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

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

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

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

Don't be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.
Colin Powell

Don't bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.
Colin Powell

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.
Colin Powell

Experts often possess more data than judgment.
Colin Powell

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

Get mad, then get over it.
Colin Powell

Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up.
Colin Powell

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.
Colin Powell

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.
Colin Powell

I don't want to spend the rest of my life giving speeches.
Colin Powell

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.
Colin Powell

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.
Colin Powell

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.
Colin Powell

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

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.
Colin Powell

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.'
Colin Powell