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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.

-Colin Powell

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My Two Jamaican Cousins

Colin Powell

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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.

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When I Was Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff, I Would Still Have Junior Officers Brief Me. Usually These People Knew More About The Subject We Were Discussing Than I Did. I Had To Make Sure That They Felt Confident Enough To Tell Me Everything They Believed.

The Essence Of Leadership Is Building Bonds Of Trust In Your Organization.

We Would Like To See New Leaders Come Forward Who Would Be Accountable And Responsible, Who Would Succeed In Ending The Terror And The Violence. And It Is Up To The Palestinian People To Judge Who Those New Leaders Should Be.

The Ties That Bind Us Are Stronger Than The Occasional Stresses That Separate Us.

The Best Way To Create A Winning Team Is To Train Them, Give Them Everything They Need To Get The Job Done And Second, Make Sure They Know What The Job Is And What The Job Will Be. So You Connect Strategy To Resources.

It's A Disgrace That We Have Millions Of People Who Are Uninsured.

In The Military We Are Always Looking For Ways To Leverage Up Our Forces. Having Greater Communications And Command And Control Over Your Forces Than Your Enemy Has Over His Is A Force Multiplier. Having Greater Logistics Capability Than The Enemy Is A Force Multiplier. Having Better-trained Commanders Is A Force Multiplier. Perpetual Optimism, Believing In Yourself, Believing In Your Purpose, Believing You Will Prevail, And Demonstrating Passion And Confidence Is A Force Multiplier. If You Believe And Have Prepared Your Followers, The Followers Will Believe.

I Have Never Seen A Good Organization Where The Standards Weren't High.

Good Organization

In The Military We Also Learn Principles Of War Which Also Work In A Corporate Setting: How Do You Concentrate As Much Of Your Force As Possible On A Critical Point And Take A Risk Elsewhere? In Business That Translates Into Focusing Your Investment On Marketing, Sales, Or R&d, Whichever Will Give You The Greatest Return.

I Want To See Policies That Encourage Every American To Vote, Not Make It More Difficult To Vote.

The Great Leaders That I Have Worked With Are People Who Have A Good Sense Of Empathy With Other People. They Can Walk A Factory Floor, Or Walk Through A Battalion And Smell If There's Something Wrong.

Organization Doesn't Really Accomplish Anything. Plans Don't Accomplish Anything, Either. Theories Of Management Don't Much Matter. Endeavors Succeed Or Fail Because Of The People Involved. Only By Attracting The Best People Will You Accomplish Great Deeds.

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.

Remain Calm, Be Kind.

The Day Soldiers Stop Bringing You Their Problems Is The Day You Have Stopped Leading Them.

I Consider Myself A Moderate Republican. I Have Very, Very Moderate Social Views, And I'm Pretty Strong On, On Defense Matters.

You Should Never Be So Involved With Your Position/job That When The Position Is Gone Your Entire Self Image Is Gone With It.

It's Really Not A Number I'm Terribly Interested In.

I Try To Be The Same Person I Was Yesterday.

I'll Tell You What They're All Going To Face, Whichever One Of Them Becomes President On January 21st Of 2009. They Will Face A Military Force - A United States Military Force That Cannot Sustain - Continually Sustain 140,000 People Deployed In Iraq And The 20-odd Or 25,000 People We Have Deployed In Afghanistan And Our Other Deployments.

Service-learning Is A Particularly Fertile Way Of Involving Young People In Community Service, Because It Ties Helping Others To What They Are Learning In The Classroom. It Enables Them To Apply Academic Disciplines To Practical, Everyday Problems. In The Process, It Provides A Compelling Answer To The Adolescent's Perennial Question, 'why Do I Need To Learn This Stuff?

Everyday Problems

The United States Has Every Intention Of Continuing To Do The Kind Of Reconnaissance And Surveillance Work We Have Done For Decades, Well Known To Everyone, That Is Essential To Protect Our National Security, And Frankly, The Security Of Our Friends In Various Regions Of The World. It Is Part Of Our Collection System.

We Need Stable Regimes In This Part Of The World [the Mideast] Who Will Be Partners And Friends Of Ours, Because The Fact Of The Matter Is We Do Rely On Imported Oil To Fuel Our Economy And To Fuel Our Nation.

As I've Thought About Gay Marriage, I Don't See Any Reason Not To Say That [couples] Should Be Able To Get Married.

