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There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.

— Colin Powell The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell (2003)

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More quotes by Colin Powell

I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world.

There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more.

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.

I may be down, but never out. An infantry officer can do anything.

It Worked For Me (2012)

But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.

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We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always known.

Doris Lessing The Golden Notebook (1962)

To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

Confucius

Greatness by nature includes a power, but not a will to power.

Martin Buber Between Man and Man (1965)

The weak shows his strength and hides his weaknesses; the magnificent exhibits his weaknesses like ornaments.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Colin Powell (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.