Donald Rumsfeld quotes

Donald Rumsfeld was an American politician, businessman, and Secretary of Defense. Known for serving as Defense Secretary under both Gerald Ford and George W. Bush, he played a major role in shaping U.S. military policy. He became a central figure in the planning and execution of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Here are 134 of his quotes:

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

Donald Rumsfeld

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.

Donald Rumsfeld

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

Donald Rumsfeld

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

Pieces of intelligence, scraps of intelligence...you run down leads and you run down leads, and you hope that sometimes it works.

Donald Rumsfeld

I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.

Donald Rumsfeld

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

After he saw what happened to Saddam Hussein, he (Gadhafi) did not want to be Saddam Hussein. He gave up his nuclear program.

Donald Rumsfeld

As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. Since the Iraq conflict began, the Army has been pressing ahead to produce the armor necessary at a rate that they believe - it's a greatly expanded rate from what existed previously, but a rate that they believe is the rate that is all that can be accomplished at this moment.

Donald Rumsfeld

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

Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable.

Donald Rumsfeld

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

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

The natural state of man is to want to be free. To have opportunities. To have choices.

Donald Rumsfeld

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

Donald Rumsfeld

It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy.

Donald Rumsfeld

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

Donald Rumsfeld

We do have a saying in America: if you're in a hole, stop digging ..... erm, I'm not sure I should have said that.

Donald Rumsfeld

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

Donald Rumsfeld

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

Donald Rumsfeld

What we are seeing is not the war in Iraq. What we're seeing is slices of the war in Iraq.

Donald Rumsfeld

...it seems to me that it's up to all of us to try to tell the truth, to say what we know, to say what we don't know, and recognize that we're dealing with people that are perfectly willing to, to lie to the world to attempt to further their case and to the extent people lie of, ultimately they are caught lying and they lose their credibility and one would think it wouldn't take very long for that to happen dealing with people like this.

Donald Rumsfeld