Top 100 Donald Rumsfeld Quotes
#1. Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers - they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.
Donald Rumsfeld
#2. I'm glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.
Donald Rumsfeld
#3. Don't do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.
Donald Rumsfeld
#4. Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
Donald Rumsfeld
#5. We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead.
Donald Rumsfeld
#7. Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue.
Donald Rumsfeld
#8. 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
#9. Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.
Donald Rumsfeld
#10. We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.
Donald Rumsfeld
#11. When I served as US Ambassador to NATO in the 1970s, the center of gravity in Europe was France and Germany.
Donald Rumsfeld
#12. A few ... critics are the only people I ever heard use the phrase 'imminent threat.' I didn't, the president didn't.
Donald Rumsfeld
#14. Being Vice President is difficult. Don't make it tougher.
Donald Rumsfeld
#15. Pieces of intelligence, scraps of intelligence ... you run down leads and you run down leads, and you hope that sometimes it works.
Donald Rumsfeld
#16. There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.
Donald Rumsfeld
#17. 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
#18. Those who made the decisions with imperfect knowledge will be judged in hindsight by those with considerably more information at their disposal and time for reflection.
Donald Rumsfeld
#19. Our task, your task ... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction.
Donald Rumsfeld
#20. If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.
Donald Rumsfeld
#21. Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.
Donald Rumsfeld
#22. Let your family, staff, and friends know that you're still the same person, despite all the publicity and notoriety that accompanies your position.
Donald Rumsfeld
#23. Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps engender the support decisions need to be successfully implemented.
Donald Rumsfeld
#24. Look for what's missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there.
Donald Rumsfeld
#25. At 78 years old, I am not surprised at much anymore. Germany has taken divergent positions before, so has France, so has England, so has the US.
Donald Rumsfeld
#26. They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.
Donald Rumsfeld
#27. There are known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know.
Donald Rumsfeld
#28. It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy.
Donald Rumsfeld
#29. I tend over the years to have developed a certain hesitancy about believing that headlines tell the whole story.
Donald Rumsfeld
#30. When business accepts help from the government, it can be like going to bed with a hippopotamus. It's nice and warm for the moment, but then your bedmate rolls over and crushes you.
Donald Rumsfeld
#31. The press always wants to know how many people will be killed or how much it will cost, but the answers to those questions are not knowable.
Donald Rumsfeld
#32. Then there are three or four countries that have said they won't do anything. I believe Libya, Cuba and Germany are ones that have indicated they won't help in any respect.
Donald Rumsfeld
#34. 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
#35. Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Donald Rumsfeld
#37. Keep your sense of humor. As General Joe Stillwell said, 'The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind'.
Donald Rumsfeld
#38. The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize. It's to change the behavior of the people that are being terrorized.
Donald Rumsfeld
#39. NATO member states vary dramatically in their capability and in their political steadfastness.
Donald Rumsfeld
#40. No terror 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
#41. 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
#42. The worst mistake is to have the best ladder and the wrong wall.
Donald Rumsfeld
#43. 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
#44. Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.
Donald Rumsfeld
#45. I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work.
Donald Rumsfeld
#46. Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting and challenging times of your life.
Donald Rumsfeld
#47. Every president when he is elected has to live with the pluses and minuses his predecessor leaves, which includes benefits as well as burdens.
Donald Rumsfeld
#48. 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
#49. When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later.
Donald Rumsfeld
#50. I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to four hours?
Donald Rumsfeld
#51. 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
#52. We know where they are [Iraq's weapons of mass destruction]. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
Donald Rumsfeld
#53. It isn't making mistakes that's critical; it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
Donald Rumsfeld
#54. The worst thing you can do is allow a coalition to determine what your mission is.
Donald Rumsfeld
#55. Everyone's saying you can't do anything until you can do everything, and in life I've never found that to be the case. To me, first you crawl, then you walk, then you run. And so let's get on with it. Let's stick something in the ground and not pretend that it's perfect.
Donald Rumsfeld
#56. In unanimity there may well be either cowardice or uncritical thinking.
Donald Rumsfeld
#57. If we know anything, it is that weakness is provocative.
Donald Rumsfeld
#58. I think it's very useful for you folks (reporters) to try your damndest to be precise. And don't repeat things that are inaccurate if you can possibly avoid it. And when you see things that are inaccurate, knock them down
because there's a bucket of it floating around.
Donald Rumsfeld
#59. The natural state of man is to want to be free. To have opportunities. To have choices.
Donald Rumsfeld
#60. Know that the immediate staff and others in the Administration will assume that your manner, tone and tempo reflect the President's.
Donald Rumsfeld
#61. The United States, as all you know, did not come to Iraq for oil, not to occupy. We came here only to help.
Donald Rumsfeld
#62. Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here.
Donald Rumsfeld
#63. 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
#64. Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning.
Donald Rumsfeld
#65. Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.
Donald Rumsfeld
#67. The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country.
Donald Rumsfeld
#68. I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons.
Donald Rumsfeld
#69. 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
#70. Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
Donald Rumsfeld
#71. When asked for your views, by the press or others, remember that what they really want to know is the President's views.
Donald Rumsfeld
#72. I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that.
Donald Rumsfeld
#73. If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly.
Donald Rumsfeld
#76. There are people who in large measure have information that we need ... so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country.
Donald Rumsfeld
#77. 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
#78. Control your own time. Don't let it be done for you. If you are working off the in-box that is fed you, you are probably working on the priority of others.
Donald Rumsfeld
#79. Most US presidents since World War II have led military actions without a declaration of war by Congress, though most, if not all, have properly consulted and sought support from Congress. That is the wise thing to do.
Donald Rumsfeld
#80. If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.
Donald Rumsfeld
#81. The absence of evidence is not necessarily the evidence of absence
Donald Rumsfeld
#82. Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
Donald Rumsfeld
#83. There are things that we know, and there are things that we don't know. Then there are the things that we don't even know that we don't know. Those are the things that are the hardest.
Donald Rumsfeld
#84. 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
#85. I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think and I assume it's what I said.
Donald Rumsfeld
#86. If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.
Donald Rumsfeld
#87. The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who'll go on fighting long after their cause is lost.
Donald Rumsfeld
#88. Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?
Donald Rumsfeld
#89. Inspectors do not have the duty or the ability to uncover terrible weapons hidden in a vast country. The responsibility of inspectors is simply to confirm evidence of voluntary and total disarmament. Saddam Hussein has the responsibility to provide that evidence, as directed, and in full
Donald Rumsfeld
#91. When there happens to be a weapon of mass destruction suspect site in an area that we occupy and if people have time, they'll look at it.
Donald Rumsfeld
#93. Move decisions out to the Cabinet and agencies. Strengthen them by moving responsibility, authority, and accountability their direction.
Donald Rumsfeld
#94. 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
#95. Find ways to decentralize. Move decision making authority down and out. Encourage a more entrepreneurial approach.
Donald Rumsfeld
#96. What will follow will not be a repeat of any other conflict. It will be of a force and scope and scale that has been beyond what has been seen before.
Donald Rumsfeld
#97. Five days or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last longer.
Donald Rumsfeld
#98. See that the President, the Cabinet and staff are informed. If cut out of the information flow, their decisions may be poor, not made, or not confidently or persuasively implemented.
Donald Rumsfeld
#100. 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
Famous Authors
Popular Topics
Scroll to Top
