Don Rumsfeld Quotes & Sayings

Don't 'over-control' like a novice pilot. Stay loose enough from the flow that you can observe it, modify, and improve it. — Donald Rumsfeld

Don't say 'the White House wants.' Buildings can't want. — Donald Rumsfeld

I don't think we'll discover anything, myself. I think what will happen is we'll discover people who will tell us where to go find it. It is not like a treasure hunt where you just runaround looking everywhere hoping you find something. I just don't think that's going to happen. The inspectors didn't find anything, and I doubt that we will. What we will do is find the people who will tell us. — 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

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

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

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

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

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

We don't seek empires.We're not imperialistic. — Donald Rumsfeld

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. — Donald Rumsfeld

Don't divide the world into 'them' and 'us.' Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the press, the Congress, rivals, or opponents. Accept them as facts. They have their jobs and you have yours. — 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

Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems. — Donald Rumsfeld

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. — Donald Rumsfeld

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

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

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

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

No. That's someone else's business. Quagmire is - I don't do quagmires. — 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

I don't do quagmires. — Donald Rumsfeld

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

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. — Donald Rumsfeld

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns- the ones we don't know we don't know. — Donald Rumsfeld

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

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

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

If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly. — Donald Rumsfeld

Republicans don't have to accept evolution, economics, climatology, or human sexuality, but I just watched a week of their national convention, and I need them to admit the historical existence of George W. Bush. If your party can run the nation for eight years and then have a national convention and not invite Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, or Tom DeLay, you're not a political movement, you're the witness protection program. — Bill Maher

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

Fuck it, I thought. As Don Rumsfeld once said, You go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had. — Avi Steinberg

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

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

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

Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it. — Donald Rumsfeld

Learn to say 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be often. — Donald Rumsfeld

I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld. I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers. — Trent Lott

Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning. — Donald Rumsfeld

Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership. — 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

In the cold war, the CIA was condemned by the American left for what it did. In the war on terror, the CIA was attacked by the American right for what it could not do. The charge was incompetence, leveled by such men as Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Say what one may about their leadership, they knew from long experience what the reader now knows: the CIA was unable to fulfill its role as America's intelligence service. — Tim Weiner

I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons. — Donald Rumsfeld

When cutting staff at the Pentagon, don't eliminate the thin layer that assures civilian control. — Donald Rumsfeld

There are things we know we know. . . . We know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know. - Donald Rumsfeld — Steven J. Wangsness

Essentially Rumsfeld wins, Cheney wins, and the CIA and State Department lose. Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld have more centralized control over intelligence, analysis, and operations than ever before. And the way they interpret the law, if the President authorizes an intelligence mission to be run covertly by the Pentagon, they don't have to tell anybody, including Congress, about it because the President is the commander in chief. — Seymour Hersh

If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right. — Donald Rumsfeld

Don Rumsfeld is the finest secretary of defense the nation has ever had. — Dick Cheney

You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe. If you look at the entire NATO Europe today, the center of gravity is shifting to the east. And there are a lot of new members. And if you just take the list of all the members of NATO and all of those who have been invited in recently
what is it? Twenty-six, something like that?
you're right. Germany has been a problem, and France has been a problem. — Donald Rumsfeld