Colin Powell: Trending quotes

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Colin Powell: 126 quotes6 likes

“Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes.”

2000s, The Powell Principles (2003)

“We are rightfully outraged when anyone attacks or desecrates our flag. Few Americans do such things and when they do they are subject to the rightful condemnation of their fellow citizens. They may be destroying a piece of cloth, but they do no damage to our system of freedom which tolerates such desecration.”

Colin Powell

1990s, Letter to Patrick Leahy (1999)

“What the hell, what are these guys thinking about? Can’t you get these guys back in the box?”

Colin Powell

Remark made to Joint Chiefs of Staff General Shelton regarding comments by Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld, advocating an attack on Iraq, even before the battle plan for attacking the Taliban was formulated, shortly after the “the crucial meeting took place on September 15 in the Laurel Lodge at Camp David, at which Wolfowitz made the case for action against Iraq.” [Halper, Stefan, Clarke, Johnathan, America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order, 2004, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 0-521-83834-7 hardback, 149-150]. Also see [Woodware, Bob, Bush at War, 2002, Simon and Schuster, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 0743215389, 61]. (Remark from 9/2001 shortly after 9/11).
2000s

“We want to see both sides not take unilateral action that would prejudice an eventual outcome, a reunification that all parties are seeking.”

Colin Powell

On Chinese and Taiwanese relations, in interview with Phoenix Television of Hong Kong (27 October 2004), as quoted in "Warnings by Powell to Taiwan Provoke a Diplomatic Dispute" in The New York Times (28 October 2004) http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07EFDB123DF93BA15753C1A9629C8B63. 2000s

“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.”

Colin Powell

1990s, Letter to Patrick Leahy (1999)

“Our strategy in going after this army is very simple. First we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it.”

Colin Powell

Remark made as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announcing the U.S. gulf war plan against Saddam Hussein's army. Pentagon press briefing (23 January 1991).
1990s

“The United Nations will spearhead our efforts to manage the new conflicts (that afflict our world)…. Yes the principles of the United Nations Charter are worth our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

Colin Powell

General Colin Powell, 21 April 1993, receiving the UN-USA Global Leadership Award.
1990s

“There's also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities.”

Colin Powell

As quoted in NBC's Meet the Press http://www.thenation.com/article/when-republicans-really-were-party-lincoln/ (2013). 2010s

“Finally, I shudder to think of the legal morass we will create trying to implement the body of law that will emerge from such an amendment.”

Colin Powell

1990s, Letter to Patrick Leahy (1999)

“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.”

Colin Powell

Press remarks http://web.archive.org/web/20020217230935/http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2001/933.htm with Foreign Minister of Egypt Amre Moussa, in Ittihadiya Palace, Cairo (24 February 2001). 2000s

“Americans revere their flag as a symbol of the Nation. Indeed, it is because of that reverence that the amendment is under consideration. Few countries in the world would think of amending their Constitution for the purpose of protecting such a symbol.”

Colin Powell

1990s, Letter to Patrick Leahy (1999)

“Dear Senator Leahy, thank you for your recent letter asking my views on the proposed flag protection amendment. I love our flag, our Constitution and our country with a love that has no bounds. I defended all three for 35 years as a soldier and was willing to give my life in their defense.”

Colin Powell

1990s, Letter to Patrick Leahy (1999)

“You break it, you own it.”

Colin Powell

As quoted in Plan of Attack (2004) by Bob Woodward, a book in which he was a key source, cautioning President Bush before the Iraqi war that he would be responsible for the fate of the Iraqi's after the fall of the Hussein regime.
2000s

“I wonder what will happen if we put half a million troops on the ground, and scour Iraq from one corner to the other, and find no weapons of mass destruction?”

Colin Powell

Quoted by Lawrence Wilkerson in Breaking Ranks Larry Wilkerson Attacked the Iraq War. In the Process, He Lost the Friendship of Colin Powell. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/01/19/breaking-ranks-span-classbankheadlarry-wilkerson-attacked-the-iraq-war-in-the-process-he-lost-the-friendship-of-colin-powellspan/d1f359c6-93a0-41c1-beee-2284d6284d47/ Washington Post, by Richard Lei (19 January 2006) 2000s

“Nothing was spun to me... What really upset me more than anything else was that there were people in the intelligence community that had doubts about some of this sourcing, but those doubts never surfaced up to us.”

Colin Powell

Powell told David Frost in a BBC television interview Quoted in Breaking Ranks Larry Wilkerson Attacked the Iraq War. In the Process, He Lost the Friendship of Colin Powell. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/01/19/breaking-ranks-span-classbankheadlarry-wilkerson-attacked-the-iraq-war-in-the-process-he-lost-the-friendship-of-colin-powellspan/d1f359c6-93a0-41c1-beee-2284d6284d47/ Washington Post, by Richard Lei (19 January 2006) 2000s

“The people in my life made me what I am.”

Colin Powell

Source: It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership (2012), p. 279

“As successes come your way, remember that you didn't do it alone. It is always we.”

Colin Powell

Source: It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership (2012), p. 266

“Always do your very best. Even when no one else is looking, you always are. Don't disappoint yourself.”

Colin Powell

Source: It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership (2012), p. 36

“In the "heat of battle" whether military or corporate- kindness, like calmness, reassures followers and holds their confidence. Kindness connects you with other human beings in a bond of mutual respect. If you care for your followers and show them kindness, they will reciprocate and care for you. They will not let you down or let you fail. They will accomplish whatever you have put in front of them.”

Colin Powell

Source: It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership (2012), p. 23