Quotes from 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.

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.

Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems.

Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.

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

Keep your sense of humor. As General Joe Stillwell said, "The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind.

The most valuable sense of humor is the kind that enables a person to see instantly what it isn't safe to laugh at

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.

Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up

Move decisions out to the Cabinet and agencies. Strengthen them by moving responsibility, authority, and accountability their direction.

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.

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

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

Strive to make proposed solutions as self-executing as possible. As the degree of discretion increases, so too does bureaucracy, delay, and expense.

You're thinking of Eurpoe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe.

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

Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.

You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe.

As you know, you go to war with the army you have. They're not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.

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

First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win.

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

Be yourself. Follow your instincts. Success depends, at least in part, on the ability to 'carry it off.'