Reagan Quotes

How many cities of forty thousand, which is the population of Burlington, have a foreign policy? Well, we did. During my tenure as mayor we made the point that excessive spending on the military and unnecessary wars meant fewer resources to address the needs of ordinary people. Somewhere in the Reagan Library, or wherever these things are kept, there is a letter from the mayor of Burlington opposing the U.S. funding of contras in Nicaragua. The letter stated, "Stop the war against the people of Nicaragua. Use our tax dollars to feed the hungry and house the homeless. Stop killing the innocent people of Nicaragua." As ~ Bernie Sanders

The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers' abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible's teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual. This same sense of man patterned the convictions of those who framed the English system of law inherited by our own Nation, as well as the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. ~ Ronald Reagan

I hope that when you're my age, you'll be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom, we lived lives that were a statement, not an apology. ~ Ronald Reagan

Together, we'll build a far better future for America
a future of growth, opportunity, and security, anchored by the values of a people who are confident, compassionate, and whose heart is good. ~ Ronald Reagan

You know, if Nancy Davis hadn't come along when she did, I would have lost my soul. ~ Ronald Reagan

I was a big fan of Ronald Reagan. He was the first president I got to vote for. ~ Steve Daines

If we listen to our hearts, believe in ourselves, and pull together, nothing can stand in our way. ~ Ronald Reagan

It was the hard work of our people, the freedom they enjoyed and their faith in God that built this country and made it the envy of the world. In all of our great cities and towns evidence of the faith of our people is found: houses of worship of every denomination are among the oldest structures. While never willing to bow to a tyrant, our forefathers were always willing to get to their knees before God. When catastrophe threatened, they turned to God for deliverance. When the harvest was bountiful the first thought was thanksgiving to God. ~ Ronald Reagan

Almost all first ladies have had tremendous power on personnel issues, whether the public realized it or not, whether it was Barbara Bush or Nancy Reagan or whoever. ~ Dee Dee Myers

If I thought there was some reason to be concerned about them, I wouldn't be sleeping in this house tonight. (When asked about continued presence of Soviet nuclear submarines along US coastlines) ~ Ronald Reagan

Jimmy Carter began his planning in the early summer of 1976, Ronald Reagan a year prior. The Clinton Administration, elected in 1992, lingered in naming its team, and as a result, took almost a year to staff its ranks. ~ Richard V. Allen

I think a woman gets more if she acts feminine. ~ Nancy Reagan

I don't like a lot of frills and fusses. ~ Nancy Reagan

I come from a democratic world. My world is moderate Democrats, Reagan-type Democrats if you want, the blues or whatever you call them, the Blue Dogs. That's been my world, historically. ~ Carl Paladino

We remember Ronald Reagan as a man who maximized his gifts from an unknown to an actor to a Governor to the leader of the Free World. ~ Richard Burr

The best social reform program in the world is a job. ~ Ronald Reagan

I was going to have an opening statement, but I decided that what I was going to say I wanted to get a lot of attention, so I'm going to wait and leak it. ~ Ronald Reagan

We are a Nation Under God. If we ever forget this, we are a nation gone UNDER. ~ Ronald Reagan

The big lesson of Reagan is: To think that he was some sort of simple figurehead and didn't do the thinking and simply read a script in front of him woefully underestimates him. Ronald Reagan was an extremely intelligent person with a real V8 engine under his hood. ~ Eugene Jarecki

The gun has been called the great equalizer, meaning that a small person with a gun is equal to a large person, but it is a great equalizer in another way, too. It insures that the people are the equal of their government whenever that government forgets that it is servant and not master of the governed. When the British forgot that they got a revolution. And, as a result, we Americans got a Constitution; a Constitution that, as those who wrote it were determined, would keep men free. If we give up part of that Constitution we give up part of our freedom and increase the chance that we will lose it all. … I am not ready to take that risk. I believe that the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms must not be infringed if liberty in America is to survive. ~ Ronald Reagan

President [Ronald] Reagan told me he would negotiate and negotiate and negotiate with the Soviets, and I believed him. ~ Helmut Schmidt

I am very proud to be called a pig. It stands for pride, integrity and guts. ~ Ronald Reagan

