Quotes from Colin Powell

In the last several years, I have been troubled by the right shift of the Republican party too far to the right.

Trump is a national disgrace and an international pariah.

Trump just looks stupid trying to appeal to blacks and Latinos.

Trump has no sense of shame.

Nobody wants to be in a mediocre organization. You don't have the same energy flowing through.

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

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

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.

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.

You have to make sure you know why you are going to war and then use decisive force to end it as soon as possible.

Luck tends to come to people who are prepared.

The country would be a lot better off if we stopped having comment sections. And if we got rid of Twitter.

In terms of the legal matter of creating a contract between two people that's called marriage, and allowing them to live together with the protection of law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country.

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.

Pissing people off doesn't mean you're doing the right things, but doing the right things will almost inevitably piss people off.

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.

Our diplomacy and development budget is not just about reducing spending and finding efficiencies. We need a frank conversation about what we stand for as that 'shining city on a hill.' And that conversation begins by acknowledging that we can't do it on the cheap.

Yup, the whole birther movement was racist.

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.

We need to understand that we as citizens and as a government in any community throughout this country have no more important obligation than to educate those who are going to replace us.

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

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

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

In 2008, I spoke out against calling the president a Muslim as if that was a curse. And then in 2012, once again, I was very disturbed about some of the intolerance I was seeing in the party, so I made a statement saying there's a level of intolerance in some parts of the Republican Party. And there was, and I think there still is.