Donald Rumsfeld - People Quotes

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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
And there is, I am certain, among the Iraqi people a respect for the care and the precision that went into the bombing campaign.

Donald Rumsfeld
We'll have to deal with the networks. One of the ways to do that is to drain the swamp they live in. And that means dealing not only with the terrorists, but those who harbor terrorists. This will take a long, sustained effort. It will require the support of the American people as well as our friends and allies around the world.

Donald Rumsfeld
Public servants are paid to serve the American people. Do it well.

Donald Rumsfeld
Stuff happens…and it's untidy, and freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
On looting in Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld
You and a few other critics are the only people I've heard use the phrase immediate threat. I didn't, the president didn't. And it's become kind of folklore that that's what's happened.

Donald Rumsfeld
But no terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Donald Rumsfeld
You will launch many projects, but have time to finish only a few. So think, plan, develop, launch and tap good people to be responsible. Give them authority and hold them accountable. Trying to do too much yourself creates a bottleneck.

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
…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
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
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
Prune - prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.

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

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