Top Leadership Quotes Pt. III
Quotes on Purpose, Conviction, Mission, and the Soul-Sucking Force of Reasonableness.
Hello Bar-Setters!
This is the final installment of my top leadership quotes series. This week I will feature quotes on Vision, Conviction, Courage, and Purpose. You can find the first two here:
Quote 1:
“Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
This line comes near the end of Letter from Birmingham Jail—a piece worth revisiting in full.
I see both the world and the role of schools through a civic lens. Representative government and a free society are not the norm in human history—they are rare and fragile. We often take them for granted.
Schools must equip students and families not just to succeed individually, but to become capable stewards of this remarkable inheritance. That’s the vision I laid out more fully in The Fire Carrier.
(As a side note, I could have easily made an incredible list of quotes from MLK alone. One of my favorites is his short but powerful article, The Purpose of Education.)
Quote 2:
“Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you.” —Flannery O’Connor
It’s easy for leaders to become consumed by the daily demands of their work and lose sight of their deeper purpose. Human beings naturally absorb the norms around them—and leaders are no exception. But the best leaders stay alert to this tendency and intentionally leverage culture rather than being passively shaped by it.
Every environment has a kind of momentum. There’s a pull toward conformity, toward going with the flow. Many leaders—consciously or not—sacrifice their convictions just to keep the peace. But today’s culture, while full of technological convenience and creature comforts, also carries a deep undercurrent of anxiety, disconnection, and distraction.
Students are growing up in a world designed to tempt and seduce—where brilliant marketers engineer experiences to keep us scrolling, consuming, and self-soothing. Helping young people build the awareness and strength to resist that current is, perhaps, the most essential function of modern education.
I love this quote from O’Connor because it reminds us of the need for vision, courage, and conviction. To lead well today is to resist passivity and reassert purpose.
Quote 3:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt
I’m a former history teacher and Theodore Roosevelt is my favorite president. Also, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is one of the best books I’ve ever read, so I felt I had to include a great Teddy quote.
This quote is a bit cliche for leaders to reference, but for good reason.
To truly lead, whether as a parent, coach, or educator, is to put yourself in a position where criticism is inevitable.
By committing to becoming a principal I have committed to a very hard job, in which I will inevitably make many mistakes.
Leaders must welcome criticism and work to keep perspective. There will be times where we need to heed the criticism we are receiving and own our mistakes. At other times we need to stay the course and keep working to help our team understand they why or recommit themselves to deeper values.
But, at all times, we are better for having the courage to engage with life and do our best to make an impact on the world. This quote is a great reminder to embrace the hard path and to keep working, learning, and adapting as we commit to goals that are bigger than us.
Quote 4:
“Beware of the soul-sucking force of reasonableness.” —Chip and Dan Heath
This one comes from the fantastic book The Power of Moments, which explores how transformative experiences shape our lives far more than we realize.
This quote refers to the tendency to not pursue big, exciting, magical ideas out of fear or the desire to be practical and sensible. Is a warning to anyone with creativity, dreams, and vision: You will be told to tone it down. To be realistic. To lower your expectations. You’ll meet skeptics who confuse safety with wisdom and practicality with purpose.
Because big visions can be threatening. They imply that what we’re doing now isn’t good enough. And change—even positive change—can make people uncomfortable.
But progress is never born of reasonableness. Progress demands risk and the occasional leap of faith.
This is especially true in education today. With AI rapidly reshaping what knowledge and instruction look like, teachers will need to evolve—not just to inform, but to inspire. To design learning experiences that spark passion, cultivate curiosity, and expand what students believe is possible.
Bonus Quote:
"I slept, and dreamed that life was joy;
I woke, and found that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy."
—Poet Ellen Sturgis Hooper, Source: The Dial (July 1840)
Found this one recently and I just love it.
Thank you for reading and sharing!
Shane