Quotes from Donald Rumsfeld

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.

The Federal Government should be the last resort, not the first. Ask if a potential program is truly a federal responsibility or whether it can better be handled privately, by voluntary organizations, or by local or state governments.

Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.

Remember where you came from.

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.

Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here.

If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.

Politics is human beings; it's addition rather than subtraction.

There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments.

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.

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

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

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

If it were a fact, it wouldn't be called intelligence.

We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead.

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

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.

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.

Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.

With the press there is no 'off the record.'

If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.

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

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country.