Inspirational Quotes by John C. Maxwell (American Christian Professional Speaker)

Inspirational Quotations by John C. Maxwell (American Christian Professional Speaker)

John Calvin Maxwell (b.1947) is an author, speaker, and pastor who has written more than 60 books, primarily focusing on leadership. Titles include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow. His books have sold more than nineteen million copies, with some on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Source: Wikipedia (via CC-BY-SA license) • READ: Works by John C. Maxwell

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.
—John C. Maxwell

Most People have a desire to look for the exception instead of the desire to become exceptional.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.
—John C. Maxwell

Over time, is it easier or harder to sustain your influence within your organization? With charisma alone, influence becomes increasingly more difficult to sustain. With character, as time passes, influence builds and requires less work to sustain.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Character

Encourage the many; mentor the few.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Entrepreneurs, Mistakes, Profit, Growth

Life doesn’t do anything to you. It only reveals your spirit.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Growth

Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Character

We cannot lead anyone farther than we have been ourselves.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

The pessimist complains about the wind.
The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

Success is not a destination thing, it’s a daily thing.
—John C. Maxwell

The truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great achievement.
—John C. Maxwell

You don’t become a success when you get your diploma, you became a success when you decided to go to college when you get your diploma you get the rewards of success.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Success

The first step to leadership is servant hood.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

Do you value people who won’t benefit you or only those who might contribute in some way to your success? Great team players truly value others as people, and they know and relate to what others value.
—John C. Maxwell

Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.
—John C. Maxwell

Leadership is not a right—it is a responsibility.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

A leader is great, not because of his or her power, but because of his or her ability to empower others.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

It is truly one day at a time.
—John C. Maxwell

Happiness simply cannot be relied upon as a measure of success.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Success

Stay focused instead of getting offended or off track by others.
—John C. Maxwell

A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Character

The Wrong Person in the Wrong Place = Regression. The Wrong Person in the Right Place = Frustration. The Right Person in the Wrong Place = Confusion. The Right Person in the Right Place = Progression. The Right People in the Right Places = Multiplication.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Teamwork

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Growth, Responsibility

There are three qualities a leader must exemplify to build trust: competence, connection, and character.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Character

Relational skills are the most important abilities in leadership.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Communication

People of poor character tend to blame their choices on circumstances. Ethical people make good choices regardless of circumstances. If they make enough good choices, they begin to create better conditions for themselves.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Character

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership, Leaders, Entrepreneurs

Don’t hide bad news. With multiple information channels available, bad news always becomes known. Be candid right from the start.
—John C. Maxwell

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of learning: experience, which is gained from your own mistakes, and wisdom, which is learned from the mistakes of others.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Failure

Leaders must live by higher standards than their followers.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership

Leadership is influence.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership, Entrepreneurs

Seek advice, but make sure it’s from someone who has successfully handled mistakes or adversities.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Failure

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.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Teamwork

Policies are many, Principles are few, Policies will change, Principles never do.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Entrepreneurs

Today matters.
—John C. Maxwell

Most people who want to get ahead do it backward. They think, ‘I’ll get a bigger job, then I’ll learn how to be a leader. But showing leadership skill is how you get the bigger job in the first place. Leadership isn’t a position, it’s a process.
—John C. Maxwell

The best way to serve the individuals on the team is to see that the whole team wins.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Teamwork

If you start today to do the right thing, you are already a success even if it doesn’t show yet.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Success

Not everyone will become a great leader, but everyone can become a better leader.
—John C. Maxwell
Topics: Leadership