---
title: "7 Defense Quotes By Robert M. Gates"
description: "7 Defense quotes by Robert M. Gates. Plus more from Robert M. Gates and more Defense sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a07/robert-m-gates-2972_alive_health-care-costs-are-eating-the-defense_152836.png"
---

> [Health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/health-care-costs-are-eating-the-defense-department-alive/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a07/robert-m-gates-2972_alive_health-care-costs-are-eating-the-defense_152836.png)

> [I had no difficulty as Secretary of Defense moving from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-had-no-difficulty-as-secretary-of-defense-moving-from-the-bush/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/515/robert-m-gates-2972_administration_i-had-no-difficulty-as-secretary-of-defe_288227.png)

> [“The Department of Defense is structured to plan and prepare for war but not to fight one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-department-of-defense-is-structured-to-plan-and-prepare-for-war/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd6/robert-m-gates-2972_defense_the-department-of-defense-is-structured_733985.png)

> [I read in the press, and therefore it must be true, that no secretary of defense had ever been quoted as arguing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-read-in-the-press-and-therefore-it-must-be-true-that-no-secretary/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2fe/robert-m-gates-2972_arguing_i-read-in-the-press-and-therefore-it-mus_1946672.png)

> [The reality is, the United States has global interests. Our defense budget is about the same as the defense budgets or military…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-reality-is-the-united-states-has-global-interests-our-defense/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/365/robert-m-gates-2972_budgets_the-reality-is-the-united-states-has-glo_2063323.png)

> [In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/in-my-opinion-any-future-defense-secretary-who-advises-the-president/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/818/robert-m-gates-2972_advise_in-my-opinion-any-future-defense-secreta_2665604.png)

> [Defense is not like other discretionary spending.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/defense-is-not-like-other-discretionary-spending/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cb/robert-m-gates-2972_defense_defense-is-not-like-other-discretionary_2747917.png)

## Other authors on Defense

## More by Robert M. Gates

> [And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/and-so-the-greatest-of-american-triumphs-became-a-peculiarly-joyless/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [“Obama answered, “Yes. I’m no peacenik.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/obama-answered-yes-i-m-no-peacenik/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [“I was seething. I told him that “the clock is ticking” and that our patience with their lack of political progress was running out.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-was-seething-i-told-him-that-the-clock-is-ticking-and-that-our/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [Some people have said, in so many words, that I'm kind of wooly-headed in believing that the Iranians would see not having nuclear weapons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/some-people-have-said-in-so-many-words-that-i-m-kind-of-wooly-headed/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [“Obama was the fourth president I had worked for who said outright that he wanted to eliminate all nuclear weapons (Carter, Reagan, and Bush…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/obama-was-the-fourth-president-i-had-worked-for-who-said-outright/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [I had no concerns - I had no reason to have concerns based on what was available to me about North's contacts with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-had-no-concerns-i-had-no-reason-to-have-concerns-based-on-what-was/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [Health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/health-care-costs-are-eating-the-defense-department-alive/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [“The passage of fourteen years had led to another significant change in the international environment. As I told Bush 43 and Condi Rice on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-passage-of-fourteen-years-had-led-to-another-significant-change/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-ve-been-very-sensitive-for-a-long-time-to-the-repeated-pattern/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [I don't know General Michael Flynn well, but it's hard for me to believe anybody would allow themselves to be blackmailed by the Russians…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-don-t-know-general-michael-flynn-well-but-it-s-hard-for-me-to/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [I had no difficulty as Secretary of Defense moving from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-had-no-difficulty-as-secretary-of-defense-moving-from-the-bush/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [The United States has been a global power since late in the 19th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/the-united-states-has-been-a-global-power-since-late-in-the-19th/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [My one concern is that Hu Jintao may overestimate how much power China has in Pyongyang. They have - they do have influence, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/my-one-concern-is-that-hu-jintao-may-overestimate-how-much-power/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [“I thought you were my friend.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/i-thought-you-were-my-friend/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

> [“Soon after the raid was over, the White House released the now-famous photo of all of us watching the video in that small conference…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-gates/soon-after-the-raid-was-over-the-white-house-released-the-now-famous/)

[Robert M. Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-gates/)

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