Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

Geeks run the world. Condoleezza Rice is a geek, Bill Gates is clearly a geek, many of the big filmmakers and writers are geeks, lots of military people are geeks. Anyone who has heard Donald Rumsfeld talk about military hardware knows they are in the presence of a geek. ~ China Mieville

Something under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. burden, and how much would be other countries, is an open question. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

If you develop rules, never have more than ten. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Those who think that they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge. - Margaret Thatcher ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

To gain support in U.S. Congress and from other nations requires clarity, an acceptable mission and an explicit outcome. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

No. That's someone else's business. Quagmire is - I don't do quagmires. ~ 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 think you can be an enemy of Saddam Hussein even if Donald Rumsfeld is also an enemy of Saddam Hussein. ~ Adam Michnik

Never hire anyone
you can't fire. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

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

Never assume the other fellow will not do something you wouldn't do. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. Since the Iraq conflict began, the Army has been pressing ahead to produce the armor necessary at a rate that they believe
it's a greatly expanded rate from what existed previously, but a rate that they believe is the rate that is all that can be accomplished at this moment. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Preserve the President's options. He may need them. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

The way to do well is to do well. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

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

If in doubt, move decisions up to the President. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

We have an orientation that tends to make us think that everything is our responsibility and that we should be doing this. It is the Iraqis' country, 28 million of them. They are perfectly capable of running that country. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history. We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that's the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war. ~ John McCain

If you look ahead 10 years, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the people of Russia had become fans of missile defence. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Donald Rumsfeld also lost his gig last week. When asked what his future plans are, Rumsfeld said, 'What's a plan?' ~ Bill Maher

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

Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting and challenging times of your life. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

In the execution of Presidential decisions work to be true to his views, in fact and tone. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

A terrorist can attack any time, any place using any technique and you can't defend everywhere against every technique at every moment. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

No, it turns out Saddam Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction. And how crazy does that make Saddam? All he had to do was tell Hans Blix, 'Look anywhere you want. Look under the bed. Look beneath the couch. Look behind the toilet tank in the third presidential palace on the left, but keep your mitts off my copies of Maxim.' And Saddam could have gone on dictatoring away until Donald Rumsfeld gets elected head of the World Council of Churches. But no . . . ~ P.J. O'Rourke

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

After the German abstention at the UN, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle commented that Germany doesn't always have to stand on the side of its traditional allies. Berlin can look for new partners all over the world. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

If we know anything, it is that weakness is provocative. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

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

You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Strive to make proposed solutions as self-executing as possible. As the degree of discretion increases, so too does bureaucracy, delay, and expense. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

NATO member states vary dramatically in their capability and in their political steadfastness. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

You're thinking of Eurpoe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Keep your sense of humor. As General Joe Stillwell said, 'The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind'. ~ 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

Some international relations scholars would posit that interest in zombies is an indirect attempt to get a cognitive grip on what U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously referred to as the "unknown knowns" in international security. Perhaps, however, there also exists a genuine but publicly unacknowledged fear of the dead rising from the grave and feasting upon the entrails of the living. ~ Daniel Drezner

You might be a cunning linguist, but I am a master debater. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Most of the 50 or so invitations you receive each week come from people inviting the President's Chief of Staff, not you. If you doubt that, ask your predecessor how many he received last week. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

I doubt there's anything you could say to Donald Rumsfeld that would puncture the armor of his narcissism. ~ Phil Klay

The Chavez-Obama pictures will join a postmodern photo array that includes Donald Rumsfeld gifting Saddam Hussein with spurs from President Reagan. ~ Christine Pelosi

I am going to leave the future of Europe to the Europeans. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

A president has to provide leadership to gain support. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

The worst thing you can do is allow a coalition to determine what your mission is. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

I don't do quagmires. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

When you're skiing, if you're not falling you're not trying. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said any assumption that the US would not use force against North Korea would be a mistake. Such bellicosity frightens liberals. The left's reaction to nutty despots is: he might hit me, so I'll be nice. Rumsfeld's idea is: He'll hit me? Maybe I'll hit him. The beauty of that approach cannot be denied. ~ Ann Coulter

In 2003, at the time I made my "Old Europe" comment, the center of gravity in NATO and Europe had long since shifted to the East. With the former Warsaw Pact countries joining NATO, the alliance has a different mix today. Some people were sensitive about my comment because they thought it was a pejorative way of highlighting demographic realities. Apparently they felt it pointed a white light at a weakness in Europe - an aging population. Europe has come some distance since World War II in becoming Europe. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Certainty without power can be interesting, even amusing. Certainty with power can be dangerous. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

The reality is that [Barack] Obama has some 15 countries in the current Libya coalition. President Bush put together close to 50 countries for the Afghan coalition, some 40 countries for the Iraqi coalition, more than 90 countries for the Proliferation Security Initiative and over 90 countries in the Global War on Terror. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

The leaders of the empire, the imperial mafia-George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, et al ... are as fanatic and as fundamentalist as Osama bin Laden. ~ William Blum

And for once, Donald Rumsfeld, in the news at the time over the Iraq war made sense to me: "As we know," he said, famously, "there are known knowns-things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns-things we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns- things we don't know we don't know. ~ Benjamin Mee

They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer. ~ 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

There are a lot of things that are said by people in the military, or civilian life, or in the Congress, or in the Executive Branch, that are their views. And that's the way we live. We're a free people. And that's the wonderful thing about our country. ~ 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

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

I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

I recognize the need to provide the press - and, through you, the American people - with information to the fullest extent possible. In our democracy, the work of the Pentagon press corps is important, defending our freedom and way of life is what this conflict is about, and that certainly includes freedom of the press. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten indeed the word 'terrorized' is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

There is no question but that when one is engaged militarily that there are going to be unintended loss of life. ~ 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

America is not what's wrong with the world ~ Donald Rumsfeld

We're not running out of [fixed] targets. Afghanistan is. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments. ~ 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

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

I suppose the implication of that is the president and the vice president and myself and Colin Powell just fell off a turnip truck to take these jobs. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

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

Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers. ~ 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

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

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

Well, so be it. Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet. ~ 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

We are in the process of trying to liberate that country. And at the moment where the war ends and the coalition forces occupy the areas where those capabilities - chemical and biological weapons - are likely to be, to the extent they haven't been moved out of the country, it obviously is important to find them. ~ Donald Rumsfeld