Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, his presidency constituted the Reagan era, and he is considered one of the most prominent conservative figures in American history.
Ronald Reagan Quotes
1. “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
— Ronald Reagan
2. “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
— Ronald Reagan
3. “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
— Ronald Reagan
4. “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.”
— Ronald Reagan
5. “By working together, pooling our resources and building on our strengths, we can accomplish great things.”
— Ronald Reagan
6. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
7. “When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”
— Ronald Reagan
8. “If not us, who? And if not now, when?”
— Ronald Reagan
9. “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
— Ronald Reagan
10. “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.”
— Ronald Reagan
11. “Doverey, no proverey – Trust but verify.”
— Ronald Reagan
12. “America is too great for small dreams.”
— Ronald Reagan
13. “The future doesn’t belong to the lighthearted. It belongs to the brave.”
— Ronald Reagan
14. “Money can’t buy happiness, but it will certainly get you a better class of memories.”
— Ronald Reagan
15. “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.”
— Ronald Reagan
16. “How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”
— Ronald Reagan
17. “Wherever a beautiful soul has been there is a trail of beautiful memories…”
— Ronald Reagan
18. “Self-defense is not only our right; it is our duty.”
— Ronald Reagan
19. “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”
— Ronald Reagan
20. “The price of freedom may be high, but never so costly as the loss of freedom.”
— Ronald Reagan
21. “If you think you can – you can!”
— Ronald Reagan
22. “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
23. “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
— Ronald Reagan
24. “America is, and always will be, a shining city on a hill.”
— Ronald Reagan
25. “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
— Ronald Reagan
26. “Peace is more than just an absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom, and true peace dictates the recognition of human rights.”
— Ronald Reagan
27. “Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver 5 minutes longer.”
— Ronald Reagan
28. “I’ve heard that hard work never killed anyone, but I say why take the chance?”
— Ronald Reagan
29. “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
— Ronald Reagan
30. “It’s hard, when you’re up to your armpits in alligators, to remember you came here to drain the swamp.”
— Ronald Reagan
31. “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”
— Ronald Reagan
32. “With freedom comes responsibility, a responsibility that can only be met by the individual.”
— Ronald Reagan
33. “There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.”
— Ronald Reagan
34. “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.”
— Ronald Reagan
35. “I believe the best social program is a job.”
— Ronald Reagan
36. “Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don’t need it and hell where they already have it.”
— Ronald Reagan
37. “Every new day begins with possibilities.”
— Ronald Reagan
38. “As government expands, liberty contracts.”
— Ronald Reagan
39. “Respect for human rights is not social work; it is not merely an act of compassion. It is the first obligation of government and the source of its legitimacy.”
— Ronald Reagan
40. “To sit back hoping that someday, someway, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last – but eat you he will.”
— Ronald Reagan
41. “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
— Ronald Reagan
42. “The arts and humanities teach us who we are and what we can be. They lie at the very core of the culture of which we’re a part.”
— Ronald Reagan
43. “I’ll be like Scarlett O’Hara-I’ll think about it tomorrow.”
— Ronald Reagan
44. “Stick to your dreams and determine that you’re going to make them come true.”
— Ronald Reagan
45. “We are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.”
— Ronald Reagan
46. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
47. “Never let the things you can’t do, stop you from doing what you can.”
— Ronald Reagan
48. “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”
— Ronald Reagan
49. “A wife who loses a husband is called a widow. A husband who loses a wife is called a widower. A child who loses his parents is called an orphan. There is no word for a parent who loses a child. That’s how awful the loss is.”
— Ronald Reagan
50. “Without a vision the people perish.”
— Ronald Reagan
51. “Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
— Ronald Reagan
52. “Let us thank God for life and the blessings He’s put before us. High among them are our families, our freedom, and the opportunities of a new year.”
— Ronald Reagan
53. “We maintain the peace through our strength; weakness only invites aggression.”
— Ronald Reagan
54. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
55. “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”
— Ronald Reagan
56. “Surround yourself with great people; delegate authority; get out of the way.”
— Ronald Reagan
57. “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.”
— Ronald Reagan
58. “Every new day begins with possibilities. It’s up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace.”
