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

Donald Rumsfeld

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Donald Rumsfeld
Age: 88 †
Born: 1932
Born: July 9
Died: 2021
Died: June 29
Author
Businessperson
Diplomat
Former U.S. Secretary Of Defense
Military Officer
Politician
Chicago
Illinois
Donald Henry Rumsfeld
Predecessors
Boots
Ill
Shoes
Walk
Walks
Speak
Didn
Successors

More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

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A large number of people to begin crawling through those tunnels and caves looking for the bad folks.
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We don't seek empires.We're not imperialistic.
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Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
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Napoleon was asked, Who do you consider to be the greatest generals? He responded saying, The victors.
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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.
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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
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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
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I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons.
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Preserve the President's options. He may need them.
Donald Rumsfeld
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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
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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
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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.
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Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems.
Donald Rumsfeld
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[on Osama bin Laden] He is either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.
Donald Rumsfeld
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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
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In unanimity there may well be either cowardice or uncritical thinking.
Donald Rumsfeld
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What is needed [to combat terrorism], in my view, is resolve, not retreat courage, not concession. Rather than thinking in terms of an exit strategy, focus on a strategy for success.
Donald Rumsfeld
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We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.
Donald Rumsfeld
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If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.
Donald Rumsfeld
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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