Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell (/ˈkoʊlᵻn/; born April 5, 1937) is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under U.S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, the first African American to serve in that position. During his military career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989), as Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command (1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), holding the latter position during the Persian Gulf War. Born in Harlem as the son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was the first, and so far the only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the first of two consecutive black office-holders to serve as U.S. Secretary of State.
Colin Powell Quotes
Colin Powell #Age
Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age.
Colin Powell #Anger
Get mad, then get over it.
Colin Powell #Attitude
I think whether you're having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.
Colin Powell #Best
Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.
Colin Powell #Business #Failure #Learning #Success #Work
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
Colin Powell #Business
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
Colin Powell #Dreams #Work
A dream doesn't become reality through magic it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
Colin Powell #Failure #Learning #Success #Work
Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.
Colin Powell #Society
What you're seeing with Occupy Wall Street and the others are people who are unhappy and they're directing their unhappiness now toward Wall Street and toward those they think are doing too well in our society.
Colin Powell #Birthday #Great
Just hit my 75th birthday, I'm feeling great!
Colin Powell #Great
Wouldn't it be great if we could look forward to a whole world in which no child will be left behind?
Colin Powell #History #Time
90 percent of my time is spent on 10 percent of the world.
Colin Powell #History
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 #Morning
It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.
Colin Powell #Anger
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 #Politics #War
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
Politics is not bean bags. It's serious, tough stuff.
Colin Powell #Work
Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.
Colin Powell #Work
I don't know that there is much the United States can do except work with the international community.
Colin Powell #Government
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 #Attitude
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 #Experience
My own experience is use the tools that are out there. Use the digital world. But never lose sight of the need to reach out and talk to other people who don't share your view. Listen to them and see if you can find a way to compromise.
Colin Powell #Failure #Leadership
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 #Government
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 #Work
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.