Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

Look several months ahead, see where the obstacles lie, and figure out ways to overcome them.

An inch of foreknowledge is worth ten miles of after-thought.

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.

Do, What you're going to do in longevity. Not just what happens tomorrow.

If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

At a very young age I was predicting outcomes, trying to take all the information and find the best route to wherever I was going. I avoided a lot of pitfalls because of that.

It is axiomatic in politics that the earlier one addresses a problem, the more the alternatives and the easier the solutions.

It is not enough that a President should be patriotic and high-minded in his intentions and wise in his purposes; he must also be efficient in carrying them out.

We have to be about finding long-term solutions to our biggest challenges.

Meeting the challenges of the future requires a state that can think and act strategically.

The how will show up after the commitment to the what.

It's bad policy to speculate on what you'll do if a plan fails when you're trying to make a plan work.

The man of action has the present, but the thinker controls the future.

To deal with future we have to deal with possibilities. Analysis will only tell us what is.

Sometimes I do have something in my head. But, for me, I think it usually ends up being about considering all of the elements, and trying to understand the distance from where we are to where we want to go.

Strategy is about shaping the future.

Leadership is people taking the initiative, carrying things through, having ideas and the imagination to get something started, and exhibiting particular skills in different areas.

I got a lot of Ph.D.-types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, 'Mr. President, here's what's on my mind.' And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device, I decide, you know, I say, 'This is what we're going to do.'

If we think long term, we can accomplish things that we couldn't otherwise accomplish.

"What would I do if?.." By thinking tactically, we can more easily arrive at correct tactical solutions, and practice - even theoretical practice - tends to produce confidence in our solutions which, in turn, makes it easier for us, and thus quicker, to reach a decision.

We will have to decide today whether we will design the future or resign ourselves to it.

The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions, for life is a kind of chess.