My Favorite Quotes From President Ronald Reagan

Whatever your political views may be, one can hardly deny the wisdom of Ronald Reagan. He was an incredible orator, one of the best in all of history - at least in my life's history. Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as President of the United States at a time when I was just beginning to reach the age of political appreciation. I remember several Presidents before him, but it is his Presidential speeches that dominate my earliest memories of watching and listening as the President of this great nation spoke to "we the people". It was during his presidency that I began to realize the value of real patriotism and the importance of keeping our nation whole, pure, strong - one nation - UNDER GOD.

President Reagan combined wisdom, truth, and humor in a way that proved his ability to charm listeners of all parties, faiths, and races. Many of his most famous words are brimming with moral wisdom, many with intentional whit and humor, almost all of them with a combination of all.

His legacy left him with at least three titles: Actor, President, and "The Great Communicator".

Enjoy and ponder the timeless wisdom and humor of Ronald Wilson Reagan.

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.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

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.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.

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.

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

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.

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.

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.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.

Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.

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.

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.

Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.

After his attempted assassination attempt, President Reagan was being wheeled into the operating room. He said to his surgeons, "I hope you are all republicans".

In 1966, a reporter questioned Ronald Reagan about what kind of governor he might be. Reagan replied, "I don't know. I've never played a governor".

During the 1984 presidential debate, speaking of his opponent Walter Mondale: I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.

I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.

Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.

If you are afraid of the future, then get out of the way, stand aside. The people of this country are ready to move again.

The work of volunteer groups throughout our country represents the very heart and soul of America. They have helped make this the most compassionate, generous, and humane society that ever existed on the face of this earth.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.

Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it.

There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder.

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And a recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.

The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West will not contain Communism; it will transcend Communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are now being written.

I have a special reason for wanting to solve this economic problem in a lasting way. I was 21 and looking for work in 1932, one of the worst years of the Great Depression. And I can remember one bleak night in the thirties when my father learned on Christmas Eve that he'd lost his job. To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again.

The poet called Miss Liberty's torch "the lamp beside the golden door." Well, that was the entrance to America, and it still is. And now you really know why we're here tonight.The glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity, is still golden in this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America. Her heart is full; her torch is still golden, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support, for the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the '80s unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed. In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America's is.

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere.

In President Reagan's Farewell Address:

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life…. And how stands the city on this winter night? … After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true to the granite ridge, and her glow has held no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.

Revealing His Diagnosis of Alzheimer's In A Letter to America in 1994:

In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.