15 Timeless Presidential Quotes on Leadership for Presidents Day

These iconic leadership quotes will continue to stand the test of time.

Great lessons can be learned from looking back through history and many leadership principles are timeless. Enjoy this President's Day list of iconic leadership quotes from 15 American presidents.

George Washington: "99% of failures come from people who make excuses."

John Adams: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader"

Thomas Jefferson: "Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching."

John Quincy Adams: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

Andrew Jackson: "Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."

Martin Van Buren: "It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't."

Abraham Lincoln: "Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today."

Theodore Roosevelt: "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Franklin D. Roosevelt: "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today"

Harry S. Truman: "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

Dwight D. Eisenhower: "By leadership we mean the art of getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it, not because your position of power can compel him to do it."

John F. Kennedy: "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

Gerald R. Ford: "Never be satisfied with less than your very best effort. If you strive for the top and miss, you'll still 'beat the pack."

William J. Clinton: "If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit."

Barack Obama: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time."