Colin Powell

90 percent of my time is spent on 10 percent of the world.

I don't think we handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad as well as we might have. But that's now history.

Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.

It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.

Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age.

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

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

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

I respect the fact that many denominations have different points of view with respect to gay marriage and they can hold that in the sanctity in the place of their religion and not bless them or solemnize them.

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.

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.

I think whether you're having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn't go with it.

Hope is not a strategy

I was taught to think about mission and people. Mission. What are you trying to accomplish? Don't do anything until you know what the mission is. Drilled into our hearts and into our heads.

I'm not perfect but I'll be the creator of perfection.

The freedom to do your best means nothing unless you are willing to do your best.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.