Donald Rumsfeld

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

In the execution of Presidential decisions work to be true to his views, in fact and tone.

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country.

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

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.

Make decisions about the President’s personal security. He can overrule you, but don’t ask him to be the one to counsel caution.

Investors are visionaries in some respects – they look beyond the present.

I never aspired to be a public figure. I have always been interested primarily in real business and the development of business strategies.

We wish all users of Ford cars to know what they are entitled to.

I never trust an executive who tends to pass the buck. Nor would I want to deal with him as a customer or a supplier.

A touch of the jitters sharpens the mind, gets the adrenaline flowing and helps you to focus.

The real story of Facebook is just that we’ve worked so hard for all this time. I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded.

Burdening people with debt is an old deal not a new deal.

The greatest teacher I know is the job itself.

I always kind of see how I want things to be better, and I’m generally not happy with how things are or the level of service that we’re providing for people or the quality of the teams that we built. But if you look at this objectively, we’re doing so well on so many of these things. I think it’s important to have gratitude for that.

Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.

I decided to sit quietly and do business and don’t stick your neck out and tell everybody everything belongs to me. That would only cause problems for myself. Therefore I never told these stories or declared all these things to anyone.

We decided not to show One Hyde Park til we were 100% ready. A lot of people open the doors too early.

We’ve created a recognisable brand that has the ability to be the Louis Vuitton of our era.

One client didn’t want to go out so had us build him a nightclub in his house.

The Model T blazed the way for the motor industry and started the movement for good roads everywhere. It is still the pioneer car in many parts of the world which are just beginning to be motorized.