Robert Gates quotes

Robert Gates is an American statesman and intelligence analyst who served as Director of the CIA and U.S. Secretary of Defense. His career spanned several presidential administrations, making significant contributions to national security and foreign policy. He is recognized for his pragmatic leadership and bipartisan approach in government service. Here are 37 of his quotes:

It has become clear that America's civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long – relative to what we spend on the military, and more important, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world.

Robert Gates

I've spent my entire adult life with the United States as a superpower and one that had no compunction about spending what it took to sustain that position. And it didn't have to look over its shoulder because our economy was so strong.

Robert Gates

A wild and crazy weekend involves sitting on the front porch, smoking a cigar, reading a book.

Robert Gates

Well, I've ruffled a few feathers at all the institutions I've led. But I think that's part of leadership.

Robert Gates

Tough-minded, realistic, and very pro-American.

Robert Gates

One of my favorite little sayings is, 'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.

Robert Gates

Defense is not like other discretionary spending.

Robert Gates

If there's ever an example that military power alone cannot be successful in Afghanistan, I think it was the Soviet experience.

Robert Gates

I have always that there ought to be some kind of mandatory national service, not necessarily in the military but to show everybody that freedom isn't free, that everybody has an obligation to the nation as a community.

Robert Gates

I've seen, all too often in my career, people coming in to lead agencies and organizations and trying to impose change from the top down. Never works. You never have enough time.

Robert Gates

I don't think any president that I worked with has ever said 'pretty please.'

Robert Gates

You know, if I were an - if I were a Taliban, I'd say, 'What did al-Qaida ever do for me except get me kicked out of Afghanistan?'

Robert Gates

There's a lot of books out there about how you lead change in business, but I've certainly not seen any... on how you do that in public institutions.

Robert Gates

The reality is, the United States has global interests. Our defense budget is about the same as the defense budgets or military budgets of every other country in the world put together.

Robert Gates

I mean, when you get down to very low numbers of nuclear weapons, and you contemplate going to zero, how do you deal with the reality of that technology being available to almost any country that seeks to pursue it? And what conditions do you put in place?

Robert Gates

There is no international problem that can be addressed or solved without the engagement and leadership of the United States and everybody in the world knows that, its just fact of life. So sometimes I think we could conduct ourselves with a little more humility.

Robert Gates

I had no difficulty as Secretary of Defense moving from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.

Robert Gates

If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of, and, frankly, the facile way in which too many people talk about, 'Well, let's just go attack them.'

Robert Gates

The United States has been a global power since late in the 19th century.

Robert Gates

When I was the director of Central Intelligence in the early '90s, I tried to get the Air Force to partner with us in building drones. And they didn't want to, because they had no pilots.

Robert Gates

Well, Israel, obviously, thinks of the Iranian nuclear program as an existential threat to Israel.

Robert Gates

Things have gotten so nasty in Washington.

Robert Gates