Our economic assistance must be carefully targeted, and must make maximum use of the energy and efforts of the private sector ... Economic freedom is the world's mightiest engine for abundance and social justice ... Developing countries need to be encouraged to experiment with a growing variety of arrangements for profit sharing and expanded capital ownership. ~ Ronald Reagan

Freedom-loving people around the world must say ... I am a refugee in a crowded boat foundering off the coast of Vietnam. I am Laotian, a Cambodian, a Cuban, and a Miskito Indian in Nicaragua. I, too, am a potential victim of totalitarianism. ~ Ronald Reagan

I was raised to believe that God has a plan for everyone and that seemingly random twists of fate are all a part of His plan. My mother - a small woman with auburn hair and a sense of optimism that ran as deep as the cosmos - told me that everything in life happened for a purpose. She said all things were part of God's Plan, even the most disheartening setbacks, and in the end, everything worked out for the best. If something went wrong, she said, you didn't let it get you down: You stepped away from it, stepped over it, and moved on. Later on, she added, something good will happen and you'll find yourself thinking - If I hadn't had that problem back then, then this better thing that did happen wouldn't have happened to me. ~ Ronald Reagan

Reagan "has conducted an arms race on earth," boomed Mondale. A race generally implies two parties. The Soviets contributed a little bit to this problem, if Mondale had not noticed. ~ Hugh Sidey

[Television executives] are afraid to advertise condoms that could save lives, but do not blush about telecasting a National Geographic special on President Reagan's pelvic plumbing. ~ Martin Nolan

This is beautiful." "If you're Ronald Reagan, I guess." "The idea of it, I mean. The beauty hidden within the rot." "Sure. That's what I meant, too." I ~ Richard Kadrey

Constructive trade, the two-way exchange of goods and services, is the most efficient and logical way for each nation ... to build a stable prosperity, a prosperity based not on aid, but on mutually beneficial economic contacts. ~ Ronald Reagan

Tyranny, like fog in the well known poem, often creeps in silently 'on little cat feet.' ~ Ronald Reagan

There were no jobs created in America from 1945, when the war ended, through 2003. How could there be? Taxes were too high. Preposterously so under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan (who left office with a 28 percent rate on long-term capital gains) and Bush the Elder. ~ Andrew Tobias

The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall', a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire. ~ Mitt Romney

I notice that everbody who is Pro-Abortion already has been born. ~ Ronald Reagan

So I would say Reagan was the best, and certainly Clinton the worst. ~ Pat Boone

They are our brothers, these freedom fighters ... They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance. We cannot turn away from them, for the struggle here is not right versus left; it is right versus wrong. ~ Ronald Reagan

[On Ronald Reagan:] The President doesn't want yes-men around. When he says no, we all say no. ~ Elizabeth Dole

Terror became a big issue when the Reagan Administration came in. They immediately announced [their plans] and kind of disparaged Carter's alleged human rights programs. The main issue is state-directed international terrorism. Right at that time that big industry developed. That's when you start getting the academic departments on terrorism. ~ Noam Chomsky

I've really had two heroes in my life. My father and Ronald Reagan. ~ Ted Cruz

It is essential for politicians to make a connection with us, as Franklin Roosevelt did, as Teddy Roosevelt did, as John F. Kennedy did, as Ronald Reagan did. ~ Peter Jennings

In 1982 President Ronald Reagan called for a war on drugs: by 1990 more men were in federal prisons on drug charges alone than had comprised the entire 1980 federal prison population for all crimes combined. ~ Laurie Garrett

Ronald Reagan was older than I was when he ran for president. ~ Jesse Jackson

IF YOU took a really close look at some of the biggest, most notorious scandals of the last thirty or so years, you'd find Jay Stoddard lurking somewhere in the shadows. As an investigator or a fixer or an adviser, I mean. Whether it was the Iran-Contra hearings in the Reagan days or a Canadian media mogul on trial for fraud. Or one of a dozen Congressional sex scandals. And a whole lot more situations that might have exploded into ugly public imbroglios if it hadn't been for Stoddard's work. ~ Joseph Finder

There have been many amazing Presidents in American history, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, all of whom I greatly admire. ~ Donald Trump

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

Let us ask ourselves; "What kind of people do we think we are?" ~ Ronald Reagan

May every day be a new beginning, and every dawn bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill. ~ Ronald Reagan

