Ronald Reagan Quotes

"Four years ago we said we would invigorate our economy by giving people greater freedom and incentives to take risks and letting them keep more of what they earned. We did what we promised, and a great industrial giant is reborn."

"We think there is a parallel between the Federal involvement in education and the decline in quality over recent years."

"Excellence does not begin in Washington."

"I was raised to believe that God has a plan for everyone and that seemingly random twists of fate are all a part of His plan."

"They have answered the stirrings of liberty with brute force, killings, mass arrests, and the setting up of concentration camps."

"History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government. . . . When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness."

"Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God."

"My years in your service will always be very special to me. The inspiration you have given me will burn brightly in my heart long after I have left the lights of the White House behind."

"No, I'm just a man committed to great ideas."

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

"An economist is someone who sees something that works in practice and wonders if it would work in theory."

"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 even now being written."

"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."

"Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions."

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

"They say hard work never hurt anybody, but I figure why take the chance."

"Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse."

"No mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology."

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

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