Ronald Reagan Quotes

We've been blessed with the opportunity to stand for something - for liberty and freedom and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to.

With all its flaws, America remains a unique achievement for human dignity on a scale unequaled anywhere in the world.

The Constitution was never meant to prevent people from praying; its declared purpose was to protect their freedom to pray.

The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.

With our eyes fixed on the future, but recognizing the realities of today...we will achieve our destiny to be as a shining city on a hill for all mankind to see.

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, subsidise it.

I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.

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.

If the bloodbath must come, then let's get on with it!

America has begun a spiritual reawakening. Faith and hope are being restored. Americans are turning back to God. Church attendance is up. Audiences for religious books and broadcasts are growing. And I do believe that he has begun to heal our blessed land.

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

Where would this country be without this great land of ours?

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, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.

An America that is militarily and economically strong is not enough. The world must see an America that is morally strong with a creed and a vision. This is what has led us to dare and achieve. For us, values count.

With all its flaws, America remains a unique achievement for human dignity on a scale unequaled anywhere in the world.

Let us pledge to restore, in our time, the American spirit of voluntary service, of cooperation, of private and community initiative, a spirit that flows like a deep and mighty river through the history of our nation.

Work and family are at the center of our lives, the foundation of our dignity as a free people.

There is no institution more vital to our nation's survival than the American family Here the seeds of personal character are planted, the roots of public virtue first nourished. Through love and instruction, discipline, guidance and example, we learn from our mothers and fathers the values that will shape our private lives and our public citizenship.

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

I'm not running for the presidency because I believe that I can solve the problems we've discussed tonight. I believe the people of this country can. And together we can begin the world over again. We can meet our destiny - and that destiny is to build a land here that will be, for all mankind, a shining city on the hill.

I believe that if we work together, then one day we will say, 'We fought the good fight. We finished the race. We kept the faith.' And to our children, and to our children's children we can say, 'We did all that could be done in this brief time that was given us here on earth.

Our time is now. If we carry the day and turn the tide, we can hope that as long as men speak of freedom and those who have protected it, they will remember us, and they will say, 'Here were the brave and here their place of honor.'

...most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for their country, for us. All we can do is remember.

Together, let us make this a new beginning. Let us make a commitment to care for the needy, to teach our children the values and virtues handed down to us by our families, to have the courage to defend those values and the willingness to sacrifice for them.

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

You did what Americans have done for more than two centuries. When others were in need, you didn't point to the other guy. You rolled up your sleeves and went to work.

America is too great for small dreams.

There is nothing wrong with America that Americans can't fix.

Good citizenship and defending democracy means living up to the ideals and values that make this country great.

We are the showcase of the future. And it is within our power to mold that future - this year and for decades to come. It can be as grand and as great as we make it.... No crisis is beyond the capacity of our people to solve; no challenge too great.

The Founding Fathers believed that faith in God was the key to our being a good people and America's becoming a great nation.

Our government, in its most sacred documents ... speak of man being created, of a Creator; that we're a nation under God.

The Constitution was never meant to prevent people from praying; its declared purpose was to protect their freedom to pray.

The image of George Washington kneeling in prayer in the snow is one of the most famous in American history. He personified a people who knew it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness; they must also seek help from God, their Father and Preserver.

If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleased the energy and genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.

The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.

The history of our civilization, the great advances that made it possible, is not a story of cynics or doom criers. It is a gallant chronicle of the optimists, the determined people, men and women, who dreamed great dreams and dared to try whatever it took to make them come true.

We have to realize that this country in its private sector has been fighting the most successful war on poverty the world has seen for the last 200 years.

We can't build a safer world with honorable intentions and good will alone. Achieving the fundamental goals our nation seeks in world affairs - peace, human rights, economic progress, national independence and international stability - means supporting our friends and defending our interests.

Americans seek always to make friends of old antagonists.

When we've taken up arms, it has been for the defense of freedom for ourselves and for other peaceful nations who needed our help.

While other [military] alliances have been formed to win wars, our fundamental purpose is to prevent war while preserving and extending the frontiers of freedom.

Young Americans must never again be sent to fight and die unless we are prepared to let them win.

Yes, the cost is high, but the price of neglect would be infinitely higher.

With our eyes fixed on the future, but recognizing the realities of today...we will achieve our destiny to be as a shining city on a hill for all mankind to see.

Some may try and tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America every day is a new beginning, and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends. For this is the land that has never become, but is always in the act of becoming. Emerson was right: America is the land of Tomorrow.

When the Lord calls me home, 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. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.