— Ronald Reagan
59. “Law and freedom must be indivisible partners. For without law, there can be no freedom, only chaos and disorder; and without freedom, law is but a cynical veneer for injustice and oppression.”
— Ronald Reagan
60. “If more government is the answer, then it was a really stupid question.”
— Ronald Reagan
61. “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.”
— Ronald Reagan
62. “You on the cutting edge of technology have already made yesterday’s impossibilities the commonplace realities of today.”
— Ronald Reagan
63. “Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.”
— Ronald Reagan
64. “The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.”
— Ronald Reagan
65. “Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it’s common sense.”
— Ronald Reagan
66. “The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.”
— Ronald Reagan
67. “There is no foundation like the rock of honesty and fairness, and when you begin to build your life on that rock, with the cement of the faith in God that you have, then you have a real start.”
— Ronald Reagan
68. “May every day be a new beginning, and every dawn bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill.”
— Ronald Reagan
69. “You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, ‘There is a price we will not pay.’ There is a point beyond which they must not advance. This is the meaning of the phrase ‘Peace through strength.’”
— Ronald Reagan
70. “We have every right to dream heroic dreams.”
— Ronald Reagan
71. “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a Government Program.”
— Ronald Reagan
72. “Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.”
— Ronald Reagan
73. “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.”
— Ronald Reagan
74. “The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America – our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal.”
— Ronald Reagan
75. “A socialist is someone who has read Lenin and Marx. An anti-socialist is someone who understands Lenin and Marx.”
— Ronald Reagan
76. “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.”
— Ronald Reagan
77. “There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.”
— Ronald Reagan
78. “I do not want to go back to the past; I want to go back to the past way of facing the future.”
— Ronald Reagan
79. “To say Congress is spending like drunken sailors is an insult to drunken sailors.”
— Ronald Reagan
80. “Terrorism is the preferred weapon of weak and evil men.”
— Ronald Reagan
81. “Man is not free unless government is limited.”
— Ronald Reagan
82. “I’ve always believed that a lot of the trouble in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.”
— Ronald Reagan
83. “The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him.”
— Ronald Reagan
84. “I have left orders to be awakened at any time during national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.”
— Ronald Reagan
85. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
86. “Too often character assassination has replaced debate in principle here in Washington. Destroy someone’s reputation, and you don’t have to talk about what he stands for.”
— Ronald Reagan
87. “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”
— Ronald Reagan
88. “God, the source of all knowledge, should never have been expelled from our children’s classrooms.”
— Ronald Reagan
89. “The Founding Fathers believed that faith in God was the key to our being a good people and America’s becoming a great nation.”
— Ronald Reagan
90. “For too long, the victims of crime have been the forgotten persons of our criminal justice system.”
— Ronald Reagan
91. “Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.”
— Ronald Reagan
92. “For the first time ever, everything is in place for the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ.”
— Ronald Reagan
93. “Our American tradition of neighbor helping neighbor has always been one of our greatest strengths and most noble traditions.”
— Ronald Reagan
94. “The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
— Ronald Reagan
95. “We desire peace. But peace is a goal, not a policy. Lasting peace is what we hope for at the end of our journey. It doesn’t describe the steps we must take nor the paths we should follow to reach that goal.”
— Ronald Reagan
96. “America’s best days are yet to come.”
— Ronald Reagan
97. “We are never defeated unless we give up on God.”
— Ronald Reagan
98. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
99. “Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
— Ronald Reagan
100. “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
— Ronald Reagan
101. “America’s best days lie ahead. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
— Ronald Reagan
102. “We stand together as we did two centuries ago, One people under God determined that our future shall be worthy of our past.”
— Ronald Reagan
103. “My dream is to see the day when nuclear weapons will be banished from the face of the Earth.”
— Ronald Reagan
104. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
105. “I’m no linguist, but I have been told that in the Russian language, there isn’t even a word for freedom.”
— Ronald Reagan
106. “America was founded by people who believe that God was their rock of safety. I recognize we must be cautious in claiming that God is on our side, but I think it’s all right to keep asking if we’re on His side.”