Marriage Equality

One Important Element Of Leadership Is Taking Care Of The Troops.

The Commander In The Field Is Always Right And The Rear Echelon Is Wrong, Unless Proved Otherwise. In My Experience, The People Closest To The Problems Are Often In The Best Position To See The Solutions. The Key Here Is To Empower And Not Be The Bottleneck.

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.

President Reagan Fueled The Spirit Of America. His Smile, His Optimism, His Total Belief In The Ultimate Triumph Of Democracy And Freedom, And His Willingness To Act On That Belief, Helped End The Cold War And Usher In A New And Brighter Phase Of History.

With Respect To Where We Are Now, We Have A Voluntary Army. And If We Ever Go Back To Conscription I Hope That At Time It Will Be The Kind Of Conscription That Was Put In At The End Of The Vietnam War. And That Is, Everybody Is Equally Liable To Be Called To Serve The Nation In Time Of Conflict.

It Is Not The Role Of The United States To Dictate Change, But To Enter Into Discussions With Our Friends.

Look For Intelligence And Judgment And, Most Critically, A Capacity To Anticipate, To See Around Corners. Also Look For Loyalty, Integrity, A High Energy Drive, A Balanced Ego And The Drive To Get Things Done.

Preferring Members Of Any One Group For No Reason Other Than Race Or Ethnic Origin Is Discrimination For Its Own Sake. This The Constitution Forbids.

I've Voted For Republicans Who Were Strong On Defense, Who Believed In A Free And Open Economy But Who Also Understood That There's A Place For Government In Our Lives, That Government Has A Responsibility To Those Of Our Citizens Who Are In Need And Those Of Our Citizens Who Are Needy Of Health Care.

Treat People Kindly. When You Are Kind To Somebody And I Don't Mean Necessarily "buddy-buddy", Just Show Kindness And Consideration. Show That People Are Worthy And You Respect Them And You Are Glad They're With You.

Look At The World. There Is No Pure Competitor To The United States Of America.

All Nations That Are Civilized And Do Not Accept This Kind Of Action As Representing Any Sort Of Legitimate Political Cause Are Coming Together To Fight These Terrorists.

I'm Absolutely Sure That There Are Weapons Of Mass Destruction There And The Evidence Will Be Forthcoming. We're Just Getting It Just Now.

Mass Destruction

There Is No Such Thing As An Unimportant Person In An Organization.

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.

The United States-israeli Relationship Is Based On The Broadest Conception Of American National Interest In Which Our Two Nations Are Bound Forever Together By Common Democratic Values And Traditions. This Will Never Change.

Always Be Looking For The Opportunities, And Always Be Optimistic About What You Can Do With That Opportunity.

Being Optimistic

The Less You Associate With Some People, The More Your Life Will Improve. Any Time You Tolerate Mediocrity In Others, It Increases Your Mediocrity. An Important Attribute In Successful People Is Their Impatience With Negative Thinking And Negative Acting People.

I'm Not Active In Politics. I Vote As A Citizen. And If Somebody Cares To Know What My Opinion Is At The Time Of The Election, I Might Or Might Not Share It Publicly.

All Values Are Important, Everyone Who Has Ever Touched My Life In Some Way Was A Mentor For Good Or Bad. Life Is A Blend, And A Person Is A Blend Of All The Influences That Have Touched Their Lives.

Don't Let Adverse Facts Stand In The Way Of A Good Decision.

We Are Rather Candid With Them About The Nature Of Their Political Processes And The State Of Development Of Their Institutions, But They Are Looking To The West Because They Know That's Where Success Lies.

I'm An American, First And Foremost, And I'm Very Proud - I Said, I've Said To My Beloved Friend And Colleague John Mccain, A Friend Of 25 Years, "john, I Love You, But I'm Not Just Going To Vote For You On The Basis Of Our Affection Or Friendship." And I've Said To Barack Obama, "i Admire You. I'll Give You All The Advice I Can. But I'm Not Going To Vote For You Just Because You're Black." We Have To Move Beyond This.

The Root Cause Of Poverty Is Social Injustice And The Bad Government That Abets It

I Have Always Held The View That Decisive Force Should Be Used In Addressing A Military Conflict. The Reason Is Simple: Why Wouldn't You, If You Could?

