Ronald Reagan Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Honey, I forgot to duck ~ Ronald 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

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

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

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

We can have peace and brotherly love by accepting our responsibility to preserve freedom. ~ Ronald Reagan

Television has changed how we choose our leaders. It elected Ronald Reagan and a host of Kennedy-look-alike congressmen with blow-dried hair and gleaming teeth. It destroyed Senator Joe McCarthy by showing him in action and it created Jerry Falwell. ~ Ronald Steel

Since I came to the White House, I've gotten two hearing aids, had a colon operation, a prostate operation, skin cancer, and I've been shot ... damn thing is, I've never felt better. ~ Ronald Reagan

By working together, pooling our resources and building on our strengths, we can accomplish great things. ~ Ronald Reagan

Could there be anything resembling a free enterprise economy, if wealth and property were concentrated in the hands of a few, while the great majority owned little more than the shirts on their backs? ~ Ronald Reagan

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem. It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so. ~ Ronald Reagan

I'm not a politician by profession. I am a citizen who decided I had to be personally involved. ~ Ronald Reagan

Trust, but verify. ~ Ronald Reagan

Radio was theater of the mind. ~ Ronald Reagan

My mother 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. ~ Ronald Reagan

Our National Motto - 'In God We Trust' - was not chosen lightly. It reflects a basic recognition that there is a divine authority in the universe to which this nation owes homage. ~ Ronald Reagan

My godfather was a man named Justin Dart. Some of you may remember Justin Dart. My younger son's name is Justin, named after Justin Dart. I was executor of his estate, and he was my godfather. I first really got time to spend with Ronald Reagan with Justin Dart personally, one-on-one. ~ Arthur Laffer

For a time, we forgot the American dream isn't one of making government bigger, it's keeping faith with the mighty spirit of free people under God ~ Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was a president of strength. His philosophy was a philosophy of strength - a strong military, a strong economy and strong families. ~ Mitt Romney

Government is the people's business and every man, woman and child becomes a shareholder with the first penny of tax paid. ~ Ronald Reagan

The man who puts into the marriage only half
of what he owns will get that out. ~ Ronald Reagan

The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we're spirits - not animals ... . There's something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty. ~ Ronald Reagan

I think growing up in a small town is a good foundation for anyone who decides to enter politics. You get to know people as individuals, not as blocs or members of special interest groups. ~ Ronald Reagan

For one, we very much need in any immigration bill - we need protection for people who are in this country and who have not become citizens, for example, that they are protected and legitimized and given permanent residency here. And we want to see some things of that kind added to the immigration bill. ~ Ronald Reagan

We can look forward to the day when the free flow of trade, from the southern reaches of Tierra del Fuego to the northern outposts of the Arctic Circle, unites the people of the Western Hemisphere in a bond of mutually beneficial exchange, when all borders become what the U.S.-Canadian border so long has been: a meeting place, rather than a dividing line. ~ Ronald Reagan

It's been written that the most sublime figure in American history was George Washington on his knees in the snow at Valley Forge. He personified a people who knew that it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness, that they must also seek help from God - their Father and preserver. Where did we begin to lose sight of that noble beginning, of our conviction that standards of right and wrong do exist and must be lived up to? Do we really think that we can have it both ways, that God will protect us in a time of crisis even as we turn away from him in our day-to-day life? ~ Ronald Reagan

... Ending a conflict is not so simple, not just calling it off and coming home. Because the price for that kind of peace could be a thousand years of darkness for generation's Viet Nam borned. ~ Ronald Reagan

The WPA was one of the most productive elements of FDR's alphabet soup of agencies because it put people to work building roads, bridges, and other projects ... It gave men and women a chance to make some money along with the satisfaction of knowing they earned it. ~ Ronald Reagan

The United States trades more with the province of Ontario alone than with Japan. ~ Ronald Reagan

I believe in a sound, strong environmental policy that protects the health of our people and a wise stewardship of our nation's natural resources. ~ Ronald Reagan

State problems should involve state solutions. ~ Ronald Reagan

[Ronald Reagan] appealed to that group of [working American] people and we can do it again, because they've had, now, eight years of [Barak] Obama. Things have not gone well. ~ Jeff Sessions

The signs of the Vietnam War protestors said "Make Love not War!" It didn't seem to me that they were capable of either. ~ Ronald Reagan

It doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? ~ 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

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

Facts are stupid things - stubborn things, I should say. ~ Ronald Reagan

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

The Russian people were just like us. They were victims of their own government. Ronald Reagan ~ Chris Matthews

Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program. ~ Ronald Reagan

Just think how happy you'd be if you lost everything you have right now & then got it back. ~ Ronald Reagan

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

[The Soviets] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth; they are the focus of evil in the modern world. ~ Ronald Reagan

I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. ~ Barack Obama

These were eye-opening years for me. When I'd come back to Warner Brothers after the war, I'd shared the orthodox liberal view that Communists - if there really were any - were liberals who were temporarily off track, and whatever they were, they didn't pose much of a threat to me or anyone. I heard whispers that Moscow wanted to infiltrate the world's most powerful medium of entertainment, but I'd passed them off as irrational and emotional red baiting. Now I knew from firsthand experience how Communists used lies, deceit, violence, or any other tactic that suited them to advance the cause of Soviet expansionism. I knew from the experience of hand-to-hand combat that America faced no more insidious or evil threat than that of Communism. ~ Ronald Reagan

Form and Substance are opposite ends of the same coin. ~ Ronald Reagan