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The struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.
RONALD REAGAN, speech for National Association of Evangelicals, March 8, 1983
Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.
RONALD REAGAN, Sacramento Bee, Apr. 28, 1966
Governments have a tendency not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
RONALD REAGAN
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
RONALD REAGAN, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
I used to say that politics was the second-oldest profession. I have come to know that it bears a gross similarity to the first.
Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things.
RONALD REAGAN, speech at Moscow State University, May 31, 1988
If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.
RONALD REAGAN, speech in support of Barry Goldwater, October 27, 1964
The one thing our Founding Fathers could not foresee -- they were farmers, professional men, businessmen giving of their time and effort to an idea that became a country -- was a nation governed by professional politicians who had an interest in getting re-elected. They probably envisioned a fellow serving a couple of hitches and then eagerly looking forward to getting back to the farm.
Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root.
Education is not the means of showing people how to get what they want. Education is an exercise by means of which enough men, it is hoped, will learn to want what is worth having.
I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.
RONALD REAGAN, New York Times, Sep. 22, 1980
When you see all that rhetorical smoke billowing up from the Democrats, well ladies and gentleman, I'd follow the example of their nominee; don't inhale.
RONALD REAGAN, speech, Aug. 17, 1992
As long as there are guns, the individual that wants a gun for a crime is going to have one and going to get it. The only person who’s going to be penalized and have difficulty is the law-abiding citizen, who then cannot have [it] if he wants protection -- the protection of a weapon in his home.
RONALD REAGAN, interview, Mar. 22, 1986
If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals -- if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.
RONALD REAGAN, Reason Magazine, Jul. 1, 1975
Even Albert Einstein reportedly needed help on his 1040 form.
I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.
RONALD REAGAN, speech, Aug. 8, 1983
I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.
RONALD REAGAN, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.
RONALD REAGAN, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.
RONALD REAGAN, First Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1981
Sometimes when I'm faced with an atheist, I am tempted to invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we have finished eating that magnificent dinner, to ask him if he believes there's a cook.
RONALD REAGAN, Speaking My Mind
If you're explaining, you're losing.
RONALD REAGAN, The Reagan Diaries
Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it's common sense.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Jan. 25, 1984
There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Feb. 6, 1985
Simple fairness dictates that government must not raise taxes on families struggling to pay their bills.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Jan. 25, 1984
Without a vision the people perish.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Feb. 6, 1985
The same technology transforming our lives can solve the greatest problem of the 20th century. A security shield can one day render nuclear weapons obsolete and free mankind from the prison of nuclear terror. America met one historic challenge and went to the Moon. Now America must meet another: to make our strategic defense real for all the citizens of planet Earth.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Feb. 4, 1986
A strong American economy is essential to the well-being and security of our friends and allies.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Jan. 25, 1983
We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Feb. 6, 1985
The most powerful force we can enlist against the Federal deficit is an ever-expanding American economy, unfettered and free.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Feb. 4, 1986
The future is best decided by ballots, not bullets.
RONALD REAGAN, State of the Union address, Jan. 25, 1984
Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders. ... The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip.
RONALD REAGAN, The Guardian, Jun. 14, 1989
The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
RONALD REAGAN, remarks to Future Farmers of America, Jul. 28, 1988
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.
RONALD REAGAN, televised speech, Oct. 27, 1964
I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.
RONALD REAGAN, farewell address, Jan. 11, 1989
I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
RONALD REAGAN, joke at the Gridiron Club annual dinner, Mar. 24, 1984
We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life — the unborn — without diminishing the value of all human life.
RONALD REAGAN, Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation
I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: Go ahead, make my day.
RONALD REAGAN, speech, Mar. 13, 1985
Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?
RONALD REAGAN, address to United Nations general assembly, Sep. 21, 1987
Well I've said it before and I'll say it again — America's best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.
RONALD REAGAN, Republican National Convention, Aug. 17, 1992
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
RONALD REAGAN, remarks on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1984
The full consequences of a default or even the serious prospect of default by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and on the value of the dollar in exchange markets. The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the cost, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns.
RONALD REAGAN, letter to majority leader Howard Baker urging an increase in the public debt ceiling, Nov. 16, 1983
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