We All Hoped In 2001 That We Could Put In Place An Afghan Government Under President Karzai That Would Be Able To Control The Country, Make Sure Al-qaeda Didn't Come Back, And Make Sure The Taliban Wasn't Resurging. It Didn't Work Out.

1. It Ain't As Bad As You Think. It Will Look Better In The Morning. 2. Get Mad, Then Get Over It. 3. Avoid Having Your Ego So Close To Your Position That When Your Position Falls, Your Ego Goes With It. 4. It Can Be Done! 5. Be Careful What You Choose. You May Get It. 6. Don't Let Adverse Facts Stand In The Way Of A Good Decision. 7. You Can't Make Someone Else's Choices. You Shouldn't Let Someone Else Make Yours. 8. Check Small Things. 9. Share Credit. 10. Remain Calm. Be Kind.

The One Thing The Terrorists Cannot Do -- Not One Of Them, Not 10 Of Them, Not 10,000 Of Them -- They Cannot Change Who We Are.

The United States Stands Willing To Work With A Transformed Palestinian Authority With New Leaders Coming To The Front.

Have A Vision; But It's Not Enough To Have A Vision, You Have To Communicate That Vision To Others. You Have To Communicate It To People Who Work With You And For You. You Have To Communicate It To The World Leaders With Whom You Come In Touch.

Every Human Endeavor Has Leaders And Followers, And Your Job As A Leader Is To Inspire.

You Need To Learn What People Have Done, But You Need To Learn Where They Have Failed... Usually When They Fail It Is In The Execution.

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?

Time Is Passing, ... We Have To Look At The Reality Of The Situation And ... Redouble Our Efforts And Get On With It.

Lying Offshore, Ready To Act, The Presence Of Ships And Marines Sometimes Means Much More Than Just Having Air Power Or Ship's Fire, When It Comes To Deterring A Crisis. And The Ships And Marines May Not Have To Do Anything But Lie Offshore. It Is Hard To Lie Offshore With A C-141 Or C-130 Full Of Airborne Troops.

Being Responsible Sometimes Means Pissing People Off.

Always Be Looking For That Which You Do Well And That Which You Love Doing, And When You Find Those Two Things Together — Man, You Got It.

I Have Seen Many Organizations Where There Is This Sense Of Purpose In The Headquarters But It Never Gets Cascaded Down To Everybody Within The Organization.

If You Get The Dirty End Of The Stick, Sharpen It And Turn It Into A Useful Tool.

America Has A Terrible Educational Problem In The Sense That We Have Too Many Youngsters Not Finishing School. A Third Of Our Kids Don't Finish High School, 50 Percent Of Minorities Don't Finish High School.

Be Careful What You Choose: You May Get It.

Don't Be Afraid To Challenge The Pros, Even In Their Own Backyard. Learn From The Pros, Observe Them, Seek Them Out As Mentors And Partners. But Remember That Even The Pros May Have Leveled Out In Terms Of Their Learning And Skills. Sometimes Even The Pros Can Become Complacent And Lazy.

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.

Nobody Wants To Be In A Mediocre Organization. You Don't Have The Same Energy Flowing Through.

Bad News Isn't Wine. It Doesn't Improve With Age.

We Knew That Al-qaida Was A Threat To Our Country. We Knew That The Clinton Administration Understood This And Was Working Against Al-qaida We Did Not Ignore Al-qaida. We Spent A Lot Of Our Time Thinking About Terrorism, What Should We Do About It.

I Think We Can Make A Contribution To Their [saudi Arabia] Thinking As They Decide How They Should Deal With The Economic And Social Challenges That They Are Facing.

When We Have Dealt With Bin Laden And His Network We Will Then Broaden The Campaign To Go After Other Terrorists All Around The World.

Whenever You Start-give It Your Best. The Opportunities Are There To Be Anything You Want To Be. But Wanting To Be Someone Isn't Enough; Dreaming About It Isn't Enough; Thinking About It Isn't Enough. You've Got To Study For It, Work For It, Fight For It With All Your Heart And Soul, Because Nobody Is Going To Hand It To You.

I Don't Want To Spend The Rest Of My Life Giving Speeches.

Happy Valentines Day

Our Strategy In Going After This Army Is Very Simple. First We Are Going To Cut It Off, And Then We Are Going To Kill It.

