisterly Love to a Whole New Level
• Samantha Garvey – From Homelessness to High Honor
• Jaime Escalante – He Touch Unteachable Students to Shine

Teacher Features:

• Here is a link to a Critical Reading Skills worksheet that you can use for elementary school students.
• Here is a link to a Critical Reading Skills worksheet that you can use for middle school students.