J. Oswald Sanders Quotes about Leadership

True leadership is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you.

Our problem is not too little time, but making better use of the time we have. Each of us has as much time as anyone else.

If a Christian is not willing to rise early and work late, to expend greater effort in diligent study and faithful work, that person will not change a generation. Fatigue is the price of leadership. Mediocrity is the result of never getting tired.

Pride takes many forms, but spiritual pride is the most grievous. To become proud of spiritual gifts or leadership position is to forget that all we have is from God, all the position we occupy is God's appointment.

Vision involves optimism and hope. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. The pessimist tends to hold back people of vision from pushing ahead.

We can lead others only as far along the road as we ourselves have traveled. merely pointing the way is not enough. If we are not walking, then no one can be following, and ware not leading anyone.

If a man is known by the company he keeps, so also his character is reflected in the books he reads.

The spiritual leader will choose the hidden path of sacrificial service and approval of the Lord over the flamboyant self-advertising of the world.

Desiring to excel is not a sin. It is motivation that determines ambition's character. Our Lord never taught against the urge to high achievement, but He did expose and condemn unworthy motivation.

God is always at work, though we cannot see it, preparing people he has chosen for leadership. When the crisis comes, God fits His appointee into the place ordained for him.

If those who hold influence over others fail to lead toward the spiritual uplands, then surely the path to the lowlands will be well worn.

The person who sees the difficulties so clearly that he does not discern the possibilities cannot inspire a vision in others.

The spiritual leader should outpace the rest of the church, above all, in prayer.

The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart.

To be a leader in the Church has always required strength and faith beyond the merely human.

One reason why people are unable to understand great Christian classics is that they are trying to understand without any intention of obeying them.

Leaders who want to show sensitivity should listen often and long and talk short and seldom. Many so-called leaders are too busy to listen. True leaders know that time spent listening is well invested.

We are not responsible for our endowments or natural abilities, but we are responsible for the strategic use of time.

Often the crowd does not recognize a leader until he has gone, and then they build a monument for him with the stones they threw at him in life.

Will the leader reflect the ugliness of egotism or the transfigured glory of Christ the Lord?

God prepares leaders with a specific place and task in mind. Training methods are adapted to the mission, and natural and spiritual gifts are given with clear purpose.

People of vision gauge decisions on the future; the story of the past cannot be rewritten.

A leader is a person who has learned to obey a discipline imposed from without, and has then taken on a more rigorous discipline from within. Those who rebel against authority and scorn self-discipline - who shirk the rigors and turn from the sacrifices - do not qualify to lead.