Quotessence
Home / Authors / Robert M. Gates
Robert M. Gates

Robert M. Gates Quotes

United States Secretary of Defense

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingPeopleMilitaryPresidentStatesWarCountryIfsInstitutionsUnited

Famous Robert M. Gates Quotes

“Honor is defined as "honesty and integrity in one's beliefs and actions," integrity being "adherence to moral principle and character." Words like these are not heard much in our public discourse today. But I believe these words and what they represent are the bedrock of effective leadership. If you seek to lead men and women, you must persuade them to follow you. That means they must trust you. Herbert Asquith, British prime minister from 1908-1916, wrote, "To speak with the tongue of men and angels, and to spend laborious days and nights in administration, is no good if a man does not inspire trust." A leader's actions must match his words. People must believe he means what he says, that his promises matter and are not just idle rhetoric. Integrity in action becomes moral authority, and it is moral authority that moves people to follow someone even at personal risk or sacrifice-- or even when they disagree.”

CharacterLeadershipIntegrity
Book:A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service
Create image

“It has become clear that America's civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long - relative to what we spend on the military, and more important, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world.”

WorldLongHas BeensImportantAmericaNationsChallengesResponsibilityClearMilitaryDevelopmentInstitutionsAround The WorldRelativeDiplomacyCivilians
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“Every time we have come to the end of a conflict, somehow we have persuaded ourselves that the nature of mankind and the nature of the world have changed on an enduring basis and so we have dismantle our military and intelligence capabilities. My hope is that as we wind down in Iraq and whatever the level of our commitment in Afghanistan, that we not forget the basic nature of humankind has not changed.”

WorldEndsForgetLevelsMankindMilitaryChangedWindConflictCommitmentBasesEndureIraqAfghanistanCapabilityHumankindNature Of Man
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“If possible, to be in a position to announce who is going to step in as the interim immediately. And if possible, to announce who you're going to nominate to replace that person. For that to be somebody of impeccable integrity and reputation disarms a lot of the worst criticism that it's some kind of a power play. It's a professional approach to replacing a senior official, which is always going to get a lot of attention.”

KindAttentionWorstIntegrityCriticismReputationSenior
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“I think in the context of senior government positions, I think an anecdote of what I told President-Elect Barack Obama when we had our first meeting. And I said, "You don't know me. Can you trust me? Why do you think you can trust me?" and so on. But at the end, I said, "You can count on me to be loyal to you. I will not leak. I will keep my disagreements with you private. And if I cannot be loyal, I'll leave." Loyalty means doing what you think is in the best interest of that person as well as the country.”

ThinkingMeanCountryInterestMeetingsLoyaltyBarackLoyalKnow MeSeniorTrust MeDisagreement
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“I think it's kind of a stretch. You know, it's one thing if somebody working for the U.S. government has sold secrets to the other side, it's another if they have something in their personal life that they're hiding for which they could be blackmailed. Having evidence that they didn't tell the truth to somebody in the same building where they work, maybe it's just the old intel guy, is - it's a problem.”

ThinkingKindProblemGuySecretBuildingEvidenceTelling The TruthHidingPersonal Life
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“I think that Vladimir Putin is certainly getting a lot of publicity for what the Russians are doing. And I'm not sure that's unwelcome to him. I think this is a guy who saw the U.S. basically come out against him in his reelection campaign in 2012. He saw the U.S. being behind all of the color revolutions in Eastern Europe and in Georgia and Ukraine and so on. So his view is the West has been interfering in his politics for years.”

ThinkingGuyRevolutionNot SureInterfereEastern
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“My one concern is that Hu Jintao may overestimate how much power China has in Pyongyang. They have - they do have influence, and they do have companies, and they do have economic relationships that could make life much more difficult in the north. Their balancing act is, "How much worse can we make it in the north without creating that which scares us more than anything, which is a collapse in the north." And then what happens to all those nuclear weapons. So they're going to work very hard to avoid that.”

DifficultInfluenceEconomicConcernScareNuclear WeaponsGoing To WorkOverestimate
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“Power... Military success is not sufficient to win: economic development, institution-building and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing basic services to the people, training and equipping indigenous military and police forces, strategic communications, and more of these, along with security, are essential ingredients for long-term success.”

PeopleLongLawWinningForcePeaceTermEconomicSecurityMilitaryBuildingCommunicationDevelopmentEssentialsTrainingPoliceInstitutionsLong TermSufficientInternalsIngredientsProvidingGovernancePromotingIndigenousReconciliationStrategicRule Of LawEconomic DevelopmentPolice ForceGood GovernanceLong Term Success
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image

“Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country.”

SelfCountryResponsibilitySawsElectionDistanceCongressUglyFulfillingIncompetentEgotisticalHypocriticalTimelyAppropriation
Author:Robert M. Gates
Create image