Leadership and Success

“A leader does not change because of a sentence. I came into prison to fight for freedom. I leave it the same I was.” – Sukarno – An Authobiography by Cindy Adam (page 115) Sukarno: The first President of Indonesia. He declared of Indonesian Independence Day in August 17, 1945. Sukarno is the founding father of Indonesia.

“My friends and my children, I am no Communist… I am not prejudiced. I am no dictator. I am no holy man or reincarnation of God. I am just an ordinary human being like you and you and you… Why is it that people ask me to give a speech to them, even when the sun is at its hottest? The answer is this: What Bung (brother) Karno says is actually written in the hearts of the Indonesian people. The people want to hear their own voice but… they cannot speak eloquently for themselves… (Therefore) when I die… do not write on the tombstone: ‘Here rests His Most Exalted Excellency Dr. Ir. Raden Sukarno, the first President of the Republic of Indonesia’ … [but] write… ‘Here rests Bung Karno, the Tongue of the Indonesian People”.

-Sukarno, 1959

“In every Seventeenth of August meeting [Independence Day] … it is as though I held a dialogue. A dialogue with the people of Indonesia. A two-way conversation with Sukarno-the-man and Sukarno-the people, a two-way conversation between comrade in arms and comrade in arms. A two-way conversation between two comrades who in reality are one. That is why, every time I prepare a Seventeenth of August address I become like a person possessed”.

-Sukarno, 1963

I am not so much concerned with the right of everyone to say anything he pleases as I am about our need as self-governing people to hear everything relevant.
- John F. Kennedy


An army of stags led by a lion would be better than an army of lions led by a stag.
- Latin proverb

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
Nelson Mandela

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
- Matthew

Work as if you were to live one hundred years; pray as if you were to die tomorrow.
- Benjamin Franklin

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.
- Tacitus


Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
- Benjamin Franklin

The future depends on what we do in the present. Mahatma Gandhi


If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be no help.
- John F. Kennedy

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
- Indira Gandhi


I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
- Abraham Lincoln

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
- Winston Churchill

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
Nelson Mandela


No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.
- Abraham Lincoln

Change is the law of life.
- John F. Kennedy

Everything changes but change itself.
- John F. Kennedy

When we think we lead we most are led.
- Lord Byron

Put your heart, mind, intellect, and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.
- Swami Sivananda