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If you develop rules, never have more than ten.

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
Develop
Ten
Rules
Never

More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

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Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.
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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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Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.
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The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize. It's to change the behavior of the people that are being terrorized.
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I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to four hours?
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No. That's someone else's business. Quagmire is - I don't do quagmires.
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When starting at the bottom, be willing to learn from those at the top.
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When I served as US Ambassador to NATO in the 1970s, the center of gravity in Europe was France and Germany.
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Being Vice President is difficult. Don't make it tougher.
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Don't do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.
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General Boykin has requested that an inspector general review this matter. And I have indicated that if that's his request, I think it's appropriate.
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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.
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A few. . . critics are the only people I ever heard use the phrase 'imminent threat.' I didn't, the president didn't.
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If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.
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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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Leave the President's family business to him. You will have plenty to do without trying to manage the First Family. They are likely to do fine without your help.
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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.
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It is very difficult to spend federal (the taxpayers') dollars so that the intended result is achieved.
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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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Then there are three or four countries that have said they won't do anything. I believe Libya, Cuba and Germany are ones that have indicated they won't help in any respect.
Donald Rumsfeld