General Colin Powell

"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."

- General Colin Powell

"There is no secret to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

- General Colin Powell

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

- General Colin Powell

"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."

- General Colin Powell

"We never lost sight of the reality that people, particularly gifted commanders, are what make units succeed. The way I like to put it, leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible."

- General Colin Powell

"It can be done!"

- General Colin Powell

"The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."

- General Colin Powell

"Get mad, then get over it."

- General Colin Powell

"Be careful what you choose. You may get it."

- General Colin Powell

"You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours."

- General Colin Powell

"Check small things."

- General Colin Powell

"Share credit."

- General Colin Powell

"Remain calm. Be kind."

- General Colin Powell

"Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers."

- General Colin Powell

"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…. 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."

- General Colin Powell