Top 180 Donald Rumsfeld Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 2 of 4

51. “The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

52. “Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

53. “I don’t do quagmires.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

54. “I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to four hours?”

— Donald Rumsfeld

55. “We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

56. “I’m glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

57. “Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps engender the support decisions need to be successfully implemented.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

58. “When someone with a rural accent says, “I don’t know much about politics,” zip up your pockets.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

59. “Oh my goodness gracious, what you can buy off the Internet in terms of overhead photography. A trained ape can know an awful lot of what is going on in this world, just by punching on his mouse, for a relatively modest cost.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

60. “When business accepts help from the government, it can be like going to bed with a hippopotamus. It’s nice and warm for the moment, but then your bedmate rolls over and crushes you.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

61. “Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers – they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

62. “Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

63. “I suppose the implication of that is the president and the vice president and myself and Colin Powell just fell off a turnip truck to take these jobs.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

64. “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

65. “Imagine, a September 11 with weapons of mass destruction. It’s not 3,000. It’s tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

66. “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

67. “The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who’ll go on fighting long after their cause is lost.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

68. “Watch the growth of middle level management. Don’t automatically fill vacant jobs. Leave some positions unfilled for 6-8 months to see what happens. You will find you won’t need to fill some of them.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

69. “Find ways to decentralize. Move decision making authority down and out. Encourage a more entrepreneurial approach.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

70. “And there is, I am certain, among the Iraqi people a respect for the care and the precision that went into the bombing campaign.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

71. “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

72. “The most underestimated risk for a politician is overexposure.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

73. “Politics is human beings; it’s addition rather than subtraction.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

74. “It isn’t making mistakes that’s critical; it’s correcting them and getting on with the principal task.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

75. “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

76. “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

77. “The worst thing you can do is allow a coalition to determine what your mission is.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

78. “Don’t say ‘the White House wants.’ Buildings can’t want.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

79. “Five days or five months, but it certainly isn’t going to last longer.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

80. “From where you sit, the White House may look as untidy as the inside of a stomach. As is said of the legislative process, sausage-making and policy-making shouldn’t be seen close-up. Don’t let that panic you. Things may be going better than they look from the inside.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

81. “There are things that we know, and there are things that we don’t know. Then there are the things that we don’t even know that we don’t know. Those are the things that are the hardest.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

82. “Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

83. “I am going to leave the future of Europe to the Europeans.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

84. “I cannot give any assurances. I’m not in that business. I haven’t been, and I don’t intend to get into it. People who try to make predictions about things or assurances often find they’re wrong.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

85. “Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?”

— Donald Rumsfeld

86. “The Cold War was a war, and we won it.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

87. “If there are people who yearn for the days when Saddam Hussein was in power, then I am not among them.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

88. “The implication that there was something wrong with the war plan is amusing.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

89. “See that the President, the Cabinet and staff are informed. If cut out of the information flow, their decisions may be poor, not made, or not confidently or persuasively implemented.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

90. “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

91. “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

92. “Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

93. “Don’t automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn’t considered key aspects of the issue.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

94. “America is not what’s wrong with the world.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

95. “Look for what’s missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what’s proposed or what’s gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn’t there.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

96. “Certainty without power can be interesting, even amusing. Certainty with power can be dangerous.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

97. “If a person is determined to fight to the death, then they may very well have that opportunity.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

98. “You will launch many projects, but have time to finish only a few. So think, plan, develop, launch and tap good people to be responsible. Give them authority and hold them accountable. Trying to do too much yourself creates a bottleneck.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

99. “At 78 years old, I am not surprised at much anymore. Germany has taken divergent positions before, so has France, so has England, so has the US.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

100. “I am not going to give you a number for it because it’s not my business to do intelligent work.”

— Donald Rumsfeld