Colin Powell quotes - page 3

I was born in Harlem, raised in the South Bronx, went to public school, got out of public college, went into the Army, and then I just stuck with it. (Colin Powell)
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. View quote
Colin Powell
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. View quote
Colin Powell
I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world. View quote
Colin Powell
If they are destroying a flag that belongs to someone else, that's a prosecutable crime. If it is a flag they own, I really don't want to amend the Constitution to prosecute someone for foolishly desecrating their own property. We should condemn them and pity them instead. View quote
Colin Powell
The sanctions exist - not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction ... And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq. View quote
Colin Powell
As successes come your way, remember that you didn't do it alone. It is always we. View quote
Colin Powell
If a leader doesn't convey passion and intensity then there will be no passion and intensity within the organization and they'll start to fall down and get depressed. View quote
Colin Powell
Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror. View quote
Colin Powell
Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude. View quote
Colin Powell
In other words, don't expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say 'we have a problem, let's go and get it'. (Colin Powell)
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? View quote
Colin Powell
Some of the generals are saying, 'We're making progress. We are clearing an area.' But you really don't defeat the Taliban by clearing an area. They move. View quote
Colin Powell
I think the Iranians are clearly determined to have a nuclear program. And we have to assume that with a nuclear program they have the capability and the will to create a nuclear weapon. View quote
Colin Powell
I don't think we handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad as well as we might have. But that's now history. View quote
Colin Powell
It's nice to say let's be bipartisan. But we're a partisan nation. We were raised as a partisan nation. View quote
Colin Powell
The only bipartisanship you ever see is when they finally sign a bill and everybody says, 'Gee, isn't that wonderful?' View quote
Colin Powell
Many interviewers when they come to talk to me, think they're being progressive by not mentioning in their stories any longer that I'm black. I tell them, 'Don't stop now. If I shot somebody you'd mention it.' View quote
Colin Powell
The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world. View quote
Colin Powell
Too often we act - ask our schools to be truant officers, our teachers to be truant officers, because we're giving them children who have, you know, they're not ready to learn. And if they're not ready to learn by the third grade, they know they're behind. View quote
Colin Powell
Many of my generation, the career captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels seasoned in that war [Vietnam], vowed that when our turn came to call the shots, we would not quietly acquiesce in halfhearted warfare for half-baked reasons that the American people could not understand. (Colin Powell)
I understand how strongly so many of my fellow veterans and citizens feel about the flag and I understand the powerful sentiment in state legislatures for such an amendment. I feel the same sense of outrage. But I step back from amending the Constitution to relieve that outrage. The First Amendment exists to insure that freedom of speech and expression applies not just to that with which we agree or disagree, but also that which we find outrageous. I would not amend that great shield of democracy to hammer a few miscreants. The flag will be flying proudly long after they have slunk away. View quote
Colin Powell
The policies - determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live - were an antidemocratic disgrace ... I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well placed ... managed to wangle slots in reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country. View quote
Colin Powell
There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy. View quote
Colin Powell
Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most. View quote
Colin Powell