With vision only, you get no follow-through. With enforcers only, the vision is realized but leaves a lot of wreckage. Colin Powell More Quotes by Colin Powell More Quotes From Colin Powell There is no question about the fact that we had very serious disagreements with my German, French, and Russian colleagues over the Iraq war. But I never stopped talking. Colin Powell iraq talking war How can we be enemies when there is so much that pulls us together? But in general I found that I had to work with each one of my foreign colleagues in a way that was consistent with their system. Some are democracies, some are not. Colin Powell democracy together enemy It is not possible to rule out anything because we don't know what will happen. Colin Powell knows happens Nobody wants to be in a mediocre organization. You don't have the same energy flowing through. Colin Powell organization energy want Let's not forget that Congress bears a lot of responsibility for many of the problems we have now Colin Powell problem responsibility bears 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. Colin Powell challenges order thinking I served 40 years in government, and I'm not looking forward to a position or an assignment. Of course, I have always said if a president asks you to do something, you have to consider it. But I am in no way interested in returning to government. But I, of course, would sit and talk to any president who wishes to talk to me. Colin Powell government president years You can't get it all done yourself. The best leaders are not afraid of picking people who are better than they are and who may one day replace them. Colin Powell one-day leader people Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle and it's from failure that you gain life experience. Colin Powell parts-of-life life-experience gains Time is passing, ... We have to look at the reality of the situation and ... redouble our efforts and get on with it. Colin Powell effort reality looks Just hit my 75th birthday, I'm feeling great! Colin Powell feeling-great feelings birthday No one has done more to prevent conflict - no one has made a greater sacrifice for the cause for Peace - than you, America's proud missile submarine family. You stand tall among our heroes of the Cold War. Colin Powell sacrifice hero war The ties that bind us are stronger than the occasional stresses that separate us. Colin Powell stronger stress ties The root cause of poverty is social injustice and the bad government that abets it Colin Powell abet government roots I will look for a candidate, Republican or Democrat, who seems to be on the way or understands how to resolve the economic difficulties we're having, how to do something about unemployment, how to make sure that we free up our businesses and we don't over-regulate ourselves. Colin Powell unemployment looks way Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says 'we can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best. 'Spare me the grim litany of the 'realist;' give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day. Colin Powell change attitude talking Our senior officers knew the war was going badly. Yet they bowed to groupthink pressure and kept up pretenses. ...Many of my generation, the career captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels seasoned in that war, vowed that when our turn came to call the shots, we would not quietly acquiesce in halfhearted warfare for half-baked reasons that the American people could not understand. Colin Powell senior government war Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003, Hussein and his regime were brought down, we declared "Mission Accomplished" and celebrated victory . . . and chaos erupted. We did not assert control and authority over the country, especially Baghdad. We did not bring with us the capacity to impose our will. We did not take charge. And Iraq did not in a few weeks magically transform itself into a stable nation with democratic leaders. Instead a raging insurgency engulfed the country. Colin Powell iraq leader country It was the Congress that imposed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' it was certainly my position, my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred. Colin Powell recommendations congress outcomes For all the hardship, I was still excited to be on the trail, testing my endurance, feeling especially alive as strength and fatigue flowed alternately through my limbs. Colin Powell endurance hardship feelings
