Colin Powell Quotes & Sayings

It was President [Bill] Clinton and the United States congress in 1998 which said that the regime has to be changed because the regime would not give up its weapons of mass destruction. We came into office in 2001 and kept that policy because Saddam Hussein had not changed. — Colin Powell

I would caution my Republican friends that [Obama has] three years to go, and in that three years the American people are going to want to see some progress and not just claims that this guy is out of office and we're going to do everything to destroy him or that somehow he is a 'socialist' taking over the country. Have we so lost our faith in this country that we think one person, one man can be can suddenly change our entire system? That's kind of absurd. — Colin Powell

You can never err by treating everyone in the building with respect, thoughtfulness, and a kind word. Everyone of our employees is an essential employee. Every one of them wants to be viewed that way. And if you treat them that way, they will view you that way. They will not let you down or let you fail. They will accomplish whatever you have put in front of them. — Colin Powell

Policies that emanate from ivory towers often have an adverse impact on the people out in the field who are fighting the wars or bringing in the revenues. — Colin Powell

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

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

I have always tried to do my job in a way that I have people give me different points of view. — Colin Powell

It is the job of leaders to eliminate uncertainty. — Colin Powell

It was the Congress that imposed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' it was certainly my position, my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred. — Colin Powell

Treat people kindly. When you are kind to somebody and I don't mean necessarily "buddy-buddy", just show kindness and consideration. Show that people are worthy and you respect them and you are glad they're with you. — Colin Powell

It is not possible to rule out anything because we don't know what will happen. — Colin Powell

Finding the Russian scientists may be a problem being that Russia does not have a Social Security System, as here in America, that allows us to monitor, track down and capture an American citizen. — Colin Powell

Nobody is ready to leave Iraq to be interviewed. — Colin Powell

Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror. — Colin Powell

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. — Colin Powell

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

It is the fault of the United States that these terrible people, these insurgents and terrorists are out there. They are the ones that we ought to be focusing our energy on defeating and not just wring our hands about the fact that it's going to be difficult. — Colin Powell

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

There are no secrets to success: don't waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work, and persistence. — Colin Powell

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. — Colin Powell

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

We are not shrinking from talking to Saudis or anyone else in the region, but it is up to each nation in the region to decide on its own how it will proceed and at what pace. There are other nations in the region that had similar policies to Saudi Arabia that are starting to make changes, such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco. And so it takes time but when you see the need for such changes, then changes tend to follow. — Colin Powell

At the same time I think it is absolutely necessary that there be no confusion, no misunderstanding that if the Iraqis.. do not comply, then there will be consequences and those consequences will involve the use of military force to disarm them through changing the regime. — Colin Powell

The only bipartisanship you ever see is when they finally sign a bill and everybody says, 'Gee, isn't that wonderful?' — Colin Powell

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. — Colin Powell

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

No one has done more to prevent conflict - no one has made a greater sacrifice for the cause for Peace - than you, America's proud missile submarine family. You stand tall among our heroes of the Cold War. — Colin Powell

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

The day you are not solving problems or are not up to your butt in problems is probably a day you are no longer leading. If your desk is clean and no one is bringing you problems, you should be very worried. It means that people don't think you can solve them or don't want to hear about them. Or, far worse, it means they don't think you care. — Colin Powell

I'm not active in politics. I vote as a citizen, and if somebody cares to know what my opinion is at the time of the election, I might or might not share it publicly. — Colin Powell

Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Never discuss your problems
with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who
never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how. Not everyone has
a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the
bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone
who's not going anywhere. — Colin Powell

I was born in Harlem, raised in the South Bronx, went to public school, got out of public college, went into the Army, and then I just stuck with it. — Colin Powell

ON BUSY BASTARDS: A busy bastard can't stop finding things to do. He never rests and as a result, his staff never rests. He's always making work that expands to fill whatever time is available. The point I make in my book is: Be busy, work hard, but don't become so busy that you cut out other things in life, like family and recreation and hobbies. And never be so busy that you're not giving your staff and your followers enough time to do the same thing. — Colin Powell

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing. — Colin Powell

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

Fear is a normal human emotion. It is not in itself a killer. We can learn to be aware when fear grips us, and can train to operate through and in spite of our fear. If, on the other hand, we don't understand that fear is normal and has to be controlled and overcome, it will paralyze us and stop us in our tracks. We will no longer think clearly or analyze rationally. We prepare for it and control it; we never let it control us. It if does, we cannot lead. — Colin Powell

There are a lot of bigger issues we have to be worrying about with respect to our relationship to China, and the longer they drag out the situation, the more difficult it is to get this relationship back on track. — Colin Powell

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

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

We view Egypt as a good friend of America. We are in constant touch with them. We provide them economic and military assistance as part of our relationship. — Colin Powell

I have always gone through public life and saying that with respect to political candidates, I always measure each candidate against what I think the country needs at that time, and I will vote for the person I think who is most qualified to serve the nation at that time. — Colin Powell

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. — Colin Powell

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. — Colin Powell

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

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

It is not the role of the United States to dictate change, but to enter into discussions with our friends. — Colin Powell

