Colin Powell

Colin Powell

35 quotes

As an American general, diplomat and statesman, Colin Powell earned a lasting place in the canon of memorable quotations. Their thinking spans from Work to Great, revealing a mind that refused to stay in one lane. Explore 53 quotes by Colin Powell on subjects including Work, Great, Government, History, and Failure — each one a window into a distinctive way of seeing the world. A line that stays with you: "Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age."

“I don't know that there is much the United States can do except work with the international community.”

— Colin Powell

Work

All Quotes by Colin Powell

“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.”

— Colin Powell

Legal

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

— Colin Powell

History

“Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.”

— Colin Powell

Best

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

— Colin Powell

Attitude

“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.”

— Colin Powell

Failure

“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

Politics

“It isn't enough just to scream at the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. We need our political system to start reflect this anger back into, 'How do we fix it? How do we get the economy going again?'”

— Colin Powell

Anger

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

— Colin Powell

Dreams

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

— Colin Powell

Age

“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

Health

“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

Business

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

— Colin Powell

History

“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.”

— Colin Powell

Government

“Get mad, then get over it.”

— Colin Powell

Anger

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

— Colin Powell

Failure

“Politics is not bean bags. It's serious, tough stuff.”

— Colin Powell

Politics

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

— Colin Powell

Morning

“We got rid of a terrible dictator. We gave the Iraqi people an opportunity for a new life under a representative form of government.”

— Colin Powell

Government

“We all hoped in 2001 that we could put in place an Afghan government under President Karzai that would be able to control the country, make sure al-Qaeda didn't come back, and make sure the Taliban wasn't resurging. It didn't work out.”

— Colin Powell

Government

“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

Attitude