Freedom is the very essence of our nation. To be sure, ours is not a perfect nation. But even with our troubles, we remain the beacon of hope for oppressed peoples everywhere. Never give up the fight for freedom - a fight which, though it may never end, is the most ennobling known to man. ~ Ronald Reagan

Religion may indeed inspire acts of great kindness and courage. But it also trains people to believe things for which there is no evidence. This makes religion's intrusion into the political sphere all the more troubling. ~ Ron Reagan

Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American. ~ Ronald Reagan

I rarely think about myself that much. I really don't. ~ Nancy Reagan

I found Reagan in the crowd and chose to stand next to her. I now had a place in her life, this was me stepping up to fulfill it. ~ Rachel Higginson

My father never felt the need to wrap himself in anybody's mantle. He never felt the need to pretend to be anybody else. This is their administration. This is their war. If they can't stand on their own two feet, well, they're no Ronald Reagans, that's for sure. ~ Ron Reagan

Over hundred years ago Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. There was wide distribution of land and they didn't confiscate anyone's privately owned land ... We need an industrial Homestead Act. ~ Ronald Reagan

With the blessings of liberty, we have responsibilities to defend it. ~ Michael Reagan

Christopher Columbus was looking for a passage to India, but he landed in America. He landed in the wrong place, and when he got back, he wasn't sure where he'd been. But most important of all, he did it on someone else's money. ~ Ronald Reagan

You can't uninvent things, you can only make them obsolete ... Ronald Reagan understood that the surest method of neutralising any weapon is to make it obsolete. ~ Mark Steyn

Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few, but the universal right of all God's children. ~ Ronald Reagan

I want to pretend this didn't happen."
"Okay. ~ Rainbow Rowell

I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. ~ Ronald Reagan

But the simple truth is that we've lost control of our own borders, and no nation can do that and survive. ~ Ronald Reagan

If Reagan wins, I'd sell the farm and buy a bomb shelter. ~ George McGovern

In the next picture, Reagan is saying, "Haley, have I ever told you the one about the two Episcopal preachers?" "No, sir, Mr. President." "One of the preachers said to the other, 'Times have really changed, haven't they? I never had sex with my wife before we were married, did you?' "And the other Episcopal priest said, 'I don't know, what is your wife's maiden name? ~ Mark Leibovich

When you tax capital gains income, you don't help the economy, you hurt the economy, which is why President Kennedy, President Reagan, President Clinton and President Bush all believed we should have a lower rate for capital gains. ~ Rob Portman

In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel, it says that the land of Israel will come under attack by the armies of the ungodly nations, and it says that Libya will be among them. Do you understand the significance of that? Libya has now gone Communist, and that's a sign that the day of Armageddon isn't far off. ~ Ronald Reagan

Conservative policies have on the whole worked - insofar as any set of policies can be said to 'work' in the real world. Conservatives of the Reagan-Bush-Gingrich-Bush years have a fair amount to be proud of. ~ Bill Kristol

For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community. For too long as a nation, we have been lulled by the anthem of self-interest. For a decade, led by Ronald Reagan, self-aggrandizement has been the full-throated cry of this society: "I've got mine, so why don't you get yours" and "What's in it for me? ~ Joe Biden

Reagan survived the Iran-Contra scandal because the elements of it that were illegal (aiding anti-communist Nicaraguans) were popular and the things that were unpopular (arming the Iranians) were quite legal. ~ David Frum

You cannot be against embryonic stem cell research and be intellectually and therefore morally consistent, if you're not also against in vitro fertilization. ~ Ron Reagan

I want you to know that this administration is motivated by a political philosophy that sees the greatness of America in you, her people, and in your families, churches, neighborhoods, communities - the institutions that foster and nourish values like concern for others and respect for the rule of law under God. ~ Ronald Reagan

I am a big believer that you have to nourish any relationship. I am still very much a part of my friends' lives and they are very much a part of my life. A First Lady who does not have this source of strength and comfort can lose perspective and become isolated. ~ Nancy Reagan

Those concerns of a national character-such as air and water pollution that do not respect state boundaries, or the national transportation system, or efforts to safeguard your civil liberties-must, of course, be handled on the national level. ~ Ronald Reagan

If we've learned any lessons during the past few decades, perhaps the most important is that preservation of our environment is not a partisan challenge; it's common sense. Our physical health, our social happiness, and our economic well-being will be sustained only by all of us working in partnership as thoughtful, effective stewards of our natural resources. ~ Ronald Reagan