We Are Not Sure To What Extent Saddam's [hussein ] Own People Were Conveying An Incorrect Picture To Him. But This Body Of Evidence Was Believed Not Only By President George W. Bush. President Bill Clinton Used That Same Body Of Intelligence Before Bombing Iraq In 1998.

Leadership Is All About People. It Is Not About Organizations. It Is Not About Plans. It Is Not About Strategies. It Is All About People-motivating People To Get The Job Done. You Have To Be People-centered.

Leadership Is Solving Problems.

Problem Solving

There Is A War On Terror That Must Be Fought. Nobody's Immune... And So Rather Than Finding Fault With What Spain Has Done By Being Aggressive In The War On Terror, This Should Redouble Everyone's Efforts To Go After Terrorist Organizations Of Any Kind... Terror Has To Be Brought To An End.

I Recommended To The President [george Bush] That Our Focus Had To Be On Al-qaida, The Taliban And Afghanistan. Those Were The Ones Who Attacked The United States Of America On 9/11.

I Have Always Gone Through Public Life And Saying That With Respect To Political Candidates, I Always Measure Each Candidate Against What I Think The Country Needs At That Time, And I Will Vote For The Person I Think Who Is Most Qualified To Serve The Nation At That Time.

We Are Not Trapped In What The Science Of Management Says We Can Do. We Are Capable Of Doing What The Art Of Leadership Says Is Possible.

We Are Not Dictating. We Are Not Telling Them [saudi Arabia] How They Should Do It Or Who They Should Look Like. We Are Their Friends. We Have Mutual Interests And We Will Help Them In Any Way That Is Possible.

Mutual Interest

There Is No Suggestion Of Regime Change; Quite The Contrary, This Is An Initiative To Help People And To Help Governments Who Are Inclined Toward Change.

Leadership Is The Art Of Accomplishing More Than The Science Of Management Says Is Possible.

Diplomacy Never Stops, And, With Or Without An Election, It Never Stops.

President's Personal Staff Has A Unique Role. They're His Intimate Personal Advisers, And The Tradition And The Precedent Has Been, Even When I Was National Security Adviser, That People In That Position Do Not Testify Before The Congress. They Talk To The Congress. They Have Meetings With The Congress.

Trust Is The Glue That Holds An Org Together & The Lubricant That Moves It Forward.

My Own Experience Is Use The Tools That Are Out There. Use The Digital World. But Never Lose Sight Of The Need To Reach Out And Talk To Other People Who Don't Share Your View. Listen To Them And See If You Can Find A Way To Compromise.

So Like Any Football Or Basketball Coach, You Always Always Believe You're Going To Win.

No Matter How Significant Or Life-changing Your Greatest Hit Or Miss Might Be, Neither Even Begins To Define Who You Are. Each Of Us Is A Product Of All Our Experiences And All Our Interactions With Other People. To Cite Calculus, We Are The Area Under The Curve.

Interaction With Others

Great Leaders Are Those Who Are Able To Look Reality In The Face, However Painful It May Be, And Deal With It.

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.

It Is Not Our Place To Decide Who Should Lead The Iraqi People. If Saddam [hussein] Leaves Or Has To Be Forced Out Of Power And A New Regime Brought In, A New Leadership Brought In, I Am Confident It Will Be Some Combination Of People Inside The Country And Outside The Country.

There Is Only One China. Taiwan Is Not Independent. It Does Not Enjoy Sovereignty As A Nation.

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.

Don't Just Show Kindness In Passing Or To Be Courteous. Show It In Depth, Show It With Passion, And Expect Nothing In Return. Kindness Is Not Just About Being Nice; It's About Recognizing Another Human Being Who Deserves Care And Respect.

We Believe, From Everything We Have Been Told By The Intelligence Community, By 12 Years Of History With Iraq, By The Experience Of The U.n. Inspectors And By Other Intelligence Agencies In Other Countries That Saddam Hussein Had The Intention To Develop Weapons Of Mass Destruction And To Have Such Weapons, And That Was A Sound Judgment Which I Still Believe To This Day Because He Had Had Them In The Past, He'd Used Them In The Past.

I Can Think Of Nothing That Saddam Hussein Can Do Diplomatically (to Avoid War). I Think That Time Is Now Over. He's Had His Chance, He Has Had Many Chances Over The Last 12 Years And He Has Blown Every One Of Those Chances.

