Even your dream job can become a source of stress and frustration if you have to deal with a lousy boss.
For today’s article, I’ve prepared a list of bad boss quotes about bosses who can make your workplace hell.
The ability to lead and inspire should be one of the main virtues of a boss, but unfortunately, it’s not always the case.
If you’re dealing with a toxic boss, these bad boss quotes will help you articulate your emotions and understand where they come from.
I’ve gathered the best quotes on bad bosses and bad managers to help you deal with the situation in the best way possible.
Let’s check them out!
Top 10 Bad Boss Quotes
Here are my 10 favorite bad boss quotes. Enjoy!
1. “Having a bad boss isn’t your fault. Staying with one is.” — Nora Denzel
2. “Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” — Andy Stanley
3. “A bad boss is like a disease of the soul.” — Chetan Bhagat
4. “You are not your resume, you are your work.” — Seth Godin
5. “Every leader is a boss, but every boss is not a leader.” — Amit Kalantri
6. “You always learn from both good and bad bosses.” — Rajeev Suri
7. “Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.” — Stephen Covey
8. “A leader is admired, a boss is feared.” — Vicente Del Bosque
9. “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel.” — Sam Walton
10. “There are no bad teams, only bad leaders.” — Leif Babin
Inspirational Bad Boss Quotes
If you’re looking for inspirational quotes to help you deal with a bad manager, check out these bad boss quotes.
1. “People don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses.” — Unknown
2. “Take a deep breath. It’s just a bad day, not a bad life.” — Barry D. Hatchette
3. “Show respect even to people that don’t deserve it; not as a reflection of their character, but as a reflection of yours.” — Dave Willis
4. “If A equals success, then the formula is A = X + Y + Z. Where X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.” — Albert Einstein
5. “A bad job with a good boss is better than a good job with a bad boss.” — Unknown
6. “If you are good at discouraging yourself, you can’t be a good leader because leadership is built on inspiring others to face challenges.” — Israelmore Ayivor
7. “The first myth of management is that it exists. The second myth of management is that success equals skill.” — Robert Heller
8. “Bosses shape how people spend their days and whether they experience joy or despair, perform well or badly, or are healthy or sick. Unfortunately, there are hoards of mediocre and downright rotten bosses out there, and big gaps between the best and the worst.” ― Robert I. Sutton
9. “It’s a tough world out there. You’re going to prepare yourself for politics, bad bosses, hating employees – and usually when you’re the absolute best, you get hated on the most.” — Kanye West
10. “Bosses push, leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership.” — Dave Ramsey
11. “According to many sources, a bad boss is also the number one reason why employees quit their job.” — Susan M. Heathfield
12. “A true leader is a person whose influence inspires people to do what is expected of them to do. You cease to be a leader when you manipulate with your egos instead of convincing by your inspirations.” ― Israelmore Ayivor
13. “You can be the most productive and most effective, but politics show up as ego, jealousy, and sabotage from bosses who can’t perform.” — Richie Norton
14. “Companies used to be able to function with autocratic bosses. We don’t live in that world anymore.” — Rosabeth Moss Kanter
15. “Bad boss? Fire him/her. When you’re interviewing for a job, your job is to interview them. You are an equal.” ― Richie Norton
16. “It does not matter whether I am in Hong Kong or Sao Paolo – people always want to talk about toxic bosses and what to do about them.” — Srikumar Rao
17. “I used to work at McDonald’s making minimum wage. You know what that means? You know what your boss was trying to say? It’s like, ‘Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it’s against the law.’” — Chris Rock
18. “Good leadership is pervasive, persuasive, and persistent. Bad leadership is poisoned with pedanticism, posturing, self-importance.” — Marcia Whicker
19. ”Be kind. Even on your bad days.” — Brighton Early
20. “Don’t be afraid to leave toxic partners, fake friends, and bad bosses. Never settle for less than you deserve.” — Kirsten Hill
See also: Top 90 Never Settle For Less Quotes To Encourage You
Motivational Bad Boss Quotes
You love your job and you have wonderful co-workers, but can you say the same about your boss?
Below you’ll find a collection of motivational quotes to deal with bad bosses.
1. “Bad leaders take all the credit. But never take the blame for the mistake.” — Unknown
2. “I haven’t really had too many bosses. Any bad boss I had probably was because I was a bad employee.” — Jason Sudeikis
3. “You can’t control other people’s behavior, but you can control your responses to it.“ — Roberta Cava
4. “I think the best thing you can do is be aware that as a first-time founder you are likely to be a very bad manager.” — Sam Altman
5. “Rotten bosses don’t get better. Any strategy that assumes they can is doomed.” — Scott Adams
6. “So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.” — Peter Drucker
7. “True leaders do not make choices with reference to the opinion of the majority. They make choices based on the opinion of the truth, and the truth can come from either the majority or the minority!” — Israelmore Ayivor
8. “I am thankful for all those difficult people in my life. They have shown me exactly who I do not want to be.“ — Al. E Gater
9. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” — Steve Jobs
10. “With power comes the abuse of power. And where there are bosses, there are crazy bosses. It’s nothing new.” — Judd Rose
11. “A boss says “go and make sure you do it”; a leader says “let’s go and make it happen”. Bosses control people; leaders involve them.” ― Israelmore Ayivor
12. “I’ve seen too many leaders misunderstand leadership. They divide instead of unite. They avoid their role in collective purpose.” ― Richie Norton
13. “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” — Aristotle
14. “We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” — John F. Kennedy
15. “The bottom line is, bad managers are bad for business, and they’re even worse for their employees.” — Leah Arnold-Smeets
16. “The bad leaders are the ones that push hard so they can gain, who browbeat us so that they can receive the benefit of our hard work, not so we can enjoy the success.” — Simon Sinek
17. “A leader’s job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers’ sense of commitment.” — Dean Smith
18. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” — Jim Rohn
19. “You don’t lead by hitting people over the head—that’s assault, not leadership.” — Dwight Eisenhower
20. “Without a plan, even the most brilliant business can get lost. You need to have goals, create milestones, and have a strategy to set yourself up for success.” — Yogi Berra
See also: 220 Best Proverbs About Success To Give You Inspiration
Funny Bad Boss Quotes
For the last chapter, I’ve prepared a list of funny bad boss quotes. These funny quotes will help you deal with the situation and simply laugh it off.
1. “No man goes before his time – unless the boss leaves early.” — Groucho Marx
2. “Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” — Edgar Bergen
3. “As long as my boss pretends that my salary is high, I’ll pretend that I have much work to do.” — Unknown
4. “I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame it on you.” — Ashleigh Brilliant
5. “By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.” — Robert Frost
6. “Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.” — Laurence J. Peter
7. “The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt
8. “People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.” — Thomas Sowell
9. “My boss told me to start every presentation with a joke. The first slide was my paycheck.” — Unknown
10. “If you think your boss is stupid, remember that you wouldn’t have a job if he was smarter.” — John Gotti
Final Words
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and all the bad boss quotes I prepared.
Read next: 310 Best Boss Babe Quotes On Success For Strong Women
Until next time!
