Colin Powell Quotes

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work."

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."

"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude."

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."

"You need to understand, if you take out a government, take out a regime, guess who becomes the government and regime and is responsible for the country? You are. So if you break it, you own it."

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

"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."

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

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

"Get mad, then get over it."

"The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise."

"Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard."

"Diplomacy is listening to what the other guy needs. Preserving your own position, but listening to the other guy. You have to develop relationships with other people so when the tough times come, you can work together."

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

"Trump is a national disgrace and an international pariah."

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

"I think whether you're having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude."

"Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it."

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

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

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy."

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

"Indeed, we're strongest when the face of America isn't only a soldier carrying a gun but also a diplomat negotiating peace, a Peace Corps volunteer bringing clean water to a village, or a relief worker stepping off a cargo plane as floodwaters rise."

"War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support."

"Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up."

"Children need to get a high-quality education, avoid violence and the criminal-justice system, and gain jobs. But they deserve more. We want them to learn not only reading and math but fairness, caring, self-respect, family commitment, and civic duty."

"Today I can declare my hope and declare it from the bottom of my heart that we will eventually see the time when that number of nuclear weapons is down to zero and the world is a much better place."

"Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant."

"So like any football or basketball coach, you always always believe you're going to win."