I Went To Graduate School As A Lieutenant Colonel After I Had Been In The Army For 12 Or 13 Years. I Learned So Much From All The Great Management Theorists. It Gave Me A Greater Understanding Of My Army Experience And Showed Me The Gaps In My Knowledge.

Surround Yourself With People Who Take Their Work Seriously, But Not Themselves, Those Who Work Hard And Play Hard.

This Is Something Else That Is Drilled Into Us In The Military: Make Sure You Know Who Your Replacement Is, In Case You Become A Casualty. So You Have To Have Depth Within An Organization.

Being Kind Doesn't Mean Being Soft Or A Wuss. Kindness Is Not A Sign Of Weakness. It Is A Sign Of Confidence. If You Have Developed A Reputation For Kindness And Consideration, Then Even The Most Unpleasant Decisions Will Go Down Easier Because Everyone Will Understand Why You Are Doing What You Are Doing. They Will Realize That Your Decision Must Be Necessary, And Is Not Arbitrary Or Without Empathy. As The Old Saying Puts It, 'to The World, You May Be One Person, But To One Person You May Be The World.'

But You Have To Understand, American Democracy Is Not Like The System You Have. We're Not An Ocean Liner That Sails Across The Ocean From Point A To Point B At 30 Knots. That's Not American Democracy. American Democracy Is Kind Of Like A Life Raft That Bobs Around The Ocean All The Time. Your Feet Are Always Wet. Winds Are Always Blowing. You're Cold. You're Wet. You're Uncomfortable -- But You Never Sink.

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.

Economy's Got To Get Moving, We've Got To Get The Unemployment Rate Down. That May Be The Defining Issue Of The Campaign.

Never Receive Counsel From Unproductive People. Never Discuss Your Problems With Someone Incapable Of Contributing To The Solution, Because Those Who Never Succeed Themselves Are Always First To Tell You How. Not Everyone Has A Right To Speak Into Your Life. You Are Certain To Get The Worst Of The Bargain When You Exchange Ideas With The Wrong Person. Don't Follow Anyone Who's Not Going Anywhere.

We Hope That More Assistance Will Be Available To The Nations Of The Region, To Include Egypt, On The Three Pillars That I Discussed Today: Civic Society Development, Education And Economic Development.

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.

Change Of Regime With Respect To Iraq Had Nothing To Do With This; It Had Everything To Do With The Fact That Iraq Had Weapons Of Mass Destruction. And At The Time Change In Regime As A Policy Came Into Effect In 1998, It Was Seen As The Only Way To Compel Iraq To Get Rid Of Its Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

Mass Destruction

Just Hit My 75th Birthday, I'm Feeling Great!

Giving Back Involves A Certain Amount Of Giving Up.

An Organization That Is Not Facing Up To People Who Are Not Getting The Job Done, Is Going To Have Difficulties.

In The Army, All Combat Officers Are Taught The "estimate Of The Situation": When You Are Faced With A Problem - Take That Hill, Or In Business Maybe Grow Your Market Share - The First Thing You Do Is To Make An Analysis Of Your Environment.

I Happen To Hold A Bachelor Of Science Degree In Geology... And My Greatest Contribution To The Field Of Science Is That I Never Entered It.

You Can't Make Someone Else's Choices. You Shouldn't Let Someone Else Make Yours.

Being In Charge Sometimes Means Making People Mad. Some Days You Have To Overrule Even The Best Advice, Because You Think It Is Not Right.

It Was Not The United States Who Invaded Kuwait; It Was Iraq. It Was Not The United States That Went To War With Iran; It Was Iraq. It Was Not The United States That Fired Chemical Weapons At Iran; It Was Iraq. And It Was Not The United States That Murdered Innocent Iraqi Citizens With Chemical Weapons; It Was Iraq.

Never Neglect Details. When Everyone's Mind Is Dulled Or Distracted The Leader Must Be Doubly Vigilant.

Almost Invariably, Whoever Doesn't Win The Argument Is Going To Be Unhappy.

Policies That Emanate From Ivory Towers Often Have An Adverse Impact On The People Out In The Field Who Are Fighting The Wars Or Bringing In The Revenues.

In The Army We Are Drilled Into Execution And Then Supervision, To Make Sure Everything Goes The Way You Planned It. But There Is Another Thing That We Do In The Military, That I Think Perhaps Isn't Done Enough In Corporate Life: As Soon As You Have Made That Decision, You Start On The Contingency Planning. Because There Is, As We Like To Say, A Thinking, Breathing Enemy Out There, Who Is Not Going To Let You Do Just What You Want.

