Donald Rumsfeld

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

Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.

Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned; it was – by a taxpayer.

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.

If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.

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

We know now that the soul is the body, and the body the soul. They tell us they are different because they want to persuade us that we can keep our souls if we let them make slaves of our bodies.

Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love.

Women are like tea bags. You never know how strong they are until they are in hot water.

I’m taking more time to listen to myself. It’s allowed me to be an aggressive bad ass, calling it as I see it

What we become depends on what our fathers teach us.

The report of my death was an exaggeration.

One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.

One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich.

Gold will be slave or master.

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

I could not find the world if I searched ten years. I’ve forgotten the road by which I came.

If a man constantly aspires is he not elevated?

What is it they want from a man that they didn’t get from his work? What do they expect? What is there left of him when he’s done his work? What’s any artist, but the dregs of his work? the human shambles that follows it around. What’s left of the man when the work’s done but a shambles of apology.

He gains everyone’s approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.