Quote

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

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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
Personal
Contact
System
Shape
Help
Experiences
President
Thus
Helping
Critical
Contacts
Must
Shapes
Persuade
Thinking
Lead
Consent
Leadership
Command

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There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.
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Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable.
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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.
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They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.
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I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work.
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Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?
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I'm glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.
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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.
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One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.
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A terrorist can attack any time, any place using any technique and you can't defend everywhere against every technique at every moment.
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We don't seek empires.We're not imperialistic.
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I think we ought to have a new rule: You can ask two questions, and then we can pick the one we want to answer.
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The worst mistake is to have the best ladder and the wrong wall.
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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.
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Being Vice President is difficult. Don't make it tougher.
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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.
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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.
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