John C. Maxwell Quotations | Page 4

In most cases, those who want power probably shouldn't have it, those who enjoy it probably do so for the wrong reasons, and those who want most to hold on to it don't understand that it's only temporary.

A highly credible leader under-promises and over-delivers.

There is a real hunger for spiritual things in today's culture; people are seeking something spiritual, something beyond themselves. That's the good news. The bad news is people are not getting it at church because the church is singing songs, preaching messages, doing programs, and taking offerings for itself.

Our attitude is the primary force that will determine whether we succeed or fail.

Everything you now do is something you have chosen to do. Some people don't want to believe that. But if you're over age twenty-one, your life is what you're making of it. To change your life, you need to change your priorities

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less...titles don't have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned, it comes only from influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned.

There are pockets of the church that will "give up," and reap a bountiful harvest. They are going to have huge success, like the church has never experienced since the Book of Acts.

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. Success doesn't just suddenly occur one day in someone's life. Neither does failure. Each is a process. Every day of your life is merely preparation for the next. What you become is the result of what you do today.

There are three qualities a leader must exemplify to build trust: competence, connection, and character.

You must find a way to get your vision seen, implemented, and contributed to by others.

If churches would take ownership of a vision, the next pastor who is thinking about coming to that church can see what their vision is and then determine if their vision fits with his or her ministry. If it doesn't, then it would be wrong for that pastor to come to that church.

One of the major keys to success is to keep moving forward on the journey, making the best of the detours and interruptions, turning adversity into advantage.

The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying

Giving is the highest level of living.

Pastors need to find their place in the community of believers by spending time with God.

It's easy to have a great attitude when things are going our way...It's when difficult challenges rise before us...that attitude becomes the difference maker.

You can be a model to the masses, but to go to the higher levels of influence, you have to work with individuals.

Attitude is the first quality that marks the successful man. If he has a positive attitude and is a positive thinker, who likes challenges and difficult situations, then he has half his success achieved.

No matter where you are in your leadership journey, never forget that what got you to where you are won't get you to the next level.

I don't think every person is going to have the same twelve, but I think out of the twelve I have, nine of them every person will have. Three of them are a little bit of an option, but I say go get your own three, it's no problem.

Of all the things a leader should fear, complacency heads the list.

Success is not a destination thing, it’s a daily thing.

Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.

Passion gives you an advantage over others, because one person with passion is greater than ninety-nine who have only an interest!

If you don't have the ability to see when to stand up and the conviction to do it, you'll never be an effective leader.

Believing in people before they have proved themselves is the key to motivating people to reach their potential.

I say this in the book [Today Matters], we either spend our day repairing or preparing, and if I haven't taken good care of my today's, they accumulate. So all of a sudden today what I'm doing is I'm going back, I'm repairing bad relationships and wrong decisions, and I'm digging a hole. I'm not making any progress because I'm in a repairing mode, versus if I really make today count that prepares me for tomorrow. Tomorrow really will take care of itself if I do the right thing today.

Effective leaders don't gather things just for themselves; they do it in order to give to others.

I believe that everyone chooses how to approach life. If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.

Great visions are cast one on one.

As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behavior. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to become. Take action on your behavior. Too many people want to feel, then take action. This never works.

Experience teaches nothing, but evaluated experience teaches everything.

Character creates consistency, and if your people know what they can expect from you, they will continue to look to you for leadership.

Sometimes I hear people talk about discipline of self and I think, if you don't have passion, I might discipline myself for a week or two but only passion will hold me steady.

If you aren't making any mistakes, it's a sure sign you're playing it too safe.

Diligent follow-up and follow-through will set you apart from the crowd and communicate excellence.

Few things build a person up like affirmation. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition (Simon and Schuster, 1991), the word affirm comes from ad firmare, which means “to make firm.” So when you affirm people, you make firm within them the things you see about them. Do that often enough, and the belief that solidifies within them will become stronger than the doubts they have about themselves.

Difficulties seldom defeat people; lack of faith in themselves usually does it.

Many pastors fail to see God's vision fulfilled because they never have a strategy for fulfilling that vision.

Teams make you better than you are, multiply your value, enable you to do what you do best, allow you to help others do their best, give you more time, provide you with companionship, help you fulfill the desires of your heart and compound your vision and effort.

We must focus on prayer as the main thrust to accomplish God's will and purpose on earth. The forces against us have never been greater, and this is the only way we can release God's power to become victorious

It is easier to move from failure to success in from excuses to success.

People will work eight hours a day for pay, 10 hours a day for a good boss, and 24 hours a day for a good cause!

Hope is not strategy. Hope fits with vision, but we must have a strategy and a process to make our vision become a reality.

The road to success is long and up hill all the way

A trustworthy leader goes the extra mile to remedy strained relationships, even when it doesn't appear to be required.

A good leader encourages followers to tell him what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear.