I Want To Scare The Hell Out Of The Rest Of The World.

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.

It Takes More Courage To Send Men Into Battle Than To Fight The Battle Yourself.

It Was President [bill] Clinton And The United States Congress In 1998 Which Said That The Regime Has To Be Changed Because The Regime Would Not Give Up Its Weapons Of Mass Destruction. We Came Into Office In 2001 And Kept That Policy Because Saddam Hussein Had Not Changed.

Mass Destruction

Every Organization Should Tolerate Rebels Who Tell The Emperor He Has No Clothes

Even Though The Numbers Are Down With Respect To Favorability Ratings, At Every Embassy And Consular Office Tomorrow Morning That We Have, People Will Be Lined Up, And They'll All Say The Same Thing, "we Want To Go To America." So We're Still The Leader Of The World That Wants To Be Free. We Are Still The Inspiration Of The Rest Of The World. And We Can Come Back.

I Have Always Admired The Linking Pin Theory Of Management Specialist Rensis Likert. It Says That In Every Organization There Are Leaders Who Link The Lower Level To The Upper Level. What Makes Somebody An Effective Link As A Leader Is That He Conveys Down Everything That Above Wants And He Conveys Up Everything That Below Needs.

I Think The American People Are Sophisticated Enough And Wise Enough To Make Judgments About The Candidates And Wade Through The Charges And Countercharges That Come With The [election 2004] Campaign.

I Think All Of The Attention Of The World, To Include The Attention Of The Arab World, Should Be On Saddam Hussein And Whether Or Not He Is Prepared To Give Up The Weapons Of Mass Destruction That He Has Used To Terrorise The Region.

Mass Destruction

There Are Lots Of Countries That Are Having These Kinds Of Internal Civil Wars In Other Parts Of The World And Nobody Is Talking About Intervening.

In Terms Of The Legal Matter Of Creating A Contract Between Two People That's Called Marriage, And Allowing Them To Live Together With The Protection Of Law, It Seems To Me Is The Way We Should Be Moving In This Country.

Politics Is Different, Because The Mission Is Always To Get The Necessary Votes. A Good Politician Goes Through Everything In Terms Of Mission And Vision, And Resourcing, But At The End Of The Day Politicians Have To Make Compromises In Order To Achieve Consensus.

The End Of The Day

When You Wrestle With A Pig, He Has Fun, And You Just End Up Dirty.

One Of The Fondest Expressions Around Is That We Can't Be The World's Policeman. But Guess Who Gets Called When Suddenly Someone Needs A Cop.

How Often Have We Seen Politicians Take A Principle Position Only To Give It Up Three Days Later? That Is What Makes Democracy So Fascinating.

Pissing People Off Doesn't Mean You're Doing The Right Things, But Doing The Right Things Will Almost Inevitably Piss People Off.

When You Decide To Get Involved In A Military Operation In A Place Like Syria, You've Got To Be Prepared, As We Learned From Iraq And Afghanistan, To Become The Government, And I'm Not Sure Any Country, Either The United States Or I Don't Hear Of Anyone Else, Who's Willing To Take On That Responsibility.

I Don't Know Who All Of His Advisers Are, But I've Seen Some Of The Names And Some Of Them Are Quite Far To The Right. And Sometimes They Might Be In A Position To Make Judgments Or Recommendations To The Candidate That Should Get A Second Thought.

Good And Solid Analysis And A Formal Way Of Looking At A Problem [are The Core Ingredients Of Good Decisions].

I Have Found That Leadership Is Leadership Is Leadership. It Applies Whether You Are In Government Or In Corporate Life Or In Non-profit Life.

I Always Like To Take My Time And Examine The Two Candidates, See Not Only The Two Candidates But The Policies They Will Bring In, The People They Will Bring In, Who They Might Appoint To The Supreme Court, And Look At The Whole Range Of Issues Before Making A Decision.

It Is The Job Of Leaders To Eliminate Uncertainty.

The United States Presents A Value System To The World That Is Based On Democracy, Based On Economic Freedom, Based On Individual Rights For Men And Women, .. I Think That Is What Makes Us Such A Draw For Nations Around The World. People Come To The United States To Be Educated, To Become Americans. We Are A Country Of Countries And We Touch Every Country, And Every Country In World Touches Us.

