John W. Gardner Quotes - Page 3

All that we know about the interaction between leaders and constituents or followers tells us that communication and influence flow in both directions; and in that two-way communication, nonrational, nonverbal, and unconscious elements play their part.

The [nonprofit] sector enhances our creativity, enlivens our communities, nurtures individual responsibility, stirs life at the grassroots, and reminds us that we were born free.

In the artist's recreation of the world we are enabled to see the world.

The world loves talent but pays off on character.

It is hard to feel individually responsible with respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government.

If one defines the term 'dropout' to mean a person who has given up serious effort to meet his responsibilities, then every business office, government agency, golf club and university faculty would yield its quota.

It is one of the ironies of history that reformers so often misjudge the consequences of their reforms.

Renewal is not just innovation and change. It is also the process of bringing the results of change into line with our purposes.

When hiring key employees, there are only two qualities to look for: judgement and taste. Almost everything else can be bought by the yard.

The first and last task of aleader is to keep hope alive.

What leaders have to remember is that somewhere under the somnolent surface is the creature that builds civilizations, the dreamer of dreams, the risk taker. And remembering that, the leader must reach down to the springs that never dry up, the ever-fresh springs of the human spirit.

The man who once cursed his fate, now curses himself - and pays his psychoanalyst.

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.

Nothing can be more readily disproved than the old saw, "You can't keep a good man down." Most human societies have been beautifully organized to keep good men down.

The hallmark of our age is the tension between aspirations and sluggish institutions.

Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.

Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves steadily through time, like weather.

The idea for which this nation stands will not survive if the highest goal free man can set themselves is an amiable mediocrity. Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.

We have to face the fact that most men and women out there are more stale than they know, more bored than they care to admit.

The individual who has become a stranger to himself has lost the capacity for genuine self-renewal.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the [nonprofit] sector is its relative freedom from constraints and its resulting pluralism.

But if we believe what we profess concerning the worth of the individual, then the idea of individual development within a framework of ethical purpose must become our deepest concern, our national preoccupation, our passion, our obsession. We must think of education as relevant for everyone everywhere - at all ages and in all conditions of life.

If the modern leader doesn't know the facts, he is in grave trouble, but rarely do the facts provide unqualified guidance.

It is not easy to be crafty and winsome at the same time, and few accomplish it after the age of six.

Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them.