Quotable Reagan

Revision as of 00:58, 27 April 2022 by Reagan admin (talk | contribs)

I frequently find myself quoting Reagan's speeches and radio broadcasts, because much of what he said is still relevant.

"They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer — not an easy answer — but simple."
(A Time For Choosing)

I am going to attempt to create on this page, a collection of his best/most relevant lines and ideally make them such that they can be placed into a social media post without losing their value.

Quote
Source
Subject
Click to Post
We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. Freedoms Post to Twitter
The very purpose of the Bill of Rights was to forever put them (our god-given unalienable rights) beyond reach of majority rule. Freedoms Post to Twitter
Thomas Jefferson said, "If we let Washington tell us when to sow and when to reap, the nation shall soon want for bread." Regulation Post to Twitter
But wouldn't it make a lot more sense to keep some of that money here in the local community to begin with instead of than routing it through that Puzzle Palace on the Potomac where its returned to us, minus a sizable carrying charge? Bureaucracy Post to Twitter
In those other constitutions, those guarantees are privileges granted to the people by the government. In ours they are declared as rights, ours by the grace of God. We're born with them and no government can take them away without our consent. Freedoms Post to Twitter
[I]f you and I in America planted mines on our borders, ringed the country with barbed wire and machine gun toting guards to keep anyone from leaving the country, we'd hardly describe that as "liberating" the people. Freedoms Post to Twitter
Communism is neither an economic or a political system. It's a form of insanity, a temporary aberration which will one day disappear from the earth because it is contrary to human nature. Communism Post to Twitter
People are ecology too, and most of us are looking for answers that will preserve nature to the greatest extent possible, consistent with the need to have places where we can work and live. Environment Post to Twitter
When government pulls its hand out and let's the law of supply and demand work, that law works naturally. If prices go up, demand slacks off, prices slide down, demand goes up. The process is self-regulating. Regulation Post to Twitter
If the dead hand of government can be lifted or ignored, groups of citizens can and will come together to deal effectively with problems facing them. The key is in devising a system in which power and responsibility are dispersed at the grassroots, instead of being concentrated in a hierarchy of bureaucracies and institutions. Bureaucracy Post to Twitter
[G]uns don't make criminals, it's criminals who make use of guns. They're the ones who should be punished not the law-abiding citizen who seeks only to protect himself. Gun Control Post to Twitter
Take away the arms of the citizen and where is his defense against not only criminals but also against the possible despotism of his government. In police states, they take away the citizens arms first. Gun Control Post to Twitter
The campaign goes on to bring health care in America out of the free market system and into the protective custody of government. Those who brought us the Postal Service and Amtrak are anxious to provide medical service of the same high caliber. Socialized Medicine Post to Twitter
Socialists ignore the side of man that is of the spirit. They can provide shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when you're ill. All the things that are guaranteed to a prisoner or a slave. They don't understand that we also dream. Socialism Post to Twitter
We have more oil in the oil shale of the mountain states than there is in the entire Middle East. The problem is not a lack of energy, it is government regulations which deter rather than promote the extraction of it. ... if we relax government controls on our natural gas, nuclear plants, oil shale and offshore drilling, we won't have to talk about invading the Middle East. Instead we could surpass the Middle East as the world's chief exporter of energy. Energy
40,000 letters in Congress is considered evidence of a trend in public thinking. That's why the Communist Party boasts they can put 50,000 letters in Washington in any 72-hour period on any issue they choose. Communication
Now some people tell us the answer to his problem is to soak those of a higher income even more. But how much leeway is left? If the government, tomorrow, started confiscating all income above $6000, all income, the increased revenue wouldn't pay the interest on the national debt. Taxes
Francis Keppel, United States Director of Education blurted out, "You don't understand, under the plan you proposed, we couldn't achieve our social objectives." Social objectives. ... Education is the bulwark of freedom but you remove it too far from the community and the parents control and education becomes the tool of tyranny. Education