The Freedom To Do Your Best Means Nothing Unless You Are Willing To Do Your Best.

Good Leaders Set Vision, Missions, And Goals. Great Leaders Inspire Every Follower At Every Level To Internalize Their Purpose, And To Understand That Their Purpose Goes Far Beyond The Mere Details Of Their Job. When Everyone Is United In Purpose, A Positive Purpose That Serves Not Only The Organization But Also, Hopefully, The World Beyond It, You Have A Winning Team.

War Is Never A Happy Solution, But It May Be The Only Solution. We Must Exhaustively Explore Other Possible Solutions Before We Make The Choice For War. Every Political And Diplomatic Effort Should Be Made To Avoid War While Achieving Your Objective.

Leadership Is All About People … And Getting The Most Out Of People.

Don't Be Buffaloed By Experts And Elites. Experts Often Possess More Data Than Judgment. Elites Can Become So Inbred That They Produce Hemophiliacs Who Bleed To Death As Soon As They Are Nicked By The Real World.

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.

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.

The Healthiest Competition Occurs When Average People Win By Putting Above Average Effort.

Excellence Is Not An Exception, It Is A Prevailing Attitude

I Would Sit And Talk To Any President Who Wishes To Talk To Me, But I'm Not Anxious To Rule It In.

Some People Naturally Have A Sense Of Empathy And An Understanding Of How To Bring Their Followers To Do Things. They Become Great Politicians.

At The Same Time I Think It Is Absolutely Necessary That There Be No Confusion, No Misunderstanding That If The Iraqis.. Do Not Comply, Then There Will Be Consequences And Those Consequences Will Involve The Use Of Military Force To Disarm Them Through Changing The Regime.

You Have Achieved Excellence As A Leader When People Will Follow You Anywhere If Only Out Of Curiosity.

If A Leader Doesn't Convey Passion And Intensity Then There Will Be No Passion And Intensity Within The Organization And They'll Start To Fall Down And Get Depressed.

You Should See What Our Founding Fathers Used To Say To Each Other And In The Early Part Of Our Nation. But What They Were Able To Do, Especially In Philadelphia In 1787, Four Months, They Argued About What A House Should Be, What A Senate Should Be, The Power Of The President, The Congress, The Supreme Court. And They Had To Deal With Slavery.

No War On The Face Of The Earth Is More Destructive Than The Aids Pandemic.

It Is The Fault Of The United States That These Terrible People, These Insurgents And Terrorists Are Out There. They Are The Ones That We Ought To Be Focusing Our Energy On Defeating And Not Just Wring Our Hands About The Fact That It's Going To Be Difficult.

I Don't Think We Handled The Aftermath Of The Fall Of Baghdad As Well As We Might Have. But That's Now History.

There Are No Secrets To Success. It Is The Result Of Preparation, Hard Work, And Learning From Failure.

Maybe We Don't Put Our Young People In Situations Often Enough Where They're Allowed To Fail. When You Fail You Gain Experience, And With Enough Experience, You Don't Fail As Often.

Leaders Honor Their Core Values, But They Are Flexible In How They Execute Them.

A Mirror Reflects A Man's Face, But What He Is Really Like Is Shown By The Kind Of Friends He Chooses.

Company You Keep

The United States Is Looking At A Way To Launch Peace With A Disarmed Iraq. And So We Are Studying The Declaration That Iraq Submitted. Other Members Of The Security Council Are Studying The Declaration, As Is Unmovic And Iaea, And I Would Not Make A Judgment As To Whether Or Not The Declaration Will Be Found Deficient And Whether Or Not That Might Lead To A Material Breach And Whether Or Not, If It Did, That Would Lead To Action On The Part Of The United Nations.

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.

Let Me Just Be Candid: My Party Is Full Of Racists. And The Real Reason A Considerable Portion Of My Party Wants President Obama Out Of The White House Has Nothing To Do With The Content Of His Character, Nothing To Do With His Competence As Commander-in-chief And President, And Everything To Do With The Color Of His Skin. And That's Despicable.

It Is Good If Your Enemy Underestimates You. The Dumber They Think You Are The More Surprised They Are When You Kill Them.

We Are Not Shrinking From Talking To Saudis Or Anyone Else In The Region, But It Is Up To Each Nation In The Region To Decide On Its Own How It Will Proceed And At What Pace. There Are Other Nations In The Region That Had Similar Policies To Saudi Arabia That Are Starting To Make Changes, Such As Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco. And So It Takes Time But When You See The Need For Such Changes, Then Changes Tend To Follow.

Always Show More Kindness Than Seems Necessary, Because The Person Receiving It Needs It More Than You Will Ever Know.

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.

I Am Confident That We Will Find Evidence That Makes It Clear He Had Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

Mass Destruction

The United States Is Still Seen As The Leader At The World That Wants To Be Free.

We Are Not Going To Dwell On Those Things That Divide Us. We Are Going To Rejoice In Those Things That Keep Us Together To Make This A Better Country - To Reach Down And Back To Touch Every Young Person In Need!

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.

We Can Seldom Get Our Children To Do What We Tell Them, But They Almost Never Fail To Imitate Us.

Foe Means Enemy. Now, Will We Have Differences Of Opinion With The Russians? Yes. Will They Get Mad At Us From Time To Time, And We Get Mad At Them? That's Part Of The Normal Diplomatic Relations.

Another Rule I Have Is: Don't Let Your Ego Get Tied Up In A Policy Dispute. Otherwise, If Things Don't Go Your Way, You Can End Up Breaking A Relationship With Somebody With Whom You Can't Afford To Break.

In My 35 Years In The Army I Was In School For 6 Years. I Think Corporations Should Take A Look At Whether They Are Investing Enough In The Development Of Their Human Capital.

Let It [racism] Be A Problem To Someone Else... Let It Drag Them Down. Don't Use It As An Excuse For Your Own Shortcomings.

The Person Who Will Decide Whether Or Not There Will Be War Or Peace Is Saddam Hussein, And All He Has To Do Is Give Up These Terrible Weapons That He Has Used To Kill Fellow Arabs, Fellow Muslims In That Part Of The World, And To Step Away From His Past Behaviour Which Invaded Neighbouring Countries.

What You’re Seeing With Occupy Wall Street And The Others Are People Who Are Unhappy And They’re Directing Their Unhappiness Now Toward Wall Street And Toward Those They Think Are Doing Too Well In Our Society.

We Have To Start Thinking Of America As A Family. We Have To Stop Screeching Screeching At Each Other, Stop Hurting Each Other, And Instead Start Caring For, Sacrificing For And Sharing With Each Other ... We Cannot Move Forward If Cynics And Critics Swoop Down And Pick Apart Anything That Goes Wrong, To A Point Where We Lose Sight Of What Is Right, Decent And Uniquely Good About America.

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.

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.

Recommendations

We Have Gone Forth From Our Shores Repeatedly Over The Last Hundred Years And We've Done This As Recently As The Last Year In Afghanistan And Put Wonderful Young Men And Women At Risk, Many Of Whom Have Lost Their Lives, And We Have Asked For Nothing Except Enough Ground To Bury Them In, And Otherwise We Have Returned Home To Seek Our Own Lives In Peace.

If Everybody Trusts One Another, Then The Person Who Didn't Prevail Will Faithfully Execute The Decision As If It Was Their Idea.

It's Nice To Say Let's Be Bipartisan. But We're A Partisan Nation. We Were Raised As A Partisan Nation.

It's Not Just A Matter Of Whether You Support Obama Or Romney. It's Who They Have Coming With Them. I Always Keep My Powder Dry, As They Say In The Military.

There Can Be No Doubt That Saddam Hussein Has Biological Weapons And The Capability To Rapidly Produce More, Many More.

I Have Always Tried To Do My Job In A Way That I Have People Give Me Different Points Of View.

Only When You Have Got A Clear Statement Of What You Want To Achieve, Do You Ask Yourself How You Are Going To Achieve It. In The Military We Are Taught Never To Go For A Single Answer, No Matter How Obvious That Might Be.

I Think Whether You're Having Setbacks Or Not, The Role Of A Leader Is To Always Display A Winning Attitude.

You Know You're A Good Leader When People Follow You Out Of Curiosity.

Effective Leaders Are Made, Not Born. They Learn From Trial And Error, And From Experience.

Trial And Error

Don't Bother People For Help Without First Trying To Solve The Problem Yourself.

Don't Just Count Your Days, Make Your Days Count.

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Robert H. Schuller

Jean-Claude Van Damme

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