Quotes By Donald Rumsfeld

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

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.

One of your tasks is to separate the "personal" from the "substantive." The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.

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.

Let your family, staff, and friends know that you're still the same person, despite all the publicity and notoriety that accompanies your position.

Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.

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.

If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Members of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are not there by accident. Each managed to get there for some reason. Learn what it was and you will know something important about them, about our country and about the American people.

Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.

Our task, your task... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction.

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

Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.

Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned; it was - by a taxpayer.

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.

There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.

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.

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

If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.

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.

Don't say "the White House wants." Buildings can't want.

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

Preserve the President's options. He may need them.

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.

When cutting staff at the Pentagon, don't eliminate the thin layer that assures civilian control.