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I regret that the presentation I made at the UN turned out to be wrong. It was wrong on the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but pretty much right on intentions and capabilities.

Colin Powell

A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
COLIN POWELL

Choice Friendship Himself Mirror Reflection
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

Achievement Attitude Development Excellence Yourself
Don’t bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.
COLIN POWELL

Help Myself People Problem Solve
My own experience is that you get as much information as you can and then you pay attention to your intuition, to your informed instinct.
COLIN POWELL

Attention Experience Information Intuition Pay Yourself
All values are important, everyone who has ever touched my life in some way was a mentor for good or bad. Life is a blend, and a person is a blend of all the influences that have touched their lives.
COLIN POWELL

Important Influence Life Live Touch Value
I want to see policies that encourage every American to vote, not make it more difficult to vote.
COLIN POWELL

Difficult Encouragement Myself Policy
Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.
COLIN POWELL

Blood Death Expert Judgement Reality World
But just as they did in Philadelphia when they were writing the constitution, sooner or later, you’ve got to compromise. You’ve got to start making the compromises that arrive at a consensus and move the country forward.
COLIN POWELL

Arrival Compromise Constitution Country Start Writing Yourself
The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will follow.
COLIN POWELL

Follow Forever Important Learning Personal Soldier
First you train the followers to accomplish the mission. Second, you resource them: Make sure that they have the tools to do the job. Third, you reward them: You give them medals or bonuses.
COLIN POWELL

Accomplishment Follow Job Medal Reward Tools Training Yourself
Always be looking for the opportunities, and always be optimistic about what you can do with that opportunity.
COLIN POWELL

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

Failure Hard Work Inspirational Learning Preparation Result Secret Success
Get mad, then get over it.
COLIN POWELL

Let Go Mad One Liner
Leaders honor their core values, but they are flexible in how they execute them.
COLIN POWELL

Core Execution Leadership Value Yourself
We are not going to dwell on those things that divide us. We are going to rejoice in those things that keep us together to make this a better country – to reach down and back to touch every young person in need!
COLIN POWELL

Country Division Ourselves Person Rejoice Togetherness
Respect for leaders by followers can’t be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.
COLIN POWELL

Earn Follow Leadership Mandatory Respect

I regret that the presentation I made at the UN turned out to be wrong. It was wrong on the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but pretty much right on intentions and capabilities.

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I regret that the presentation I made at the UN turned out to be wrong. It was wrong on the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but pretty much right on intentions and capabilities.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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