| Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Ronald Reagan |
| The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away. Ronald Reagan |
| The taxpayer -- that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. Ronald Reagan |
| Qaddafi counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong. Ronald Reagan |
| People don't start wars, governments do. Ronald Reagan |
| I just don't think it's good for us to be run out of town. (Refusing to cancel Secretary of State visit to Moscow) Ronald Reagan |
| Die-hard conservatives thought that if I couldn't get everything I asked for, I should jump off the cliff with the flag flying-go down in flames. No, if I can get 70 or 80 percent of what it is I'm trying to get ... I'll take that and then continue to try to get the rest in the future. Ronald Reagan |
| I do not feel betrayed. ... He has a fine record. He is a national hero. (On Oliver L North's work) Ronald Reagan |
| Isn't it strange that ... people build walls to keep an enemy out, and there's only one part of the world and one philosophy where they have to build walls to keep their people in Ronald Reagan |
| The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' Ronald Reagan |
| If I had as much make-up on as he did, I'd have looked younger, too. Ronald Reagan |
| Today we have done what we had to do. If necessary, we shall do it again. Ronald Reagan |
| We know that this mad dog of the Middle East has a goal of a world revolution. (On Muammar Qaddafi of Libya) Ronald Reagan |
| There were so many candidates on the platform that there were not enough promises to go around. Ronald Reagan |
| I think the presidency is an institution over which you have temporary custody. Ronald Reagan |
| I believe Moses was 80 when God first commissioned him for public service. Ronald Reagan |
| I have come to the conclusion that the 22nd Amendment limiting the presidency to two terms was a mistake. Shouldn't the people have the right to vote for someone as many times as they want to vote for him Ronald Reagan |
| I've often wondered how some people in positions of this kind ... manage without having had any acting experience. Ronald Reagan |
| As long as there are guns, the individual that wants a gun for a crime is going to have one and going to get it. The only person who's going to be penalized and have difficulty is the law-abiding citizen, who then cannot have it if he wants protection-the protection of a weapon in his home, for home protection. Ronald Reagan |
| My fellow Americans, I must speak to you tonight about a mounting danger in Central America that threatens the security of the United States. This danger will not go away it will grow worse, much worse, if we fail to take action now. Ronald Reagan |
| The White House is the leakiest place I've ever been in. (On special measures to ensure secrecy of plans to bomb Libya) Ronald Reagan |
| 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 |
| If we don't want to see the map of Central America covered in a sea of red, eventually lapping at our own borders, we must act now. Ronald Reagan |
| Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. Ronald Reagan |
| There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder. Ronald Reagan |
| You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans. Ronald Reagan |
| Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result. (Quoting Churchill) Ronald Reagan |
| It's difficult to see that people are starving in this country because food isn't available.(1986) Ronald Reagan |
| Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15. Ronald Reagan |
| Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his. Ronald Reagan |
| You know, it was only a generation ago that actors couldn't be buried in the churchyard. Ronald Reagan |
| 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. Ronald Reagan |
| I was alarmed at my doctor's report He said I was sound as a dollar. Ronald Reagan |
| Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying. Ronald Reagan |
| Shouldn't someone tag Mr Kennedy's bold new imaginative program with its proper age Under the tousled boyish haircut is still old Karl Marx-first launched a century ago. There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother. Ronald Reagan |
| I'll be like Scarlett O'Hara-I'll think about it tomorrow. Ronald Reagan |
| The thought of being president frightens me. I do not think I want the job. Ronald Reagan |
| It doesn't do good to open doors for someone who doesn't have the price to get in. If he has the price, he may not need the laws. There is no law saying the Negro has to live in Harlem or Watts. Ronald Reagan |
| 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 |
| Tonight we are launching an effort which holds the promise of changing the course of human history. Ronald Reagan |