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Well, so be it. Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet.
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
Well
Nothing
Life
Election
Quite
Perfect
Better
Wells
More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld
Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned it was - by a taxpayer.
Donald Rumsfeld
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
It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy.
Donald Rumsfeld
Don't do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.
Donald Rumsfeld
Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.
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
... something under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. burden, and how much would be other countries, is an open question.
Donald Rumsfeld
Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
Donald Rumsfeld
There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.
Donald Rumsfeld
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.
Donald Rumsfeld
When starting at the bottom, be willing to learn from those at the top.
Donald Rumsfeld
They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.
Donald Rumsfeld
There are known knowns there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know.
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
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
A large number of people to begin crawling through those tunnels and caves looking for the bad folks.
Donald Rumsfeld
We don't seek empires.We're not imperialistic.
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
We'll have to deal with the networks. One of the ways to do that is to drain the swamp they live in. And that means dealing not only with the terrorists, but those who harbor terrorists. This will take a long, sustained effort. It will require the support of the American people as well as our friends and allies around the world.
Donald Rumsfeld
If you can't solve a problem, make it bigger.
Donald Rumsfeld