Throughout my professional life, I’ve been both a mentee and a mentor. In both roles, these quotes on mentoring came in handy.
It takes more than just conveying your knowledge and experience to be a good mentor. Exceptional mentors lift their proteges up and give them the necessary tools to succeed. They never do something instead of their proteges. Instead, they teach them how to do it themselves.
Mentors had a crucial role in both my professional and private life. I am forever grateful to all those people who held my hand while I walked the different paths in life, and who encouraged me to be my best self.
Now, I’m paying that kindness forward. I am a mentor myself, and I am striving to be the best one I can be. If you’re in a similar situation, take a look at these quotes on mentoring. They’ll be a bit of the necessary inspiration and motivation to do good.
27 Best Quotes on Mentoring That Will Make You Into a Great Leader
Quotes on Mentoring That Show What a Difference a Good Mentor Makes
1. “My mentor said, ‘Let’s go do it,’ not ‘You go do it.’ How powerful when someone says, ‘Let’s!’” — Jim Rohn
2. “Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
3. “No man is capable of self-improvement if he sees no other model but himself.” — Conrado I. Generoso
4. “What I think the mentor gets is the great satisfaction of helping somebody along, helping somebody take advantage of an opportunity that maybe he or she did not have.” — Clint Eastwood
5. “What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.” ― Paulo Coelho
6. “A mentor takes people where they want to go. A great mentor takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.” — Rosalynn Carter
7. “Show me a successful individual, and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living — if you do it well, I’m sure there was someone cheering you on or showing the way. A mentor.” — Denzel Washington
Great Mentors Lead By Example
8. “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ― William Arthur Ward
9. “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ― Benjamin Franklin
10. “Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off.” ― Jeffrey Pfeffer
11. “In order to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care. You must care. You don’t have to know how many square miles are in Idaho, you don’t need to know what is the chemical makeup of chemistry, or of blood or water. Know what you know and care about the person, care about what you know, and care about the person you’re sharing with.” — Maya Angelou
12. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams
13. “It is the mentor’s responsibility to create a safe and trusting space that enables a mentee to stretch and step outside their comfort zone, take risks, and show up authentically.” ― Lisa Fain
Quotes on Mentoring That Will Inspire You to Be More Encouraging
14. “Colleagues are a wonderful thing. But mentors, that’s where the real work gets done.” — Junot Diaz
15. “One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.” — John C. Maxwell
16. “Spoon-feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” — E.M. Forster
17. “The best teacher is not the one who knows most but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful.” ― H.L. Mencken
18. “A mentor empowers a person to see a possible future, and believe it can be obtained.” ― Shawn Hitchcock
19. “Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.’ ― Samuel Taylor Coleridge
20. “You cannot transmit wisdom and insight to another person. The seed is already there. A good teacher touches the seed, allowing it to wake up, to sprout, and to grow.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh
Exceptional Mentors Teach People How to Do Things, Not What to Do
21. “The best teachers are those who tell you where to look — but don’t tell you what to see.” — Alexandra K.Trenfor
22. “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” — John Crosby
23. “A lot of people put pressure on themselves and think it will be way too hard for them to live out their dreams. Mentors are there to say, ‘Look, it’s not that tough. It’s not as hard as you think. Here are some guidelines and things I have gone through to get to where I am in my career.’” — Joe Jonas
24. “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret Mead
25. “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” ― Plutarch
26. “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg
27. “Leaders should influence others in such a way that it builds people up, encourages, and edifies them so they can duplicate this attitude in others.” ― Bob Goshen
To Conclude
So having a good mentor or being one makes all the difference when it comes to success. Besides giving their knowledge and making their mentees learn from experience, great mentors also offer encouragement and some necessary insight. And there’s an occasional “Atta boy!” of course.
These quotes on mentoring sum up what it takes to be a mentor. You can’t just sit someone down and tell them all that you know. You must show them and teach them how to do things themselves. Only then can you call yourself a good mentor. Hopefully, these quotes will help you on your way to becoming the best mentor you can be.