— Ronald Reagan
107. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
108. “Only our deep moral values and our strong social institutions can hold back that jungle and restrain the darker impulses of human nature.”
— Ronald Reagan
109. “Democracy is not a fragile flower; still it needs cultivating.”
— Ronald Reagan
110. “The federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.”
— Ronald Reagan
111. “The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution.”
— Ronald Reagan
112. “Government is never more dangerous than when our desire to have it help us blinds us to its great power to harm us.”
— Ronald Reagan
113. “There are no easy answers’ but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.”
— Ronald Reagan
114. “We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.”
— Ronald Reagan
115. “Cars don’t cause pollution, trees do.”
— Ronald Reagan
116. “Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.”
— Ronald Reagan
117. “We still have too much air and water pollution and we still need to work to reduce it. But we also need to put the problem of pollution into a historical as well as scientific perspective…”
— Ronald Reagan
118. “I didn’t leave the Democratic party; the Democratic party left me.”
— Ronald Reagan
119. “Words are even more feeble on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them.”
— Ronald Reagan
120. “If you can’t summarize an issue on one page, you don’t understand the issue well enough.”
— Ronald Reagan
121. “Professional politicians like to talk about the value of experience in government. Nuts! The only experience you gain in politics is how to be political.”
— Ronald Reagan
122. “In a world wracked by hatred, economic crisis, and political tension, America remains mankind’s best hope.”
— Ronald Reagan
123. “Christopher Columbus was looking for a passage to India, but he landed in America. He landed in the wrong place, and when he got back, he wasn’t sure where he’d been. But most important of all, he did it on someone else’s money.”
— Ronald Reagan
124. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
125. “Cold, hungry, scared as hell inside, but too damn brave to admit it.”
— Ronald Reagan
126. “If you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.”
— Ronald Reagan
127. “If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he’ll eat you last.”
— Ronald Reagan
128. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
129. “No matter how big and powerful government gets, and the many services it provides, it can never take the place of volunteers.”
— Ronald Reagan
130. “I’ve often said there’s nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.”
— Ronald Reagan
131. “We can meet our destiny, and that destiny to build a land here that will be, for all mankind, a shining city on a hill.”
— Ronald Reagan
132. “Love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism.”
— Ronald Reagan
133. “Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”
— Ronald Reagan
134. “The family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve, and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation of our freedoms.”
— Ronald Reagan
135. “There is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil.”
— Ronald Reagan
136. “God’s miracles are to be found in nature itself; the wind and waves, the wood that becomes a tree – all of these are explained biologically, but behind them is the hand of God.”
— Ronald Reagan
137. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
— Ronald Reagan
138. “I hope we once again have 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
139. “The signs of the Vietnam War protestors said “Make Love not War!” It didn’t seem to me that they were capable of either.”
— Ronald Reagan
140. “The struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.”
— Ronald Reagan
141. “Good citizenship and defending democracy means living up to the ideals and values that make this country great.”
— Ronald Reagan
142. “The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose.”
— Ronald Reagan
143. “We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were.”
— Ronald Reagan
144. “Government is not the solution, but rather the cause of our problems.”
— Ronald Reagan
145. “I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things.”
— Ronald Reagan
146. “We’ve gone astray from first principles. We’ve lost sight of the rule that individual freedom and ingenuity are at the very core of everything that we’ve accomplished. Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
— Ronald Reagan
147. “Trust the people – that is the crucial lesson of history.”
— Ronald Reagan
148. “Don’t be afraid to see what you see.”
— Ronald Reagan
149. “Our loyalty lies with little taxpayers, not big spenders. What our critics really believe is that those in Washington know better how to spend your money than you, the people, do. But we’re not going to let them do it, period.”
— Ronald Reagan
150. “We could say they government spend like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors, because the sailors are spending their own money.”
— Ronald Reagan
151. “Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.”
— Ronald Reagan
152. “If you’ve seen one redwood tree, you’ve seen them all.”
— Ronald Reagan
153. “Marijuana is probably the most dangerous drug in America today.”
