Donald Rumsfeld

Public servants are paid to serve the American people. Do it well.

Don’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.

The price of being close to the President is delivering bad news. You fail him if you don’t tell him the truth. Others won’t do it.

Look for what’s missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what’s proposed or what’s gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn’t there.

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

There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that’s just a fact.

Courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.

You are perfect. An exquisitely fine work of art, labor of love, suspended in silence. Bejeweled, trembling, kissed by a breeze, mesmerized by your beauty. You await in silence, beckoning me to a silken-wrapped slumber.

You are braver than you believe. Stronger than you seem. And smarter than you think.

My life has been one great big joke, a dance that’s walked a song that’s spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke when I think about myself.

Bravery is more important than perfection.- Kanye West

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.

In this war, a danger there is, of losing who we are.

If you live for people’s acceptance, you’ll die from their rejections.

While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth?

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

When I feel like dancing, I dance. I don’t care if anyone else is dancing or if everyone else is laughing at me. I dance.

Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!

I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.

I am easily satisfied with the very best.

America is another name for opportunity.