Donald Rumsfeld

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.

Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.

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.

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

Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin’s still learning.

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

The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

I think people should be nicer to each other

If you aspire to be a leader of your own country, you must speak your own language, for God’s sake.

I feel like the thing we can do is celebrate people doing great work and create more cultural momentum and awareness that this is an important thing in the world. So when the next economic crisis hits and people are talking about where to cut from the budget, science isn’t the thing.

Respect people with less power then you. I don’t care if you’re the most powerful cat in the room, I will judge you on how you treat the least powerful. So there.

Leaders, true leaders, take responsibility for the success of the team, and understand that they must also take responsibility for the failure.

You don’t reward failure by promoting those responsible for it, because all you get is more failure.

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

In real life, if I were firing you, I’d tell you what a great job you did, how fantastic you are, and how you can do better someplace else. If somebody steals, that’s different, but generally speaking, you want to let them down as lightly as possible. It’s not a very pleasant thing. I don’t like firing people.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

Leaders who are effective are leaders who are disciplined in their daily lives.

When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

You do your job, you keep your job. Do it well, you get a better job.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.