Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

You can have a broad popular democracy movement and have it end being taken over by the most vicious people and the result is you don't end up with free political systems or free economic systems, you end up with a handful of radicals controlling the country.

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.

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.

We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.

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

I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.

The United States, as all you know, did not come to Iraq for oil, not to occupy. We came here only to help.

Let your family, staff, and friends know that you're still the same person, despite all the publicity and notoriety that accompanies your position.

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.

There's no debate in the world as to whether people have weapons of mass destruction... We all know that. A trained ape knows that.

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

Being Vice President is difficult. Don't make it tougher.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The most underestimated risk for a politician is overexposure.

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

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.

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.

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

Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?

I cannot give any assurances. I'm not in that business. I haven't been, and I don't intend to get into it. People who try to make predictions about things or assurances often find they're wrong.

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

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

What is the value of having millions of people in Iraq not having a repressive regime? What is the value of having the Iraqi regime not shooting at UK and US aircraft almost every day? What is the value of the Iraqis having a free press? What is the value of the foreign minister of Iraq going to Paris, calling for an end of the Gadhafi regime and citing Iraq as a model, as an example, that in fact a freer political system can exist in that part of the world?

With the press there is no "off the record.

If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.

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

Don't divide the world into "them" and "us."

I don't do quagmires.

If a person is determined to fight to the death, then they may very well have that opportunity.

The absence of evidence is not necessarily the evidence of absence

If you are working from your inbox, you are working on other people’s priorities.

The United States isn't going to do anything that it's not capable of doing. And if we do something, we'll be capable of doing it.

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.

It isn't making mistakes that's critical; it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.

One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.

I tend over the years to have developed a certain hesitancy about believing that headlines tell the whole story.

Every country should be tired of going to war. War is a terrible thing. If I had been in Congress, as much as I would be inclined naturally to be supportive of a president, any president, I would have voted no, had the issue come to a vote.

We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.

We do know that the Iraqi regime has chemical and biological weapons. His regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons - including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas. His regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of biological weapons—including anthrax and botulism toxin, and possibly smallpox.

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.

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

Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.

If you develop rules, never have more than ten.

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.