Quotes from Ronald Reagan

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

Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity; not stifle it.

We the people tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us.

The best view of big government is in the rearview mirror as we leave it behind.

History comes and history goes, but principles endure, and ensure future generations will defend liberty not as a gift from government but as a blessing from our Creator.

We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down.

Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process.

When those who are governed do too little, those who govern can - and often will - do too much.

Are you entitled to the fruits of your own labor or does government have some presumptive right to spend and spend and spend?

Governments don't reduce deficits by raising taxes on the people; governments reduce deficits by controlling spending and stimulating new wealth.

Outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector.

The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom...

There were so many candidates on the platform that there were not enough promises to go around.

The . . . inescapable truth is: government does not have all the answers. In too many instances, government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

The size of the federal budget is not an appropriate barometer of social conscience or charitable concern.

Accepting a government grant with its accompanying rules is like marrying a girl and finding out her entire family is moving in with you before the honeymoon.

I think the presidency is an institution over which you have temporary custody.

Yes, deficits are a problem. I've been saying so for more than a quarter of a century now. But the problem is not the size of the deficit, it's the size of government's claim on our economy.

I was alarmed at my doctor's report: He said I was sound as a dollar.

Let me make our goal in this program very clear: jobs, jobs, jobs, and more jobs. Our policy has been and will continue to be: What is good for the American worker is good for America.

When you start talking about government as 'we' instead of 'they,' you have been in office too long.

Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted, it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy.

Why should the government subsidize intellectual curiosity?

Democracy is not a fragile flower; still it needs cultivating.