Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

109 Sourced Quotes

Beware when any idea is promoted primarily because it is "bold, exciting, innovative, and new." There are many ideas that are "bold, exciting, innovative and new," but also foolish.

Donald Rumsfeld
Don't accept the post or stay unless you have an understanding with the President that you're free to tell him what you think "with the bark off" and you have the courage to do it.

Donald Rumsfeld
Politics is human beings; it's addition rather than subtraction.

Donald Rumsfeld
I think we ought to have a new rule: You can ask two questions, and then we can pick the one we want to answer.

Donald Rumsfeld
A large number of people to begin crawling through those tunnels and caves looking for the bad folks.

Donald Rumsfeld
Walk around. If you are invisible, the mystique of the President's office may perpetuate inaccurate impressions about you or the President, to his detriment. After all, you may not be as bad as they're saying.

Donald Rumsfeld
Watch the growth of middle level management. Don't automatically fill vacant jobs. Leave some positions unfilled for 6-8 months to see what happens. You will find you won't need to fill some of them.

Donald Rumsfeld
Move decisions out to the Cabinet and agencies. Strengthen them by moving responsibility, authority, and accountability their direction.

Donald Rumsfeld
Find ways to decentralize. Move decision making authority down and out. Encourage a more entrepreneurial approach.

Donald Rumsfeld
A terrorist can attack at any time at any place using a range of techniques. It is physically impossible to defend at every time in every location against every conceivable technique of terrorism. Therefore, if your goal is to stop it, you cannot stop it by defense. You can only stop it by taking the battle to the terrorists, where they are and going after them.

Donald Rumsfeld
In unanimity there may well be either cowardice or uncritical thinking.

Donald Rumsfeld
When someone with a rural accent says, "I don't know much about politics," zip up your pockets.

Donald Rumsfeld
It is very difficult to spend "federal (the taxpayers') dollars" so that the intended result is achieved.

Donald Rumsfeld
Don't 'over-control' like a novice pilot. Stay loose enough from the flow that you can observe it, modify, and improve it.

Donald Rumsfeld
Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of others. Be sure the staff is working on what you move to them from the President, or the President will be reacting, not leading.

Donald Rumsfeld
Have a deputy and develop a successor. Don't be consumed by the job or you'll risk losing your balance. Keep your mooring lines to the outside world - family, friends, neighbors, people out of government, and people who may not agree with you.

Donald Rumsfeld
From where you sit, the White House may look as untidy as the inside of a stomach. As is said of the legislative process, sausage-making and policy-making shouldn't be seen close-up. Don't let that panic you. Things may be going better than they look from the inside.

Donald Rumsfeld
They will do more whether we do what we're doing or whether we don't do what we're doing. And the idea that you could appease them [terrorists] by stopping doing what we're doing or some implication that by doing what we're doing we're inciting them to attack us is just utter nonsense. It's just--it's kind of like feeding an alligator, hoping it eats you last.

Donald Rumsfeld
Know that the immediate staff and others in the Administration will assume that your manner, tone and tempo reflect the President's.

Donald Rumsfeld