Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

The first lady must be a leader. She must not be a follower.

To rule is not so much a question of the heavy hand as the firm seat.

I am not invested with dictatorial powers. If I were, I should be quite ready to dictate.

I’m the commander, see, I don’t need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.

They who among men obtain the chiefest Dominion, cannot be subject to Laws properly so called, that is to say, to the will of men, because to be chief, and subject, are contradictories;

I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have the sense to do without my persuading them. That's all the powers of the President amount to.

Leadership is not a popularity contest; it's about leaving your ego at the door. The name of the game is to lead without a title.

There are two kinds of power you have to fight. The first is the money, and that's just our system. The other is the people close around you, knowing when to accept their criticism, knowing when to say no.

The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such. All leaders whose fitness is questioned are clearly lacking in force.

I like being in charge of the remote control.

Folks, I can tell you I've known eight presidents, three of them intimately.

Politics and power is a realm of relative influence.

I think I can regard myself as a political decision-maker.

Leadership is influence.

Men of power have no time to read; yet the men who do not read are unfit for power.

Being a leader doesn't mean you are the guy who runs things.

Leaders do not sway with the polls. Instead, they sway the polls through their own words and actions.

Being a leader gives you charisma. If you look and study the leaders who have succeeded, that's where charisma comes from, from the leading.

We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

I like control.

Well, I have an interest in power. I have an interest in people who find themselves in the position to exercise absolute power.

It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives.

The greatest power is not money power, but political power.

Power gravitates to the man who knows how.

I enjoy being in control, having a lot of creative control.