Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under U.S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, the first African American to serve in that position. During his military career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor, as Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Commandand as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, holding the latter position during the Persian...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth5 April 1937
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
The only bipartisanship you ever see is when they finally sign a bill and everybody says, 'Gee, isn't that wonderful?'
My two Jamaican cousins ... were studying engineering. 'That's where the money is,' Mom advised. ... I was to be an engineering major, despite my allergy to science and math. ... Those who preceded me at CCNY include the polio vaccine discoverer, Dr. Jonas Salk ... and eight Nobel Prize winners. ... In class, I stumbled through math, fumbled through physics, and did reasonably well in, and even enjoyed, geology. All I ever looked forward to was ROTC. Autobiographical comments on his original reason for going to the City College of New York, where he shortly turned to his military career.
War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.
Each of us must work to become a hardheaded realist, or else we risk wasting our time and energy on pursuing impossible dreams. Yet constant naysayers pursue no less impossible dreams. Their fear and cynicism move nothing forward. They kill progress. How many cynics built empires, great cities, or powerful corporations?
Trust is the glue that holds an org together & the lubricant that moves it forward.
The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.
I think our initiative with respect to education and economic development can work in Saudi Arabia and it is up to the Saudis to decide how they wish to transform their society in order to make it prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.
With vision only, you get no follow-through. With enforcers only, the vision is realized but leaves a lot of wreckage.
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.
If you are black, if you are Puerto Rican or Hispanic, be proud of that. But don't let it become a problem. Let it become somebody else's problem.
Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it, spend time with your families.
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.
90 percent of my time is spent on 10 percent of the world.
Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers.