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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?

-Colin Powell

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Service-learning Is A Particularly

Colin Powell

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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?

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Everyday Problems

More From Colin Powell

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

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 Regret That The Presentation I Made At The Un Turned Out To Be Wrong. It Was Wrong On The Stockpiles Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction, But Pretty Much Right On Intentions And Capabilities.

Mass Destruction

We Know That Saddam Hussein Is Determined To Keep His Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Is Determined To Make More.

Mass Destruction

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.

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

It Ain't As Bad As You Think. It Will Look Better In The Morning.

Give Me The Right People And I Don’t Much Care What Organization You Give Me. Good Things Will Happen. Give Me The Wrong People And It Doesn’t Matter What You Do With The Organization. Bad Things Will Happen.

Wouldn't It Be Great If We Could Look Forward To A Whole World In Which No Child Will Be Left Behind?

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.

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.

The Troops May Whine And Moan, But When They Meet The Standard, There's A Sense Of Pride.

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.

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

I Think The Iranians Are Clearly Determined To Have A Nuclear Program. And We Have To Assume That With A Nuclear Program They Have The Capability And The Will To Create A Nuclear Weapon.

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

In The Military, We Are Also Taught To Only Use One Third Of The Available Decision-making Time, So That Our Subordinates Have Time To Go Through Their Own Decision Processes When They Learn What We Want Them To Do.

But Just As They Did In Philadelphia When They Were Writing The Constitution, Sooner Or Later, You've Got To Compromise. You've Got To Start Making The Compromises That Arrive At A Consensus And Move The Country Forward.

The Bottom Line In All Of It Is That, In Life, It's All About People.

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

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.

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.

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.'

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.

President Kennedy Didn't Negotiate Out Of The Cuban Missile Crisis Simply Because He And Khrushchev Got Along Well. Khrushchev Didn't Have The Cards.

The Media Only Report Stupid Or Careless Answers, Not Stupid Or Unfair Questions.

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.

I Strongly Believe That At This Point In America's History, We Need A President That Will Not Just Continue, Even With A New Face And With Some Changes And With Some Maverick Aspects, Who Will Not Just Continue, Basically, The Policies We Have Been Following In Recent Years. I Think We Need A Transformational Figure. I Think We Need A President Who Is A Generational Change.

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

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.

With Respect To Our Friends In The [iraq] Region, Each Has Its Own System, Each Will Have To Make Its Own Judgment As To Whether It Will Change, How Fast It Will Change, And We Hope That We Can Help Influence Them As To How Change Comes About And What Change Might Be Better For Them Than Other Forms Of Change.

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.

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

Get Mad, Then Get Over It.

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 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.

Perpetual Optimism Is A Force Multiplier.

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

Our Model Of Politics Is One That It Is Inclusive Of All Members Of The Society; All Should Be Represented. That Is The Nature Of Our Democracy.

The United Nations Will Spearhead Our Efforts To Manage The New Conflicts (that Afflict Our World)... Yes The Principles Of The United Nations Charter Are Worth Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honor.

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.

You Can't Just Have Slogans, You Can't Just Have Catchy Phrases. You Have To Have An Agenda. And I Think What The Republican Party Has To Do, If It's Going To Incorporate The Tea Party Efforts In It, Is To Come Up With An Agenda That The American People Can See, Touch, And Actually Believe In, And Something They Believe In.

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.

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

Mass Destruction

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

Trust Is The Essence Of Leadership.

The Best Leaders Are Those Who Break That Mission Down Into The Organization's Constituent Parts, So That Everybody Understands Their Role And How It All Builds Into The Whole.

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

Sometimes What My Analytical Mind Says To Me Is Not What I'll Do.

Nobody Is Ready To Leave Iraq To Be Interviewed.

One Of The Greatest Talents Of All Is The Talent To Recognize And To Develop Talent In Others.

Think Hard About It: I'm Running Out Of Demons. I'm Running Out Of Villians. I'm Down To Castro And Kim Il Sung.

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

Free Speech Is Intended To Protect The Controversial And Even Outrageous Word; And Not Just Comforting Platitudes Too Mundane To Need Protection.

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

Good Organization

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.

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.

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

The Commander In The Field Is Always Right And The Rear Echelon Is Wrong, Unless Proved Otherwise.

I Would Caution My Republican Friends That [obama Has] Three Years To Go, And In That Three Years The American People Are Going To Want To See Some Progress And Not Just Claims That This Guy Is Out Of Office And We're Going To Do Everything To Destroy Him Or That Somehow He Is A 'socialist' Taking Over The Country. Have We So Lost Our Faith In This Country That We Think One Person, One Man Can Be Can Suddenly Change Our Entire System? That's Kind Of Absurd.

That's Why The Army Sends All Its Future Generals To What We Call "charm School." As Soon As You Are A General, People Think That You Know Everything. You Think Yourself That You Have Become Omniscient And Omnipotent. Be Careful, Because People Want To Do Everything They Can To Please The General, And You Need To Guard Against This.

Actually, There Is No More Important Task For A Leader Than To Pick People. To Make Sure You Have The Very Best People Working For You.

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 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

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!

90 Percent Of My Time Is Spent On 10 Percent Of The World.

Over The Years, The United States Has Sent Many Of Its Fine Young Men And Women Into Great Peril To Fight For Freedom Beyond Our Borders. The Only Amount Of Land We Have Ever Asked For In Return Is Enough To Bury Those That Did Not Return.

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.

You Have To Create Circumstances Where Your First-tier Leader Knows What You Are Trying To Accomplish, Because He Is The One Who's Going To Get It Done.

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.

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

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.

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.

Thee Are Such Horrible Weapons. And So No Sane Leader Would Ever Want To Cross That Line To Using Nuclear Weapons. And, If You Are Not Going To Cross That Line, Then These Things Are Basically Useless.

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

You Don't Know What You Can Get Away With Until You Try.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Every Organization Needs To Be Introspective, Transparent, And Honest With Itself. This Only Works If Everyone Is Unified On The Goals And Purposes Of The Organization And There Is Trust Within The Team. High-performing, Successful Organizations Build Cultures Of Introspection And Trust And Never Lose Sight Of Their Purpose.

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.

Life Experience

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.

I Have The Deepest Regret About 9/11. Sept. 11, 2001, Was One Of The Most Difficult Days I've Ever Had. I Was In Lima, Peru, And Had To Fly Back Eight Hours Not Knowing What Happened In My Own Country, Knowing Thousands Of My Fellow Citizens Had Died.

The Only Bipartisanship You Ever See Is When They Finally Sign A Bill And Everybody Says, 'gee, Isn't That Wonderful?'

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.

You Have To Comply, You Have To Obey - Or You'd Better Resign And Leave. But That Is Also The Mark Of A Great Leader - Somebody Who, In The Presence Of Inner Conflict, Will Do The Right Thing.

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.

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.

I'm Going To Be Bringing People Into The Public Diplomacy Function Of The Department Who Are Going To Change From Just Selling Us In The Old Usia Way To Really Branding Foreign Policy, Branding The Department, Marketing The Department, Marketing American Values To The World And Not Just Putting Out Pamphlets.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Happy Valentines Day

Let's Not Forget That Congress Bears A Lot Of Responsibility For Many Of The Problems We Have Now

I'm Sleeping Like A Baby, Too. Every Two Hours, I Wake Up, Screaming.

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.

I Understand That And I Have Had Very Candid Discussions With Saudi Leaders In The Past. I Respect Their Culture And Their Heritage And Their Traditions, But I Think That They Now, As They Move Forward, Will Have To Start Examining These Traditions And These Practices To See Whether Or Not Change Is Appropriate.

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.

Some Of The Generals Are Saying, 'we're Making Progress. We Are Clearing An Area.' But You Really Don't Defeat The Taliban By Clearing An Area. They Move.

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.

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

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

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

Politics Is Not Bean Bags. It's Serious, Tough Stuff.

He (saddam Hussein) Has Not Developed Any Significant Capability With Respect To Weapons Of Mass Destruction. He Is Unable To Project Conventional Power Against His Neighbours.

Mass Destruction

The Best Method Of Overcoming Obstacles Is The Team Method

Ambition And Hatred Are Enough To Bring Iraq And Al Qaeda Together.

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

The Greatest Gifts My Parents Gave To Me...were Their Unconditional Love And A Set Of Values.

Unconditional Love

The United States Is Not Stingy. We Are The Greatest Contributor To International Relief Efforts In The World.

Decision-making Is Lonely.

Decision Making

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

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.

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 Think You Can Improve On That Natural Ability With Training And Exposure To Great Leaders Of The Past And To Management Theories.

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.

Trying To Get Everyone To Like You Is A Sign Of Mediocrity.

As A Leader You Set The Tone For Your Entire Team. Communicate Your Vision.

Keep Looking Below Surface Appearances. Don't Shrink From Doing So Just Because You Might Not Like What You Find.

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

Is There Something Wrong With Being A Muslim In This Country? The Answer Is "no." That's Not America.

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

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.

In Other Words, Don't Expect To Always Be Great. Disappointments, Failures And Setbacks Are A Normal Part Of The Lifecycle Of A Unit Or A Company And What The Leader Has To Do Is Constantly Be Up And Say 'we Have A Problem, Let's Go And Get It'.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Always Do Your Best. Somebody Is Watching You.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Nobody Has Ever Said In The United States Government That We Are Going To War Next Month. No Decision Has Been Made By The President Because, As He Said To The United Nations, He Wants The United Nations To Live Up To Its Responsibilities And He Wants Saddam Hussein To Cooperate.

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

Finding The Russian Scientists May Be A Problem Being That Russia Does Not Have A Social Security System, As Here In America, That Allows Us To Monitor, Track Down And Capture An American Citizen.

Security Systems

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?

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.

Giving Back Involves A Certain Amount Of Giving Up.

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 Worked With The Nato Military Committee. The Head Of The Luxembourg Armed Forces Had Equal Standing With Me, And I Had To Respect That. He Was The Leader Of The Armed Forces Of A Sovereign Country. I Had To Make Sure He Never Thought That I Was Looking Down On Them, Merely Because They Had Less Power Than We Did. With That Kind Of Approach You Can Develop Bonds Of Trust. I Tried To Do The Same Thing With My Colleagues When I Was Secretary Of State.

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'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.

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.

It Isn’t Enough Just To Scream At The Occupy Wall Street Demonstrations. We Need Our Political System To Start Reflecting This Anger Back Into, 'how Do We Fix It? How Do We Get The Economy Going Again?'

Be Careful What You Choose: You May Get It.

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.

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.

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.

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

Being Optimistic

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.

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.

Once The Information Is In The 40 To 70 Range, Go With Your Gut.

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

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

Well, The Correct Answer Is He Is Not A Muslim, He’s A Christian. He’s Always Been A Christian. But The Really Right Answer Is, What If He Is? Is There Something Wrong With Being A Muslim In This Country?

We Now Believe It Is Appropriate For Saddam Hussein To Be Forced To Change, Either By The Threat Of War, And Therefore That Compels Him To Cooperate. If He Cooperates, Then The Basis Of Changed Regime Policy Has Shifted Because His Regime Has, In Fact, Changed Its Policy To One Of Cooperation. So If He Cooperates, Then That Is Different Than If He Does Not Cooperate.

Bahrain Is Moving At One Pace, Morocco Another, Qatar At Another, Kuwait At Yet Another. And We Are There To Assist Our Friends.

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

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.

We Want To Approach This In A Multilateral Way, Talking With Our Friends, Consulting With Our Security Council Colleagues In The United Nations, Hoping To Find A Way To Solve This Peacefully, But At The Same Time Recognising That Unless The Threat Of Military Force Is There, Iraq Will Not Disarm.

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

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

A Sense Of Shame Is Not A Bad Moral Compass.

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 Got Rid Of A Terrible Dictator. We Gave The Iraqi People An Opportunity For A New Life Under A Representative Form Of Government.

Many Interviewers When They Come To Talk To Me, Think They're Being Progressive By Not Mentioning In Their Stories Any Longer That I'm Black. I Tell Them, 'don't Stop Now. If I Shot Somebody You'd Mention It.'

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.

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.

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.

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

A Dream Doesn't Become Reality Through Magic; It Takes Sweat, Determination And Hard Work.

It Remains Our Policy To Change The Regime Until Such Time As The Regime Changes Itself. So Far, We Cannot Be Sure That He Is Cooperating Or He [saddam Hussein] Is Acting In A Way That Could Give Us Comfort, Or Should Give The International Community Comfort, That He Is Giving Up His Weapons Of Mass Destruction. He Continues To Give Us Statements That Suggest He Is Not In Possession Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction When We Know He Is.

Mass Destruction

One Thing The Military Does Far Better Than Business Is Train Its Own Leaders. I Can't Go To Ibm And Hire A Battalion Commander. They Don't Have Any.

The Claims Made About Iraq's Wmd Capabilities Before The Invasion Were Inaccurate, Wrong, And In Some Cases, Deliberately Misleading.

The Burden Is On Saddam Hussein. And Our Policy, Our National Policy - Not The Un Policy But Our National Policy - Is That The Regime Should Be Changed Until Such Time As He Demonstrates That It Is Not Necessary To Change The Regime Because The Regime Has Changed Itself.

Fear Is A Normal Human Emotion. It Is Not In Itself A Killer. We Can Learn To Be Aware When Fear Grips Us, And Can Train To Operate Through And In Spite Of Our Fear. If, On The Other Hand, We Don't Understand That Fear Is Normal And Has To Be Controlled And Overcome, It Will Paralyze Us And Stop Us In Our Tracks. We Will No Longer Think Clearly Or Analyze Rationally. We Prepare For It And Control It; We Never Let It Control Us. It If Does, We Cannot Lead.

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.

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.

Organization Charts And Fancy Titles Count For Next To Nothing.

I Can't Deny That It Will Be A Historic Event For An African-american To Become President. And Should That Happen, All Americans Should Be Proud - Not Just African-americans, But All Americans - That We Have Reached This Point In Our National History Where Such A Thing Could Happen. It Will Also Not Only Electrify Our Country, I Think It'll Electrify The World.

African American

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.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It' Is The Slogan Of The Complacent, The Arrogant Or The Scared. It's An Excuse For Inaction, A Call To Non-arms.

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 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.

Experts Often Possess More Data Than Judgment.

Being Responsible Sometimes Means Pissing People Off.

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Luciano De Crescenzo

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