Colin Powell quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Colin Powell

Colin Powell Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Colin Powell on Wise Famous Quotes.

Look at the world. There is no pure competitor to the United States of America.

As a leader you set the tone for your entire team. Communicate your vision.

Our strategy in going after this army is very simple. First we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it.

I'm sleeping like a baby, too. Every two hours, I wake up, screaming.

Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up.

Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.

It is good if your enemy underestimates you. The dumber they think you are the more surprised they are when you kill them.

The media only report stupid or careless answers, not stupid or unfair questions.

The greatest gifts my parents gave to me ... were their unconditional love and a set of values.

Perpetual optimism is a force leveler

Freedom to be your best means nothing unless you are wiling to do your best.

Remain calm, be kind.

We can seldom get our children to do what we tell them, but they almost never fail to imitate us.

We got rid of a terrible dictator. We gave the Iraqi people an opportunity for a new life under a representative form of government.

I would sit and talk to any president who wishes to talk to me, but I'm not anxious to rule it in.

The essence of leadership is building bonds of trust in your organization.

I'm not perfect but I'll be the creator of perfection.

Diplomacy never stops, and, with or without an election, it never stops.

Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn't go with it.

The bottom line in all of it is that, in life, it's all about people.

I want to scare the hell out of the rest of the world.

Don't bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.

It's a disgrace that we have millions of people who are uninsured.

I don't know that there is much the United States can do except work with the international community.

Always be looking for that which you do well and that which you love doing, and when you find those two things together - man, you got it.

90 percent of my time is spent on 10 percent of the world.

Always be looking for the opportunities, and always be optimistic about what you can do with that opportunity.

That's not really a number I'm terribly interested in.

I get over it quickly and never lose control of myself.

Leadership is all about people ... and getting the most out of people.

The freedom to do your best means nothing unless you are willing to do your best.

Let me blow that up for you again.

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.

The claims made about Iraq's WMD capabilities before the invasion were inaccurate, wrong, and in some cases, deliberately misleading.

Ambition and hatred are enough to bring Iraq and al Qaeda together

I like Holiday Inns

It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.

Leadership is solving problems.

Don't just count your days, make your days count.

The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.

Each of us is a product of all our experiences and all our interactions with other people.

Leaders honor their core values, but they are flexible in how they execute them.

I happen to hold a bachelor of science degree in geology ... And my greatest contribution to the field of science is that I never entered it.

The root cause of poverty is social injustice and the bad government that abets it

Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.

Trust is the glue that holds an org together & the lubricant that moves it forward.

If you are black, if you are Puerto Rican or Hispanic, be proud of that. But don't let it become a problem. Let it become somebody else's problem.

I don't think we handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad as well as we might have. But that's now history.

Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.

The one thing the terrorists cannot do
not one of them, not 10 of them, not 10,000 of them
they cannot change who we are.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

You don't know what you can get away with until you try.

Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age.

Luck tends to come to people who are prepared.

Economy's got to get moving, we've got to get the unemployment rate down. That may be the defining issue of the campaign.

Always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.

You have achieved excellence as a leader when people will follow you anywhere if only out of curiosity.

Keep looking below surface appearances. Don't shrink from doing so just because you might not like what you find.

Perpetual Optimism is a Force Multiplier.

We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.

Let it [racism] be a problem to someone else ... Let it drag them down. Don't use it as an excuse for your own shortcomings.

The best method of overcoming obstacles is the team method

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.

Be careful what you choose: You may get it.

Terrorism really flourishes in areas of poverty, despair and hopelessness, where people see no future

The president's personal staff has a unique role

There are lots of countries that are having these kinds of internal civil wars in other parts of the world and nobody is talking about intervening.

There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more.

I consider myself a moderate Republican. I have very, very moderate social views, and I'm pretty strong on, on defense matters.

Time is passing, ... We have to look at the reality of the situation and ... redouble our efforts and get on with it.

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hardwork, and learning from failure-

There are no secrets to success. It's the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure.

The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.

Let's not forget that Congress bears a lot of responsibility for many of the problems we have now

Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers.

You should never be so involved with your position/job that when the position is gone your entire self image is gone with it.

There is no such thing as an unimportant person in an organization.

Politics is not bean bags. It's serious, tough stuff.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through the argument debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.

No war on the face of the Earth is more destructive than the AIDS pandemic.

Respect for leaders by followers can't be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.

You need to learn what people have done, but you need to learn where they have failed ... Usually when they fail it is in the execution.

Wouldn't it be great if we could look forward to a whole world in which no child will be left behind?

None of us can change our yesterdays but all of us can change our tomorrows.

Have a vision. Be demanding.

Get mad, then get over it.

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.

Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it, spend time with your families.

Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.

Just hit my 75th birthday, I'm feeling great!

I want to see policies that encourage every American to vote, not make it more difficult to vote,

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

The most effective means of ensuring the government's accountability to the people is an aggressive, free, challenging, untrusting press.

Bahrain is moving at one pace, Morocco another, Qatar at another, Kuwait at yet another. And we are there to assist our friends.

One of the greatest talents of all is the talent to recognize and to develop talent in others.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms.

I would not presume from this distance, nor would America presume to say who should be the leader of the Iraqi nation.

Think hard about it: I'm running out of demons. I'm running out of villians. I'm down to Castro and Kim Il Sung.

People get work done, not buildings, not staffs in a generic sense, and not plans, but people