Colin Powell Short Quotes

25 Sourced Quotes

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On invading Iraq:
You break it, you own it.

Colin Powell
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

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

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

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

Colin Powell
Don't be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.

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

Colin Powell
Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes.

Colin Powell
You can't make someone else's choices. You shouldn't let someone else make yours.

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

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

Colin Powell
The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting in above-average effort.

Colin Powell
This may sound a little improper, but when the Vice President and I are alone it's Colin and Dick.

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

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

Colin Powell
With vision only, you get no follow-through. With enforcers only, the vision is realized but leaves a lot of wreckage.

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

Colin Powell
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.

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
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
Finally, I shudder to think of the legal morass we will create trying to implement the body of law that will emerge from such an amendment.

Colin Powell
There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy.

Colin Powell
We want to see both sides not take unilateral action that would prejudice an eventual outcome, a reunification that all parties are seeking.

Colin Powell
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.

Colin Powell
There's also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities.

Colin Powell
It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now.

Colin Powell
For all the hardship, I was still excited to be on the trail, testing my endurance, feeling especially alive as strength and fatigue flowed alternately through my limbs.

Colin Powell
My responsibility, our responsibility as lucky Americans, is to try to give back to this country as much as it has given us, as we continue our American journey together.

Colin Powell
I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world — onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

Colin Powell