Quotes from Ronald Reagan

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

IRISH BLESSING   And may I conclude with a little Irish blessing – although, some suggest it's a curse: May those who love us, love us. And those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts. And if He doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping. Speech on Administrative Goals to Senior Presidential Appointees, September 8, 1987

Jefferson repeatedly said that the best government was the smallest government, that "governments are not the masters of the people, but the servants of the people governed.

It seems to me that America is constantly reinventing what America means.

People were tired of wasteful government programs and welfare chiselers; and they were angry about the constant spiral of taxes and government regulations, arrogant bureaucrats, and public officials who thought all of mankind's problems could be solved by throwing the taxpayers' dollars at them.

Estamos caminhando para o socialismo, um sistema que, como se diz, só funciona no Céu, onde não precisam dele, e no Inferno, onde ele já existe.

Morality in the long run aligned with strategy.

Big Cabinet meeting on our program through Justice dept. to wipe out legal discriminations against women. We've changed 27 laws, have 60 more in process & today approved some more.

I'm a gooey, gushy gumdrop bullshitty drop bombs on Russia! ride a horse ...

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.

I thanked Nancy for what she had accomplished in her war against illegal drugs, but in my heart, I was really trying to say, "Thank you, Nancy, for everything; thank you for lighting up my life for almost forty years.

What of all the entrepreneurs that fail? Well, many do, particularly the successful ones; often several times. And if you ask them the secret of their success, they'll tell you it's all that they learned in their struggles along the way; yes, it's what they learned from failing.

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.

The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant. It's just that they know so much that isn't so.

The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

We have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

I don't think we'll solve the problem of the deficit until three things happen: We need more discipline on spending in Congress. We need a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget. And we need to give our presidents a line-item veto.

The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

It reminded me of something that James Madison said in 1788: "Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

MIRACLE OF LIFE   The miracle of life is given by One greater than ourselves, but once given, each life is ours to nurture and preserve, to foster, not only for today's world but for a better one to come. There is no purpose more noble than for us to sustain and celebrate life in a turbulent world, and that is what we must do now. The Quest for Peace, the Cause of Freedom, 2005

aren't lazy or unwilling to work: they just don't know how to free themselves from the welfare security blanket.

all of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states, the states created the federal government. . .

Part of the difficulty in accepting the good news about trade is in our words. We too often talk about trade while using the vocabulary of war. In war, for one side to win, the other must lose. But commerce is not warfare. Trade is an economic alliance that benefits both countries. There are no losers, only winners; and trade helps strengthen the free world.