Donald Rumsfeld

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

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.

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.

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.

When asked for your views, by the press or others, remember that what they really want to know is the President’s views.

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

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

What men call social virtues, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

When it comes to the point, really bad men are just as rare as really good ones.

Danger – if you meet it promptly and without flinching – you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity does best discover vice, but adversity does best discover virtue.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.

The method of nature: who could ever analyze it?

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.

That’s what I can’t stand. I know I’ll bounce back, and that’s what I can’t stand.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

Talk about slavery! It is not the peculiar institution of the South. It exists wherever men are bought and sold, wherever a man allows himself to be made a mere thing or a tool, and surrenders his inalienable rights of reason and conscience. Indeed, this slavery is more complete than that which enslaves the body alone… I never yet met with, or heard of, a judge who was not a slave of this kind, and so the finest and most unfailing weapon of injustice. He fetches a slightly higher price than the black men only because he is a more valuable slave.

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.

Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him.