Quote

We do have a saying in America: if you're in a hole, stop digging ..... erm, I'm not sure I should have said that.

Donald Rumsfeld

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

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
Holes
Saying
Stop
Sure
America
Digging
Hole

More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

Image
I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
Pieces of intelligence, scraps of intelligence...you run down leads and you run down leads, and you hope that sometimes it works.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
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
Image
The reality is that [Barack] Obama has some 15 countries in the current Libya coalition. President Bush put together close to 50 countries for the Afghan coalition, some 40 countries for the Iraqi coalition, more than 90 countries for the Proliferation Security Initiative and over 90 countries in the Global War on Terror.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
Inspectors do not have the duty or the ability to uncover terrible weapons hidden in a vast country. The responsibility of inspectors is simply to confirm evidence of voluntary and total disarmament. Saddam Hussein has the responsibility to provide that evidence, as directed, and in full
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
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
Image
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
Image
The worst mistake is to have the best ladder and the wrong wall.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
The United States isn't going to do anything that it's not capable of doing. And if we do something, we'll be capable of doing it.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
The natural state of man is to want to be free. To have opportunities. To have choices.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
If you look ahead 10 years, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the people of Russia had become fans of missile defence.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
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
Image
Don't divide the world into them and us.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
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
Image
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
Image
Do you have any regrets? Of course I do.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned it was - by a taxpayer.
Donald Rumsfeld
Image
[on Osama bin Laden] He is either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.
Donald Rumsfeld