Top 180 Donald Rumsfeld Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “Presidential leadership needn’t always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

102. “Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned; it was – by a taxpayer.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

103. “If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

104. “You can have a broad popular democracy movement and have it end being taken over by the most vicious people and the result is you don’t end up with free political systems or free economic systems, you end up with a handful of radicals controlling the country.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

105. “NATO member states vary dramatically in their capability and in their political steadfastness.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

106. “Most US presidents since World War II have led military actions without a declaration of war by Congress, though most, if not all, have properly consulted and sought support from Congress. That is the wise thing to do.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

107. “The United States, as all you know, did not come to Iraq for oil, not to occupy. We came here only to help.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

108. “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.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

109. “Oh, Lord. I didn’t mean to say anything quotable.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

110. “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

111. “If you develop rules, never have more than ten.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

112. “The price of being close to the President is delivering bad news. You fail him if you don’t tell him the truth. Others won’t do it.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

113. “If you order a bureaucracy to do something it doesn’t want to do, very often it will ensure that your attempt at change will fail and prove to all that it was right in the first place.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

114. “Learn to say ‘I don’t know.’ If used when appropriate, it will be often.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

115. “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

116. “Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin’s still learning.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

117. “There are only three responses to questions from the press: “I know and will tell you”; “I know and I can’t tell you”; and “I don’t know.” – Dan Rather.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

118. “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

119. “Public servants are paid to serve the American people. Do it well.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

120. “I can’t tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won’t last any longer than that.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

121. “When cutting staff at the Pentagon, don’t eliminate the thin layer that assures civilian control.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

122. “Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

123. “When there happens to be a weapon of mass destruction suspect site in an area that we occupy and if people have time, they’ll look at it.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

124. “We never believed that we’d just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

125. “If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

126. “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.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

127. “One thing appears reasonably certain, and that’s that those who make allegations of a culture of deception, of intimidation or cover-up need to be extremely careful about such accusations.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

128. “The absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence; nor is it evidence of presence.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

129. “Every president when he is elected has to live with the pluses and minuses his predecessor leaves, which includes benefits as well as burdens.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

130. “When I served as US Ambassador to NATO in the 1970s, the center of gravity in Europe was France and Germany.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

131. “If a prospective Presidential approach can’t be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn’t been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won’t ‘sail’ anyway. Send it back for further thought.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

132. “Walk around. If you are invisible, the mystique of the President’s office may perpetuate inaccurate impressions about you or the President, to his detriment. After all, you may not be as bad as they’re saying.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

133. “The press always wants to know how many people will be killed or how much it will cost, but the answers to those questions are not knowable.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

134. “Don’t do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

135. “In politics, every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

136. “I don’t believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

137. “Control your own time. Don’t let it be done for you. If you are working off the in-box that is fed you, you are probably working on the priority of others.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

138. “After the German abstention at the UN, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle commented that Germany doesn’t always have to stand on the side of its traditional allies. Berlin can look for new partners all over the world.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

139. “It’s a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

140. “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

141. “In the execution of Presidential decisions work to be true to his views, in fact and tone.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

142. “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

143. “Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

144. “When it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayer, we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

145. “Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you see around some corners. Try to make original mistakes, rather than needlessly repeating theirs.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

146. “The problem is the people who tend to be the best organized are the most radical and the most vicious.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

147. “A terrorist can attack any time, any place using any technique and you can’t defend everywhere against every technique at every moment.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

148. “The harder I work, the luckier I am. – Stephen Leacock.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

149. “Do I Have any Regrets? Of Course I Do.”

— Donald Rumsfeld

150. “There are a lot of things that are said by people in the military, or civilian life, or in the Congress, or in the Executive Branch, that are their views. And that’s the way we live. We’re a free people. And that’s the wonderful thing about our country.”

— Donald Rumsfeld