[I]f you look at United States history since World War II, you find that of the 10 presidents who preceded Barack Obama, seven left office with a debt ratio lower than when they came in. Who were the three exceptions? Ronald Reagan and the two George Bushes. ~ Paul Krugman

We're an odd match. Imagine Ronald Reagan and Jesse Jackson; imagine night and day. George has built nuclear reactors and believes in them fiercely. We stay away from this and other subjects the way I'd stay away from Three Mile Island. After all, I have plenty of friends who share my most impassioned opinions; we can have an orgy of agreement any day at the natural foods restaurant, over a sprout sandwich. But he's the one out here helping. ~ Sy Safransky

My life began with Ronnie. ~ Nancy Reagan

If you've seen one redwood tree, you've seen them all ~ Ronald Reagan

I was always impressed by Betty Ford and what she went through and how full of integrity she was, and how brave. I think Mrs. Reagan was a role model of my mother's generation, intelligent, very supportive of her husband. I am very different from my mom, but I admired her devotion. ~ Teresa Heinz

I must say that acting was good training for the political life that lay ahead of us. ~ Nancy Reagan

Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it ... the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten. ~ Ronald Reagan

President Reagan, of course, did more than any other person to entrench the Republican reputation for toughness on national security. ~ Samantha Power

You know, I left the country when Reagan got in; I went to France. ~ Tommy Chong

My life didn't really begin until I met Ronnie. ~ Nancy Reagan

I'm doing what I want to do. ~ Nancy Reagan

Since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, conservatives have succeeded by adhering to a platform that rests firmly on three legs: smaller government, faith and family, and a strong national defense. These three legs do not merely represent a political coalition; they are three necessary components of a strong and secure America. ~ Frank Gaffney

On Father's Day, we pay tribute to all in our society who have taken on the responsibilitie s and joys of fatherhood. Whether our fathers are near at hand or a continent away, with their families or watching from the light of eternity, we take this day to remember them, to say our thanks for the years they have given us, and to ask that they receive God's blessings. ~ Ronald Reagan

Reagan proved deficits don't matter. ~ Dick Cheney

Honey, I forgot to duck ~ Ronald Reagan

My father felt that children should make their own way. ~ Ron Reagan

The little dictator who went to Moscow in his green fatigues to receive a bear hug did not forsake the doctrine of Lenin when he returned to the West and appeared in a two-piece suit. (On Daniel Ortega Saavedra) ~ Ronald Reagan

Reagan cut through irrational federal regulations to allow children to live with their parents, where they could receive care that would cost the taxpayer one-sixth as much as institutional care. By contrast, Obamacare has added thousands of pages of bureaucratic regulations and will cost the federal government untold billions. ~ Edwin Meese

Reagan and Bush ... made the world safe for hypocrisy. ~ Julia Phillips

I mean, we've had all these awful pictures from the prison in Iraq and these sort of memos floating around about justifying torture, all this kind of stuff. And it makes you want to take a shower, you know? ~ Ron Reagan

Any satirist writing a futuristic novel who had imagined a President Reagan during the Eisenhower years would have been accused of perpetrating a piece of crude, contemptible, adolescent, anti-American wickedness, when, in fact, he would have succeeded, as prophetic sentry, where Orwell failed. ~ Philip Roth

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

I do not believe in abortion at will. I do not believe that if a woman just wants to have an abortion she should ... I do believe if you have an abortion you are committing murder. ~ Nancy Reagan

The time has come to match outgo to income, instead of always doing it the other way around. ~ Ronald Reagan

Two famous happy warriors - Reagan and his political soulmate, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - knew they were fighting their own ideological and external wars. But they did so with the sunny dispositions and positive outlooks of those who knew they were on the right side of history. ~ Monica Crowley

If you are going to call yourself a Christian-and I don't-then you have to ask yourself a fundamental question, and that is: Whom would Jesus torture? Whom would Jesus drag around on a dog's leash? How can Christians tolerate it? It is unconscionable. It has put our young men and women who are over there, fighting a war that they should not have been asked to fight-it has put them in greater danger. ~ Ron Reagan

Reagan bankrupted the Soviet Union by increasing armaments. ~ Norman Mailer

If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. ~ Ronald Reagan