50 Inspiring Integrity in Leadership Quotes
/
Having a sense of integrity as a leader is essential, as it elevates the morale, respect, and trust of those who will be led. There have been countless inspiring quotes about leadership, with many that focus on the importance of integrity for any successful long-term leadership practice.
In this post, we'll explore some insightful quotes from various influential people that reveal how important having honest and ethical leadership can be. Use these sayings to reflect upon yourself or your team's current practices, so you may reach new heights in developing meaningful relationships within your circle or organization.
1. “As I have said, the first thing is, to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”
-Nelson Mandela
2. “Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect.”
-Stephen Covey
3. “We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.”
- Michelle Obama
4. “Develop your character so that you are a person of integrity.”
-Peter Cain
5. “It takes courage to create a meaningful life of integrity. It also requires good company. And practice.”
-Shelly Francis
6. “With many overhead schemes for the world’s salvation, everything rests back on integrity and driving power in personal character.”
-Harry Emerson Fosdick
7. “Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.”
-Aristotle
8. “The man who promises everything is sure to fulfill nothing, and everyone who promises too much is in danger of using evil means in order to carry out his promises and is already on the road to perdition.”
-Carl Jung
9. “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.”
– Warren Buffet
10. “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”
-Bob Marley
11. “Don’t ever promise more than you can deliver, but always deliver more than you promise.”
-Lou Holtz
12. “It is true that integrity alone won’t make you a leader, but without integrity, you will never be one.”
-Zig Ziglar
13. “People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.”
-Lewis Cass
14. “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
-Carl Jung
15. “Consistency is the true foundation of trust. Either keep your promises or do not make them.”
-Roy T. Bennett
16. “The glue that holds all relationships together–including the relationship between the leader and the led–is trust, and trust is based on integrity.”
–Brian Tracy
17. “The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.”
– Confucius
18. “People follow leaders by choice. Without trust, at best you get compliance.”
–Jesse Lyn Stoner, author of Full Steam Ahead
19. “Everyone makes mistakes, but only a person with integrity owns up to them.”
– Nicole Guillaume
20. “Integrity is making sure that the things you say and the things you do are in alignment.”
-Katrina Mayer
21. “People of integrity and honesty not only practice what they preach, they are what they preach.”
-David A. Bednar
22. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
23. “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”
-Douglas MacArthur
24. “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
25. “It takes less time to do a thing right than it does to explain why you did it wrong.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
26. “The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.
-Zig Ziglar”
27. “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
-Colin Powell
28. “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.”
-Warren Buffett
29. “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”
-Samuel Johnson
30. “Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”
– Albert Einstein
31. “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
-Thomas Jefferson
32. “You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
33. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
-Peter Drucker
34. “If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing.”
-Henry Kravis
35. “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.”
-Oprah Winfrey
36. “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.”
-Norman Schwarzkopf
37. “The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
-Tony Blair
38. “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
39. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”
-Abraham Lincoln
40. “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
41. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
-Mahatma Gandhi
42. “If you tell the truth, you don't need a long memory.”
-Jesse Ventura
43. “Keep true, never be ashamed of doing right.”
-George Eliot
44. “If you tell the truth, you do not need a good memory!”
-Mark Twain
45. “You can't fool all the people all the time. But it isn't necessary.”
-Will Rogers
46. “Integrity is the thing that binds together all that is good within us as a means of overcoming all that is bad around us.”
– Craig D. Lounsbrough
47. “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
48. “The time is always right to do what is right.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
49. “Confidence in others’ honesty is no light testimony of one’s own integrity.”
– Michel de Montaigne
50. “Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are.”
-John C. Maxwell
Final Note
We hope these quotes and sayings about integrity have inspired you to be a great leader. When in doubt, choose integrity over all else - it will take you much farther than any other option.