Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
When cutting staff at the Pentagon, don't eliminate the thin layer that assures civilian control.
Donald Rumsfeld
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
TAGS & TOPICS
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
Layer
Civilians
Eliminate
Layers
Staff
Thin
Assures
Cutting
Civilian
Control
Pentagon
More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld
If you develop rules, never have more than ten.
Donald Rumsfeld
Success tends to go not to the person who is error-free, because he also tends to be risk-averse. Rather it goes to the person who recognizes that life is pretty much a percentage business. It isn't making mistakes that's critical it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
Donald Rumsfeld
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
Let your family, staff, and friends know that you're still the same person, despite all the publicity and notoriety that accompanies your position.
Donald Rumsfeld
If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.
Donald Rumsfeld
When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later.
Donald Rumsfeld
There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.
Donald Rumsfeld
Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here.
Donald Rumsfeld
Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Donald Rumsfeld
You might be a cunning linguist, but I am a master debater.
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
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.
Donald Rumsfeld
If you can't solve a problem, make it bigger.
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
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.
Donald Rumsfeld
Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.
Donald Rumsfeld
Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.
Donald Rumsfeld
I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.
Donald Rumsfeld
Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
Donald Rumsfeld
A few. . . critics are the only people I ever heard use the phrase 'imminent threat.' I didn't, the president didn't.
Donald Rumsfeld