Colin Powell: Trending quotes (page 2)

“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?”

“Perpetual Optimism is a Force Multiplier.”

“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.”

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

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

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

“The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting in above-average effort.”

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

“There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.”

“That's not really a number I'm terribly interested in.”

“If I were a member of Congress, I would not vote for the proposed amendment and would fully understand and respect the views of those who would. For or against, we all love our flag with equal devotion.”

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”