Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of others. Be sure the staff is working on what you move to them from the President, or the President will be reacting, not leading.

Quote by Donald Rumsfeld

Topics: Politics Quotes, Time Quotes

Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you...

Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you...

Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.

Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.

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

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

Prune - prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.

Prune - prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.

If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.

If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.

Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or...

Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or...

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to...

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to...

Leave the President's family business to him. You will have plenty to do without trying...

Leave the President's family business to him. You will have plenty to do without trying...

In the execution of Presidential decisions work to be true to his views, in fact...

In the execution of Presidential decisions work to be true to his views, in fact...

Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.

Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.

Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps...

Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps...

I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five...

I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five...

Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting...

Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting...

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to...

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to...

Don't divide the world into hem and us. Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the...

Don't divide the world into hem and us. Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the...

First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If...

First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If...

Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of...

Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of...

[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal...

[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal...

If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than...

If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than...

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then...

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then...

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe...

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe...

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than...

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than...