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Leadership Tips from

Woodrow Wilson
(Virginia Alpha & Maryland Alpha 1879)

We’re celebrating the 150th anniversary

of Woodrow Wilson’s birth

On Leadership
“Surely a man has come to himself only when he "Absolute identity with one's cause is the first
has found the best that is in him, and has and great condition of successful leadership."
satisfied his heart with the highest achievement ●
he is fit for.” “A friend of mine says that every man who takes
● office in Washington either grows or swells, and
“I not only use all the brains I have but all I can when I give a man an office, I watch him
borrow.” carefully to see whether he is growing or
● swelling.” (Speech, May 15, 1916, National Press
“When you come into the presence of a leader Club, Washington D.C.))
of men, you know that you have come into the ●
presence of fire…” “I would rather lose in a cause that will some day
● win, than win in a cause that will some day lose.”
“No man that does not see visions will ever ●
realize any high hope or undertake any high “If you think too much about being re-elected, it
enterprise.” is very difficult to be worth re-electing.”
● ●
“A man is not as big as his belief in himself; he is “Never attempt to murder a man who is
as big as the number of persons who believe in committing suicide.” (Letter to Bernard Baruch,
him.” 1916)
● ●
“All the extraordinary men I have known were “One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty
extraordinary in their own estimation.” counsels. The thing to do is to supply light and
● not heat.” (Speech, Jan. 29, 1916, Pittsburgh, Pa.)
“We cannot be separated in interest or divided in ●
purpose. We stand together until the end.” “The ear of the leader must ring with the voices
● of the people.”
“All things come to him who waits -- provided he ●
knows what he is waiting for.” “Power consists in one's capacity to link his will
● with the purpose of others, to lead by reason
“If you want to make enemies, try to change and a gift of cooperation.”
something.” ●
● “There are blessed intervals when I forget by
“Caution is the confidential agent of selfishness.” one means or another that I am President of the
● United States.”
"The man who is swimming against the stream ●
knows the strength of it." (Speech, The New “A man who never changes his mind is dead.”
Freedom, 1913)
“There must be, not a balance of power, but a “Do not follow people that stand still.”
community of power; not organized rivalries, but ●
an organized peace.” "Experience is the name everyone gives to his
● mistakes."
"Life does not consist in thinking, it consists in ●
acting." “The only use of an obstacle is to be overcome.
● All that an obstacle does with brave men is, not
“To do things today exactly the way you did to frighten them, but to challenge them.”
them yesterday saves thinking.” (Address to the Italian Parliament, Rome, Jan. 3,
● 1919)
“Wisdom comes with counsel, with the frank and ●
free conference of untrammeled men united in "Power consists in one's capacity to link his will
the common interest.” (Acceptance speech, with the purpose of others, to lead by reason
Democratic National Convention) and a gift of cooperation." (Letter to Mary A.
Hulbert, Sept. 21, 1913)

The Great Joy of Serving Others & Living the Creed

“No man has ever risen to the real stature of “There is no higher religion than human service.
spiritual manhood until he has found that it is To work for the common good is the greatest
finer to serve somebody else than it is to serve creed.”
himself.” ●
● “If you lose your wealth, you have lost nothing, If
“If you will think about what you ought to do for you lose your health, you have lost something,
other people, your character will take care of But if you lose your character, you have lost
itself. Character is a by-product, and any man everything.”
who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own ●
case will become a selfish prig.” “No task, rightly done, is truly private. It is part
● of the world’s work.” (Address at Princeton
“You are not here merely to make a living. You University November 1, 1902)
are here in order to enable the world to live more ●
amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of “There is something better, if possible, that a
hope and achievement. You are here to enrich man can give his life. That is his living spirit to a
the world, and you impoverish yourself if you service that is not easy, to resist counsels that
forget the errand.” are hard to resist, to stand against purposes that
● are difficult to stand against.” (Speech May 30,
“No thoughtful man ever came to the end of his 1919)
life, and had time and a little space of calm from ●
which to look back upon it, who did not know “Benevolence doesn’t consist in those who are
and acknowledge that it was what he had done prosperous pitying and helping those who are
unselfishly and for others, and nothing else, that not. Benevolence consists in fellow-feeling that
satisfied him in the retrospect, and made him puts you upon actually the same level with the
feel that he had played the man.” fellow who suffers.”
● ●
“Provision for others is a fundamental “Nothing but what you volunteer has the
responsibility of human life.” essence of life, the springs of pleasure in it.
● These are the things you do because you want
“There is no question what the roll of honor in to do them, the things the spirit has chosen for
America is. The roll of honor consists of the its satisfaction. The more you are stimulated to
names of men who have squared their conduct such action the more clearly does it appear to
by ideals of duty.” (Speech, February 27, 1916, you that you are a sovereign spirit, put into the
Washington, DC) world, not to wear a harness, but to work eagerly
● without it.”
“We are citizens of the world. The tragedy of our ●
times is that we do not know this.” “It is the object of learning, not only to satisfy the
● curiosity and perfect the spirits of ordinary men,
“Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart but also to advance civilization.” (Mere Literature
the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.” and Other Essays, pp. 73-74, Houghton Mifflin, 1896)
“I am not sure that it is of the first importance
that you should be happy. Many an unhappy
man has been of deep service to himself and to
the world.” (Baccalaureate address, June 7, 1908,
at Princeton University)
“We are not put into the world to sit still and
know; we are put into it to act.” (Inaugural
address, October 25, 1902, as president of Princeton
University).

On Friendship
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold “At every crisis in one's life, it is absolute
the world together.” salvation to have some sympathetic friend to
● whom you can think aloud without restraint or
“You cannot be friends upon any other terms misgiving.”
than upon the terms of equality.” (Speech ●
October 2, 1913) “Only a peace between equals can last.”
(Speech to U.S. Senate, January 22, 1917)

On College Students
“The most conservative persons I ever met are take, a catholic taste in men and the standards
college undergraduates. The radicals are the of true sportsmen, they have gained much but
men past middle life.” (Speech, Nov. 19, 1905, they have not gained what a college should give
New York City) them. It should give them insight into the things
● of the mind and the spirit ... the consciousness
“No student knows his subject: the most he of having taken on them the vows of true
knows is where and how to find out the things he enlighten-ment and of having undergone the
does not know.” disci-pline, never to be shaken off, of those who
● seek wisdom in candor, with faithful labor and
“If young gentlemen get from their years in travail of spirit.” (Phi Beta Kappa oration, July 1,
college only manliness, esprit de corps, a 1909, at Harvard University)
release of their social gifts, a training in give and

Other Selected Quotations

On the value of knowing our history (with
application to Phi Psi if you consider it a nation
of its own):
“A nation which does not remember what it was
yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor
what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile
thing if we do not know where we came from or
what we have been about.”
On our co-founders or those who are members
of Chapters being chartered or rechartered:
“We grow great by dreams. All big men are
dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a
spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's
evening. Some of us let these great dreams die,
but others nourish and protect them; nurse them
through bad days till they bring them to the
sunshine and light which comes always to those
who sincerely hope that their dreams will come
true.”

Quotations are arranged by and assigned to categories created by Michael H. McCoy, Historian of Phi Kappa Psi. Updated May 31,
2007. These quotations have been compiled from a number of public sources believed to be credible, but some have yet to be
confirmed. A list of sources, where identified, is available upon request. The assistance of readers in identifying authoritative
sources, especially those identifying the original use, would be appreciated. Nominate other Wilson quotations anytime; include
sources. Direct all communications about this list to mikemccoy1852@yahoo.com

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