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American politics11 quotes
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. — Ronald Reagan · 1981We have listened to the wisdom in an old Russian maxim. And I'm sure you're familiar with it, Mr. General Secretary…The maxim is…trust, but verify. — Ronald Reagan · 1987I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born. — Ronald Reagan · 1980We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed. — Ronald Reagan · 1981Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence. — Ronald Reagan · 1970We're the party that wants to see an America in which people can still get rich. — Ronald Reagan · 1982All 11 quotes →Political theory7 quotes
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. — Ronald Reagan · 1981The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. — Ronald Reagan · 1986Freedom and incentives unleash the drive and entrepreneurial genius that are the core of human progress. — Ronald Reagan · 1985Since the turn of the century, the number of democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on the march, and nowhere more so than in our own hemisphere. Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit. People, worldwide, hunger for the right of self-determination, for those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress. — Ronald Reagan · 1985No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. So governments' programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth. — Ronald Reagan · 1964Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People." "We the People" tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us."We the People" are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the government what it is allowed to do."We the People" are free. — Ronald Reagan · 1989All 7 quotes →Government6 quotes
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. — Ronald Reagan · 1986Government is like a baby—it’s got an alimentary canal at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. — Ronald Reagan · 1965No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. So governments' programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth. — Ronald Reagan · 1964One legislator accused me of having a nineteenth-century attitude on law and order. That is a totally false charge. I have an eighteenth-century attitude. That is when the Founding Fathers made it clear that the safety of law-abiding citizens should be one of the government's primary concerns. — Ronald Reagan · 1973Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People." "We the People" tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us."We the People" are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the government what it is allowed to do."We the People" are free. — Ronald Reagan · 1989And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. — Ronald Reagan · 1989Cold War5 quotes
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! — Ronald Reagan · 1987An evil empire. — Ronald Reagan · 1983We have listened to the wisdom in an old Russian maxim. And I'm sure you're familiar with it, Mr. General Secretary…The maxim is…trust, but verify. — Ronald Reagan · 1987My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes. — Ronald Reagan · 1984We're especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, looney tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich. — Ronald Reagan · 1985Freedom4 quotes
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. — Ronald Reagan · 1961No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. — Ronald Reagan · 1981Since the turn of the century, the number of democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on the march, and nowhere more so than in our own hemisphere. Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit. People, worldwide, hunger for the right of self-determination, for those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress. — Ronald Reagan · 1985And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. — Ronald Reagan · 1989Limited government4 quotes
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. — Ronald Reagan · 1981We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed. — Ronald Reagan · 1981Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People." "We the People" tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us."We the People" are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the government what it is allowed to do."We the People" are free. — Ronald Reagan · 1989And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. — Ronald Reagan · 1989America3 quotes
We're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. — Ronald Reagan · 1981When the first President, George Washington, placed his hand upon the Bible, he stood less than a single day's journey by horseback from raw, untamed wilderness. There were 4 million Americans in a union of 13 States. Today, we are 60 times as many in a union of 50 States. We've lighted the world with our inventions, gone to the aid of mankind wherever in the world there was a cry for help, journeyed to the Moon and safely returned. So much has changed, and yet we stand together as we did two centuries ago. — Ronald Reagan · 1985And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady 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. — Ronald Reagan · 1989Citizen and state3 quotes
We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed. — Ronald Reagan · 1981Our New Beginning is a continuation of that beginning created two centuries ago when, for the first time in history, government, the people said, was not our master, it is our servant; its only power that which we the people allow it to have. — Ronald Reagan · 1985It's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work—work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. — Ronald Reagan · 1981Politics2 quotes
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. — Ronald Reagan · 1984And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. — Ronald Reagan · 1989Soviet Union2 quotes
An evil empire. — Ronald Reagan · 1983In your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire. — Ronald Reagan · 1983Spread of freedom and democracy2 quotes
What I am describing now is a plan and a hope for the long term—the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people. — Ronald Reagan · 1982Since the turn of the century, the number of democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on the march, and nowhere more so than in our own hemisphere. Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit. People, worldwide, hunger for the right of self-determination, for those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress. — Ronald Reagan · 1985Abortion1 quote
I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born. — Ronald Reagan · 1980American Revolution1 quote
Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People." "We the People" tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us."We the People" are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the government what it is allowed to do."We the People" are free. — Ronald Reagan · 1989American decline1 quote
We're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. — Ronald Reagan · 1981American exceptionalism1 quote
And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady 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. — Ronald Reagan · 1989American expansion1 quote
When the first President, George Washington, placed his hand upon the Bible, he stood less than a single day's journey by horseback from raw, untamed wilderness. There were 4 million Americans in a union of 13 States. Today, we are 60 times as many in a union of 50 States. We've lighted the world with our inventions, gone to the aid of mankind wherever in the world there was a cry for help, journeyed to the Moon and safely returned. So much has changed, and yet we stand together as we did two centuries ago. — Ronald Reagan · 1985American experiment1 quote
Our New Beginning is a continuation of that beginning created two centuries ago when, for the first time in history, government, the people said, was not our master, it is our servant; its only power that which we the people allow it to have. — Ronald Reagan · 1985Berlin Wall1 quote
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! — Ronald Reagan · 1987Big government1 quote
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. So governments' programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth. — Ronald Reagan · 1964Capitalism1 quote
Freedom and incentives unleash the drive and entrepreneurial genius that are the core of human progress. — Ronald Reagan · 1985City on a hill1 quote
And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady 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. — Ronald Reagan · 1989Communism1 quote
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! — Ronald Reagan · 1987Crime1 quote
One legislator accused me of having a nineteenth-century attitude on law and order. That is a totally false charge. I have an eighteenth-century attitude. That is when the Founding Fathers made it clear that the safety of law-abiding citizens should be one of the government's primary concerns. — Ronald Reagan · 1973Democracy1 quote
Since the turn of the century, the number of democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on the march, and nowhere more so than in our own hemisphere. Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit. People, worldwide, hunger for the right of self-determination, for those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress. — Ronald Reagan · 1985Disenchanted world1 quote
Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, they just don't know where to look. — Ronald Reagan · 1981Elections1 quote
Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision it might be well if you would ask yourself: Are you better off than you were four years ago? — Ronald Reagan · 1980Fragility of freedom1 quote
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. — Ronald Reagan · 1961Government regulation1 quote
Back then, 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. — Ronald Reagan · 1986Heroes1 quote
Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, they just don't know where to look. — Ronald Reagan · 1981Incentives1 quote
Freedom and incentives unleash the drive and entrepreneurial genius that are the core of human progress. — Ronald Reagan · 1985