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" If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it. "
Donald Rumsfeld
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" Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist. "
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" If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes. "
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" 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. "
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" Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals. "
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" 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. "
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" You will launch many projects, but have time to finish only a few. So think, plan, develop, launch and tap good people to be responsible. Give them authority and hold them accountable. Trying to do too much yourself creates a bottleneck. "
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" Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary. "
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" Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal. "
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" Oh my goodness gracious, what you can buy off the Internet in terms of overhead photography. A trained ape can know an awful lot of what is going on in this world, just by punching on his mouse, for a relatively modest cost. "
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" 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. "
Donald Rumsfeld
" With the press there is no 'off the record.' "
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" Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance. "
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" Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership. "
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" If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right. "
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" If a prospective Presidential approach can't be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn't been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won't 'sail' anyway. Send it back for further thought. "
Donald Rumsfeld
" If you develop rules, never have more than ten. "
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" Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men. "
Donald Rumsfeld
" One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong. "
Donald Rumsfeld
" Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up. "
Donald Rumsfeld
" Members of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are not there by accident. Each managed to get there for some reason. Learn what it was and you will know something important about them, about our country and about the American people. "
Donald Rumsfeld
" Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive. "
Donald Rumsfeld