Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you.
Robert McNamaraI don't object to its being called "McNamara's war." I think it is a very important war and I am pleased to be identified with it and do whatever I can to win it.
Robert McNamaraAction should be founded on contemplation, and those of us who act don't put enough time, don't give enough emphasis, to contemplation.
Robert McNamaraAll the evidence of history suggests that man is indeed a rational animal, but with a near infinite capacity for folly. . . . He draws blueprints for Utopia, but never quite gets it built. In the end he plugs away obstinately with the only building material really ever at hand--his own part comic, part tragic, part cussed, but part glorious nature.
Robert McNamaraThe 'realist' conception of continuing old-fashioned 'balance of power' politics may have been well founded in the past, but it is inconsistent with our increasing interdependent world. On moral grounds alone there can be no justification for the 20th century level of killing. To settle disputes without violence must become the primary goal of foreign policy for every nation.
Robert McNamara