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

Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. — Colin Powell

There's no doubt in my mind, though, that the Iraqi people would be better off with a different leader who did not waste their oil on weapons, as opposed to education, as opposed to healthcare, as opposed to food, as opposed to roads, as opposed to clean water. It is really sinful, a crime, what Saddam Hussein has done with the wealth of the Iraqi people over the last 30 years. — Colin Powell

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

All values are important, everyone who has ever touched my life in some way was a mentor for good or bad. Life is a blend, and a person is a blend of all the influences that have touched their lives. — Colin Powell

Always do your best. Somebody is watching you. — Colin Powell

In the military we are always looking for ways to leverage up our forces. Having greater communications and command and control over your forces than your enemy has over his is a force multiplier. Having greater logistics capability than the enemy is a force multiplier. Having better-trained commanders is a force multiplier. Perpetual optimism, believing in yourself, believing in your purpose, believing you will prevail, and demonstrating passion and confidence is a force multiplier. If you believe and have prepared your followers, the followers will believe. — Colin Powell

So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? ... I think our judgment has to be clearly not. — Colin Powell

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

Trust is the essence of Leadership. — Colin Powell

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

President Kennedy didn't negotiate out of the Cuban missile crisis simply because he and Khrushchev got along well. Khrushchev didn't have the cards. — Colin Powell

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

It takes more courage to send men into battle than to fight the battle yourself. — Colin Powell

I want to scare the hell out of the rest of the world. — Colin Powell

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

War is never a happy solution, but it may be the only solution. We must exhaustively explore other possible solutions before we make the choice for war. Every political and diplomatic effort should be made to avoid war while achieving your objective. — Colin Powell

Luck tends to come to people who are prepared. — Colin Powell

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

With respect to our friends in the [Iraq] region, each has its own system, each will have to make its own judgment as to whether it will change, how fast it will change, and we hope that we can help influence them as to how change comes about and what change might be better for them than other forms of change. — Colin Powell

Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return. — Colin Powell

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

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.-Colin Powell — Colin Powell

All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles - someone to hold them, read to them, teach them. Loved ones who will embrace them and pass on the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations. Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectations of them, their hopes, and their dreams. — Colin Powell

You should see what our Founding Fathers used to say to each other and in the early part of our nation. But what they were able to do, especially in Philadelphia in 1787, four months, they argued about what a House should be, what a Senate should be, the power of the president, the Congress, the Supreme Court. And they had to deal with slavery. — Colin Powell

A dream doesn't become reality ... — Colin Powell

One of the fondest expressions around is that we can't be the world's policeman. But guess who gets called when suddenly someone needs a cop. — Colin Powell

The purposes of the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced - the just demands of peace and security will be met - or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power. — Colin Powell

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

One of the most worrisome things that emerges from the thick intelligence file we have on Iraq's biological weapons is the existence of mobile production facilities used to make biological agents. — Colin Powell

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

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

Well, the correct answer is he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? — Colin Powell

I think the American people are sophisticated enough and wise enough to make judgments about the candidates and wade through the charges and countercharges that come with the election 2004 campaign. — Colin Powell

The United States-Israeli relationship is based on the broadest conception of American national interest in which our two nations are bound forever together by common democratic values and traditions. This will never change. — Colin Powell

Even in the grimmest of enterprises there are tension breakers. At one point, the tabloid National Enquirer ran a story headlined "Bush and Saddam Are Cousins" and offered genealogical "proof" that not only was George Bush related to the queen of England, but "Hussein and President Bush share a common ancestry dating back at least to the crusades." This news prompted the President to circulate a memo to the national security team that said, "No decisions I make will be affected by my relationship with Saddam Hussein. The Queen and I would have it no other way. — Colin Powell

It's nice to say let's be bipartisan. But we're a partisan nation. We were raised as a partisan nation. — Colin Powell

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

I think all of the attention of the world, to include the attention of the Arab world, should be on Saddam Hussein and whether or not he is prepared to give up the weapons of mass destruction that he has used to terrorise the region. — Colin Powell

I was taught to think about mission and people. Mission. What are you trying to accomplish? Don't do anything until you know what the mission is. Drilled into our hearts and into our heads. — Colin Powell

I understand that and I have had very candid discussions with Saudi leaders in the past. I respect their culture and their heritage and their traditions, but I think that they now, as they move forward, will have to start examining these traditions and these practices to see whether or not change is appropriate. — Colin Powell

I've voted for Republicans who were strong on defense, who believed in a free and open economy but who also understood that there's a place for government in our lives, that government has a responsibility to those of our citizens who are in need and those of our citizens who are needy of health care. — Colin Powell

The president's personal staff has a unique role — Colin Powell

What could be more important than equipping the next generation with the character and competence they need to become successful — Colin Powell

If you get the dirty end of the stick, sharpen it and turn it into a useful tool. — Colin Powell

The ties that bind us are stronger than the occasional stresses that separate us. — Colin Powell

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

When we have dealt with bin Laden and his network we will then broaden the campaign to go after other terrorists all around the world. — Colin Powell

The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny. — Colin Powell

Have a vision. Be demanding. — Colin Powell

Let me blow that up for you again. — Colin Powell

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. — Colin Powell

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

In other words, don't expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say 'we have a problem, let's go and get it'. — Colin Powell