Colin Powell Quotes

I think we can make a contribution to their [Saudi Arabia] thinking as they decide how they should deal with the economic and social challenges that they are facing.

I happen to hold a bachelor of science degree in geology... And my greatest contribution to the field of science is that I never entered it.

Nobody is ready to leave Iraq to be interviewed.

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

He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours.

The United States is not looking for a way to launch war.

I am confident that we will find evidence that makes it clear he had weapons of mass destruction.

I want to scare the hell out of the rest of the world.

There are lots of countries that are having these kinds of internal civil wars in other parts of the world and nobody is talking about intervening.

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.

Ambition and hatred are enough to bring Iraq and al Qaeda together.

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

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

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

I'm not perfect but I'll be the creator of perfection.

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.

Hope is not a strategy

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

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

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?'