— Ronald Reagan
154. “Don’t let anyone tell you that America’s best days are behind her – that the American spirit has been vanquished. We’ve seen it triumph too often in our lives to stop believing in it now.”
— Ronald Reagan
155. “Some may try to tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning. For this is the land that has never become, but is always in the act of becoming.”
— Ronald Reagan
156. “We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.”
— Ronald Reagan
157. “Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.”
— Ronald Reagan
158. “I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.”
— Ronald Reagan
159. “All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.”
— Ronald Reagan
160. “Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.”
— Ronald Reagan
161. “We the people tell the government what to do, it doesn’t tell us.”
— Ronald Reagan
162. “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.”
— Ronald Reagan
163. “You will be competing against athletes from many nations. But, most important, you are competing against yourself. All we expect is for you to do your very best, to push yourself just one second faster, one notch higher, one inch further.”
— Ronald Reagan
164. “Socialists ignore the side of man that is the spirit. They can provide you shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when you’re ill, all the things guaranteed to a prisoner or a slave. They don’t understand that we also dream.”
— Ronald Reagan
165. “Either you will control your government, or government will control you.”
— Ronald Reagan
166. “You can’t be for big government, big taxes and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy.”
— Ronald Reagan
167. “What would this country be without this great land of ours.”
— Ronald Reagan
168. “When government gets too big, freedom is lost. Government is supposed to be the servant. But when a government can tax the people with no limit or restraint on what the government can take, then the government has become the master.”
— Ronald Reagan
169. “Together, we’ll build a far better future for America – a future of growth, opportunity, and security, anchored by the values of a people who are confident, compassionate, and whose heart is good.”
— Ronald Reagan
170. “The doors of this Library are open now and are all welcome. The judgment of history is left to you, the people. I have no fears of that, for we have done our best. And so I say, come and learn from it.”
— Ronald Reagan
171. “From my mother I learned the value of prayer, how to have dreams and believe I could make them come true.”
— Ronald Reagan
172. “The best social program is a productive job for anyone who’s willing to work.”
— Ronald Reagan
173. “If it’s to be a bloodbath, let it be now. Appeasement is not the answer.”
— Ronald Reagan
174. “Work and family are at the center of our lives, the foundation of our dignity as a free people.”
— Ronald Reagan
175. “We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate.”
— Ronald Reagan
176. “The taxpayer – that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.”
— Ronald Reagan
177. “We must have faith in the people of this country and faith in our principles.”
— Ronald Reagan
178. “While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.”
— Ronald Reagan
179. “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. The only value in our two nations possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they will never be used. But then would it not be better to do away with them entirely?”
— Ronald Reagan
180. “Balancing your budget is like protecting your virtue. You have to learn when to say no.”
— Ronald Reagan
181. “I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast.”
— Ronald Reagan
182. “Governments don’t control things. A government can’t control the economy without controlling people.”
— Ronald Reagan
183. “If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.”
— Ronald Reagan
184. “We must be cautious in claiming God is on our side. I think the real question we must answer is, are we on His side?”
— Ronald Reagan
185. “Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used.”
— Ronald Reagan
186. “I’m not smart enough to lie.”
— Ronald Reagan
187. “Government Steals from the needy and gives to the greedy.”
— Ronald Reagan
188. “If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with.”
— Ronald Reagan
189. “We may be the generation that sees Armageddon.”
— Ronald Reagan
190. “Tyranny, like fog in the well known poem, often creeps in silently ‘on little cat feet.’”
— Ronald Reagan
191. “Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.”
— Ronald Reagan
192. “The very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.”
— Ronald Reagan
193. “The true lesson of the Vietnam War is: certainty of purpose and ruthlessness of execution win wars.”
— Ronald Reagan
194. “The future is best decided by ballots, not bullets.”
— Ronald Reagan
195. “The Soviet Union is the focus of evil in the modern world.”
— Ronald Reagan
196. “We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world.”
— Ronald Reagan
197. “We’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion, but what’s important.”
— Ronald Reagan
198. “Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.”
— Ronald Reagan
199. “The best way to get over a dog’s death is to get another soon.”
— Ronald Reagan
200. “A people free to choose will always choose peace.”
— Ronald Reagan