The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.

Those closest to me will determine the level of my success.

If you don't love where you are right now, you won't love where you are going. Here is what I know: People who are passionate about what they do every day and love where they are in life are the fortunate ones. They have discovered their purpose. They are the difference makers who fully understand the gift of adding value, and yes, they can't help but love where they are going on their journey.

Let God talk to you and minister to you, where you get honest with Him - here's what I do well and don't do well; here are my shortcomings, my strengths, and my gifts.

It's lonely at the top, so you better know why you are there.

Great communication depends on two simple skills-context, which attunes a leader to the same frequency as his or her audience, and delivery, which allows a leader to phrase messages in a language the audience can understand.

Persuasive communication involves enthusiasm, animation, audience participation, authenticity and spontaneity.

I thought that because I wasn't a sickly person - I never have been - I thought I was healthy. So I assumed health. I didn't have it.

Tend to the people, and they will tend to the business.

Take the emotional temperature of those listening to you. Facial expressions, voice inflection and posture give clues to a person's mood and attitude.

Successful people do what is right no matter how they feel, and by doing right, they feel good.

I remember as a seventeen-year-old kid saying, "If attitude made me captain of this team, I'm going to have a good attitude all my life."

If you can raise up leaders, you will always have followers, but if you can't raise up leaders, you will only have followers.

I want to make a difference with people who want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference.

Maya Angelou observed you cant use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Sadly,too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be climate in which new ways of thinking,perceiving, questioning are encouraged.

The sum of all your thoughts comprises your overall attitude.

The last decision I made was my health when I had a heart attack when I was 51.

He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.

Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.

Sometimes I think it's a lack of knowing the areas. Obviously, everybody knows that health is important so that's - but why was I not doing the right thing? Because I was deceived.

A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him.

Sometimes we hold on to our possessions because we fear we might run out - life seems scarce. But when we believe that giving is the way to live, we will produce more in the future - life seems abundant.

Everyone gets discourages...The question is: Are you going to give up or get up? It's a choice.

Reflective thinking turns experience into insight.

I guess I'd rather be loved than respected.

Every time I have had a breakthrough in my life, it has been because of Prayer

The true measure of leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.

When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment you create trust!

Now what I do is I manage that decision. And I teach them in the book how - know what decision to make and then how to manage those decisions. It's a very - it's a personal growth book [Today Matters]; that's what it is.

If you travel alone, you can probably go faster. But the journey will never be as rewarding, and you probably won't be able to go as far.

We overestimate the event and underestimate the process. Every fulfilled dream occurred because of dedication to the process.

I tell a person, "If I could go home with you tomorrow and you and I could spend the day together from maybe 8:00 to 6:00, and we went out to a restaurant at 6:30, I could tell you with a high degree of accuracy how successful you're going to be." That's huge because I'm just going to look and see, what kind of attitude do you have, how do you relate to people, how well do you prioritize your life? I'm going to see all of those things in the process of a day.

Make a point to continually search for a better way of doing things, even when things are going well, to ensure that a better alternative has not been overlooked and to keep your creative talents in practice.

To achieve your dreams, you must embrace adversity and make failure a regular part of your life. If you're not failing, you're probably not really moving forward.

I think the hardest thing for a person is to know what those twelve things are that they need to work on that will bring the return of success to their life.

The timing of your decision is just as important as the decision you make.

If you can become the leader you ought to be on the inside, you will be able to become the person you want on the outside. People will want to follow you. And when that happens, you'll be able to tackle anything in this world.

I want to always be viewed by my readers as a friend and not as an authority or an expert.

We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are.

Be willing to absorb some risk and failures to allow people freedom to express themselves.

Remember, at the time God gives us a vision, we never have the resources available to accomplish it. We don't have the people, the money, the knowledge, or the opportunity.

An idea is worthless unless you use it.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

To achieve all that is possible, we must attempt the impossible. To be all we can be, we must dream of being more.

If a person doesn't govern his temper, his temper will govern him.

You must do right before you feel good.

The church will not stay the same. It will either blossom because someone understands the season the church is in, or it will wither very quickly.

Inexperienced leaders are quick to lead before knowing anything about the people they intend to lead. But mature leaders listen, learn and then lead.

Success is... knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.

I was greatly affected by a guy named Rob Briner, who died about five years ago, who wrote a book called "Roaring Lambs", which is a book on how to be salt and light in the secular community.

Set the tone for your day be treating people better than you expect to be treated by them. Be the first to smile. Express your appreciation for them. Expect the best out of them. If you act first, you will set yourself up for success.

Nobody can motivate himself in a positive direction by continually using negative words.

I literally wrote a book on it called Your Roadmap For Success. And in it I said success is three things: knowing my purpose in life, I think it's impossible for anybody to be successful until they really discover why they're here on earth and what God has planned for them; secondly, growing to my maximum potential.