Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.
Colin Powell

Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.
Colin Powell

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
Colin Powell

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.
Colin Powell

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
Colin Powell

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.
Colin Powell

Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.
Colin Powell

The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny.
Colin Powell

The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.
Colin Powell

The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.
Colin Powell

The purposes of the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced - the just demands of peace and security will be met - or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power.
Colin Powell

The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.
Colin Powell

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

Today I can declare my hope and declare it from the bottom of my heart that we will eventually see the time when that number of nuclear weapons is down to zero and the world is a much better place.
Colin Powell

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.
Colin Powell

Wouldn't it be great if we could look forward to a whole world in which no child will be left behind?
Colin Powell

You don't know what you can get away with until you try.
Colin Powell