Colin Powell

"Don't wait for perfect conditions. Start with what you have."

"The best investment you can make is in yourself."

"Life is too short to hold grudges."

"Your greatest strength is your character."

"Always maintain your integrity, no matter the cost."

"Success comes to those who work for it."

"Remember that courage is not the absence of fear, but action in the face of it."

"A problem that meets all your preconceptions can mettle you into well-worn grooves of thinking."

"Don't bother people for small things, but never hesitate to ask for the big ones."

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."

"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them."

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

"My own experience is that once you start working on something, you stay with it until you succeed or until it's clear it won't work."

"Surround yourself with people who will tell you the truth and challenge you to be better."

"Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman."

"The less you associate with unhappy, resentful, petty people, the better your life will be."

"Vision is a destination—a fixed point on the horizon. Strategy is intelligent action applied over months and years that will move you toward your vision."

"Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision."

"A leader must have the courage to act against an initial majority or against the very forces that first joined him."

"You have to work harder and be more creative than your adversary."

"Compromise is not a dirty word. It's the basis of our democracy."

"Get mad, then get over it."

"Think about it—we are the most powerful nation in the world, and we still have citizens sleeping under bridges."

"The only time in my life I really felt ashamed was when I told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction when he didn't."

"Use your brain. Do critical thinking. Question authority."

"It isn't enough to just identify a problem; you have to have the will and conviction to fix it."

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

"Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms."

"I have nothing to do with judging who ought to be a bishop. It's a hell of a lot easier to judge a military person."

"You shouldn't wait for things to happen. Make them happen."