Colin Powell Quotations | Page 4

Always be looking for the opportunities, and always be optimistic about what you can do with that opportunity.

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.

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 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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

trusted to use its enormous political, economic and -- above all -- military power wisely and fairly.

We have no intention of invading North Korea or taking hostile action against North Korea,

The regime only allows interviews with inspectors in the presence of an Iraqi official, a minder, ... The official Iraqi organization charged with facilitating inspections announced, announced publicly and announced ominously that, 'Nobody is ready to leave Iraq to be interviewed.'

ways to communicate with the people of Iran to convince them that the policies their leaders have been following are inappropriate.

We didn't deal with Yasser Arafat when we were putting the road map together, and so his comments don't mean a whole lot to me.

Unless North Korea ends its program, it cannot expect the benefits of relations with the outside world.

We strongly oppose it, ... It will cause us international difficulties, and it opens up other opportunities for others to try to seek similar relief.

We stand ready to help, but that help can only come when North Korea has abandoned its programs to achieve a nuclear weapons capability, something that the international community thought it had done years ago,

Cuba is an anachronism ... and history will catch up with them.

The United States and India stand united against terrorism and that includes terrorism directed against India as well,

We're talking about the most deadly things one can imagine

there is no indication whatsoever that Iraq has made the strategic decision to come clean and comply with its international obligation to disarm.

The oil fields are the property of the Iraqi people, and if a coalition of forces goes into those oil fields, we would want to protect those fields and make sure that they are used to benefit the people of Iraq and are not destroyed or damaged by a failing regime on the way out the door,

fails totally to move us in the direction of a peaceful solution.

Finally, we will continue to consult with our friends, with our allies and with all members of the Security Council on how to compel compliance by Iraq with the will of the international community,

There are a number of individuals in countries around the world who have been conveying the message to the Iraqi regime that it is now inevitable that there will be a change,

This time, we want a better solution, we want a solution that involves all the countries in the region. I hope North Korea understands that,

This is election season. They're even having elections in Iraq. Saddam Hussein won,

In order to prevent any loss of life beyond that which may have occurred already, it would be wise for Iraqi leaders to recognize that their day is over and that this is going to happen.

it has to be anywhere, anytime, talking to anybody that has to be spoken to in order to get to the truth.

But I have seen nothing that makes a direct connection between Saddam Hussein and that awful regime, and what happened on 9/11.

But I think if it drags on beyond the middle of December when those electoral college deadlines come into effect, then I think people will want to see a resolution of this as quickly as possible.

Germany is one of our closest friends. And differences and difficulties will arise in any relationship from time to time, but the strength of the relationship between the United States and Germany will remain and, I expect, will thrive and grow,

They can't violate their agreements and then say we violated, what will you pay us to get out of the violation,

I regret to say that President Aristide, I think, has made some mistakes over the years,

Anything we say to the North Koreans would be known to our friends and partners. There will be no secrets,

So that's the Chinese using their influence, their leverage, if you will,

We cannot be shocked into impotence because we're afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us,

We want to find a solution which will allow Pakistan to move its forces away from the border so that we have less tension at that border, less opportunity for some incident to spark a conflict between the two sides.

among our most important and certainly one of the more robust we have in the world.

And anything the North Koreans say to us will be shared with our friends and partners, because this is going to be an open, transparent process.