Ronald Reagan Quotes

“What is important is that one strives to achieve a goal.”

“Love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism.”

“A nation's greatness is measured not just by its gross national product or military power, but by the strength of its devotion to the principles and values that bind its people and define their character.”

“Common sense told us that to preserve the peace, we'd have to become strong again after years of weakness and confusion. So, we rebuilt our defenses, and this New Year we toasted the new peacefulness around the globe. Not only have the superpowers actually begun to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons...but the regional conflicts that rack the globe are also beginning to cease.”

“With freedom goes responsibility, a responsibility that can only be met by the individual himself.”

“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.”

“America must remain freedom's staunchest friend, for freedom is our best ally and it is the world's only hope to conquer poverty and preserve peace.”

“Hope remains the highest reality, the age-old power.”

“Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it'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.”

“To do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.”

“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”

“By emphasizing the importance of a common language, we safeguard a proud legacy and help to ensure that America's future will be as great as her past.”

“We intend to keep the peace - we will also keep our freedom.”

“Those who have known freedom and then lost it, have never known it again”

“And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”

“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.”

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

“Even now I wonder what I might have accomplished if I'd studied harder”

“Thomas Jefferson made a comment about the Presidency and age. He said that one should not worry about one's exact chronological age in reference to his ability to perform one's task. And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.”

“If history teaches anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.”

“I won't hold my opponent's youth and inexperience against him.”

“The signs of the Vietnam War protestors said "Make Love not War!" It didn't seem to me that they were capable of either.”

“Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.”

“If we miss this chance to make a fresh start, we may look back on this moment from some later vantage point and realize how much that failure cost us all.”

“May every day be a new beginning, and every dawn bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill.”