Robert M. Gates Thinking Quotations

Well, I've ruffled a few feathers at all the institutions I've led. But I think that's part of leadership.

Well, Israel, obviously, thinks of the Iranian nuclear program as an existential threat to Israel.

There is no international problem that can be addressed or solved without the engagement and leadership of the United States and everybody in the world knows that, its just fact of life. So sometimes I think we could conduct ourselves with a little more humility.

I don't think any president that I worked with has ever said 'pretty please.

I think that Iran with a nuclear weapon is extremely destabilizing. I think it could precipitate a nuclear arms race in the region.

If there's ever an example that military power alone cannot be successful in Afghanistan, I think it was the Soviet experience.

No president is well-served by groupthink or by everybody singing from the same sheet of music they think he's on.