Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

109 Sourced Quotes

The price of being close to the President is delivering bad news. You fail him if you don't tell him the truth. Others won't do it.

Donald Rumsfeld
Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.

Donald Rumsfeld
Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.

Donald Rumsfeld
Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.

Donald Rumsfeld
In our system leadership is by consent, not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership.

Donald Rumsfeld
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know.

Donald Rumsfeld
Leave the President's family business to him. You will have plenty to do without trying to manage the First Family. They are likely to do fine without your help.

Donald Rumsfeld
If a prospective Presidential approach can't be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn't been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won't 'sail' anyway. Send it back for further thought.

Donald Rumsfeld
When starting at the bottom, be willing to learn from those at the top.

Donald Rumsfeld
After he saw what happened to Saddam Hussein, he (Gaddafi) did not want to be Saddam Hussein. He gave up his nuclear program.

Donald Rumsfeld
Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers - they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.

Donald Rumsfeld
…it seems to me that it's up to all of us to try to tell the truth, to say what we know, to say what we don't know, and recognize that we're dealing with people that are perfectly willing to, to lie to the world to attempt to further their case and to the extent people lie of, ultimately they are caught lying and they lose their credibility and one would think it wouldn't take very long for that to happen dealing with people like this.

Donald Rumsfeld
Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

Donald Rumsfeld
It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.

Donald Rumsfeld
Don't divide the world into 'them' and 'us.' Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the press, the Congress, rivals, or opponents. Accept them as facts. They have their jobs and you have yours.

Donald Rumsfeld
Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you see around some corners. Try to make original mistakes, rather than needlessly repeating theirs.

Donald Rumsfeld
Oh my goodness gracious, what you can buy off the Internet in terms of overhead photography. A trained ape can know an awful lot of what is going on in this world, just by punching on his mouse, for a relatively modest cost.

Donald Rumsfeld
Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.

Donald Rumsfeld
I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.

Donald Rumsfeld
We know where they [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.... I would also add, we saw from the air that there were dozens of trucks that went into that facility after the existence of it became public in the press and they moved things out. They dispersed them and took them away. So there may be nothing left. I don't know that. But it's way too soon to know. The exploitation is just starting.

Donald Rumsfeld
Learn to say, 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be often.

Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning.

Donald Rumsfeld
I'm glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.

Donald Rumsfeld
If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.

Donald Rumsfeld
We're so conditioned as a people to think that a military campaign has to be cruise missiles and television images of airplanes dropping bombs, and that's just false. This is a totally different war. We need a new vocabulary. We need to get rid of old think and start thinking about this thing the way it really is.

Donald Rumsfeld
It recalls to mind the statement by Winston Churchill, something to the effect that: I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time have I suffered a lack thereof.

Donald Rumsfeld
Don't do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.

Donald Rumsfeld
Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.

Donald Rumsfeld
Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.

Donald Rumsfeld
There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments.

Donald Rumsfeld