Quotes from Colin Powell

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

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

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.

When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you've got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I'm not sure any country, either the United States or I don't hear of anyone else, who's willing to take on that responsibility.

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.

No such thing as a stupid question

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.

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

Get mad, then get over it.

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.

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

Perpetual Optimism is a Force Multiplier.

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?

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

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

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

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

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

Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves.

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

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

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