President · American · 1911 – 2004 · 108 quotes
Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
Ronald Reagan
President · American · 1911 – 2004
Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer.
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
Violence has been Nicaragua's most important export to the world.
When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
Man is not free unless government is limited.
The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.
Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.
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.
A people free to choose will always choose peace.
Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.
We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
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.
Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'.
A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?
Latinos are Republican. They just don't know it yet.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The thought of being President frightens me and I do not think I want the job.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
People do not make wars; governments do.
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.
How can a president not be an actor?
But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Don't be afraid to see what you see.
One picture is worth 1,000 denials.
My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.
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.
Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
