Ronald Reagan Quotes

A people free to choose will always choose peace.
Ronald Reagan 

A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?
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. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
Ronald Reagan 

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
Ronald Reagan 

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
Ronald Reagan 

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.
Ronald Reagan 

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
Ronald Reagan 

But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.
Ronald Reagan 

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
Ronald Reagan 

Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.
Ronald Reagan 

Don't be afraid to see what you see.
Ronald Reagan 

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known.
Ronald Reagan 

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.
Ronald Reagan 

Facts are stubborn things.
Ronald Reagan 

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Ronald Reagan 

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Ronald Reagan 

Going to college offered me the chance to play football for four more years.
Ronald Reagan 

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
Ronald Reagan 

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
Ronald Reagan 

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
Ronald Reagan 


Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Ronald Reagan 

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other.
Ronald Reagan 

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Ronald Reagan 

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan 

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
Ronald Reagan 

Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer.
Ronald Reagan 

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
Ronald Reagan 

How can a president not be an actor?
Ronald Reagan 

How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
Ronald Reagan 

I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
Ronald Reagan 

I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
Ronald Reagan 

I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.
Ronald Reagan 

I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.
Ronald Reagan 

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
Ronald Reagan 

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life.
Ronald Reagan 

I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.
Ronald Reagan 

I'm not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
Ronald Reagan 

I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.
Ronald Reagan 

I've often said there's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.
Ronald Reagan 

If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn't be here. It'd still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.
Ronald Reagan 


If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.
Ronald Reagan 

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
Ronald Reagan 

If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.
Ronald Reagan 

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.
Ronald Reagan 

Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.
Ronald Reagan 

It doesn't do good to open doors for someone who doesn't have the price to get in. If he has the price, he may not need the laws. There is no law saying the Negro has to live in Harlem or Watts.
Ronald Reagan 

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
Ronald Reagan 

It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn't available.
Ronald Reagan 

It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas.
Ronald Reagan 

It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?
Ronald Reagan 

Latinos are Republican. They just don't know it yet.
Ronald Reagan 

Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
Ronald Reagan 

Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.
Ronald Reagan 

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.
Ronald Reagan 

Man is not free unless government is limited.
Ronald Reagan 

Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Ronald Reagan 

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
Ronald Reagan 

My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out.
Ronald Reagan 

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!
Ronald Reagan 

No matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.
Ronald Reagan 


No mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology.
Ronald Reagan 

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
Ronald Reagan 

One picture is worth 1,000 denials.
Ronald Reagan 

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.
Ronald Reagan 

Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
Ronald Reagan 

Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
Ronald Reagan 

People do not make wars; governments do.
Ronald Reagan 

Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Ronald Reagan 

Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.
Ronald Reagan 

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
Ronald Reagan 

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.
Ronald Reagan 

Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.
Ronald Reagan 

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.
Ronald Reagan 

Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.
Ronald Reagan 

Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'.
Ronald Reagan 

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out.
Ronald Reagan 

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.
Ronald Reagan 

The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan 

The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.
Ronald Reagan 

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
Ronald Reagan 


The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.
Ronald Reagan 

The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.
Ronald Reagan 

The thought of being President frightens me and I do not think I want the job.
Ronald Reagan 

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 

There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
Ronald Reagan 

There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.
Ronald Reagan 

They say hard work never hurt anybody, but I figure why take the chance.
Ronald Reagan 

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.
Ronald Reagan 

Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.
Ronald Reagan 

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.
Ronald Reagan 

To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will.
Ronald Reagan 

Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.
Ronald Reagan 

Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.
Ronald Reagan 

Trust, but verify.
Ronald Reagan 

Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.
Ronald Reagan 

Violence has been Nicaragua's most important export to the world.
Ronald Reagan 

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
Ronald Reagan 

We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.
Ronald Reagan 

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.
Ronald Reagan 

We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.
Ronald Reagan 


We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
Ronald Reagan 

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
Ronald Reagan 

We should declare war on North Vietnam. We could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and still be home by Christmas.
Ronald Reagan 

We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.
Ronald Reagan 

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.
Ronald Reagan 

We're in greater danger today than we were the day after Pearl Harbor. Our military is absolutely incapable of defending this country.
Ronald Reagan 

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.
Ronald Reagan 

What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice.
Ronald Reagan 

When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
Ronald Reagan 

While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.
Ronald Reagan 

Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
Ronald Reagan 

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.
Ronald Reagan 

You can tell alot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.
Ronald Reagan 

You know, if I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough, I would be convinced we're in an economic downturn and people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we've got to do something about the unemployed.
Ronald Reagan