Donald Rumsfeld

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

Don’t divide the world into “them” and “us.” Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the press, the Congress, rivals, or opponents. Accept them as facts. They have their jobs and you have yours.

Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.

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

Prune – prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.

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

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Treat everyone as if they were a guest in your own house, because in reality, they are a guest in your own world.

Everyone makes mistakes. The wise are not people who never make mistakes, but those who forgive themselves and learn from their mistakes.

Understanding is simple. Knowing is complicated.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

That dog don’t hunt.

It’s a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn’t want to hear.

Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.

Every damn thing you do in this life, you have to pay for.

Roaming through the jungle of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’, searching for a more agreeable noise, I live a life of primitivity with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats.

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.

If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.

It doesn’t matter how long my hair is or what colour my skin is or whether I’m a woman or a man.

If you become a teacher, by your pupils you’ll be taught.

A man can seldom – very, very, seldom – fight a winning fight against his training; the odds are too heavy.