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And How Stands The City On This Winter Night? More Prosperous, More Secure, And Happier Than It Was 8 Years Ago. But More Than That: After 200 Years, Two Centuries, She Still Stands Strong And True On The Granite Ridge, And Her Glow Has Held Steady No Matter What Storm. And She's Still A Beacon, Still A Magnet For All Who Must Have Freedom, For All The Pilgrims From All The Lost Places Who Are Hurtling Through The Darkness, Toward Home.

-Ronald Reagan

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And How Stands The

Ronald Reagan

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And How Stands The City On This Winter Night? More Prosperous, More Secure, And Happier Than It Was 8 Years Ago. But More Than That: After 200 Years, Two Centuries, She Still Stands Strong And True On The Granite Ridge, And Her Glow Has Held Steady No Matter What Storm. And She's Still A Beacon, Still A Magnet For All Who Must Have Freedom, For All The Pilgrims From All The Lost Places Who Are Hurtling Through The Darkness, Toward Home.

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Accepting A Government Grant With Its Accompanying Rules Is Like Marrying A Girl And Finding Out Her Entire Family Is Moving In With You Before The Honeymoon.

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.

What Has Happened To The Dreams Of The United Nations' Founders? What Has Happened To The Spirit Which Created The United Nations? The Answer Is Clear: Governments Got In The Way Of The Dreams Of The People.

When You Can't Make Them See The Light, Make Them Feel The Heat.

I Notice That All Of The People Who Support Abortion Are Already Born.

Where There's Liberty, Art Succeeds.

If Adults Want To Take Such Chances (with Marijuana) That Is Their Business

No Government Ever Voluntarily Reduces Itself In Size.

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.

Excellence Does Not Begin In Washington.

The Despicable North Korean Attack In Rangoon Deprived Us Of Trusted Advisers And Friends. So Many Of Those Who Died Had Won Admirers In America As They Studied With Us Or Guided Us With Their Counsel. I Personally Recall The Wisdom And Composure Of Foreign Minister Lee, With Whom I Met In Washington Just A Few Short Months Ago. To The Families And Countrymen Of All Those Who Were Lost, America Expresses Its Deep Sorrow.

Someday, The Realm Of Liberty And Justice Will Encompass The Planet. Freedom Is Not Just The Birthright Of The Few, It Is The God-given Right Of All His Children, In Every Country. It Won't Come By Conquest. It Will Come, Because Freedom Is Right And Freedom Works. It Will Come, Because Cooperation And Good Will Among Free People Will Carry The Day.

I Looked Out The Window And Saw This White Light.it Was Zigzagging Around. I Went Up To The Pilot And Said,have You Ever Seen Anything Like That? He Was Shocked And He Said, "nope." And I Said To Him: "let's Follow It!" We Followed It For Several Minutes. It Was A Bright White Light.we Followed It To Bakersfield, And All Of A Sudden To Our Utter Amazement It Went Straight Up Into The Heavens. When I Got Off The Plane I Told Nancy All About It.

The People's Instincts Are Still Right. You See Them Come To The Rescue Of Someone-a Child Who Falls Down A Well-hundreds Of People Rush To Help, And Labor And Equipment Are Volunteered Without Any Thought Of Who's Going To Pay For It. This Is A Basic Feeling In Americans. They Don't Stand Back In Such A Circumstance And Ask What The Government's Going To Do About It.

The Family Has Always Been The Cornerstone Of American Society.

American Society

I Told You Once That [our Marriage] Was Like An Adolescent's Dream Of What Marriage Should Be Like. That Hasn't Changed.

Freedom Is Indivisible - There Is No "s" On The End Of It. You Can Erode Freedom, Diminish It, But You Cannot Divide It And Choose To Keep "some Freedoms" While Giving Up Others.

All Great Change In America Begins At The Dinner Table.

We Developed At The Local School District Level Probably The Best Public School System In The World. Or It Was Until The Federal Government Added Federal Interference To Federal Financial Aid And Eroded Educational Quality In The Process.

I'm A Sucker For Hero Worship.

Our Country And State Have A Special Obligation To Work Toward The Stabilization Of Our Own Population So As To Credibly Lead Other Parts Of The World Toward Population Stabilization.

Government Should Uphold-and Not Undermine-those Institutions Which Are Custodians Of The Very Values Upon Which Civilization Is Founded: Religion, Education And, Above All, Family.

I Sometimes Think Adam And Eve Were Russians. They Didn't Have A Roof Over Their Head, Nothing To Wear, But They Had One Apple Between Them And They Thought That Was Paradise.

It's Said That Prayer Can Move Mountains. Well, It's Certainly Moved The Hearts And Minds Of Americans In Their Times Of Trial And Helped Them To Achieve A Society That, For All Its Imperfections, Is Still The Envy Of The World And The Last, Best Hope Of Mankind.

We Have So Many People Who Can't See A Fat Man Standing Beside A Thin One Without Coming To The Conclusion That The Fat Man Got That Way By Taking Advantage Of The Thin One!

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.

You Are Worried About What Man Has Done And Is Doing To This Magical Planet That God Gave Us. And I Share Your Concern. What Is A Conservative After All But One Who Conserves, One Who Is Committed To Protecting And Holding Close The Things By Which We Live...and We Want To Protect And Conserve The Land On Which We Live - Our Countryside, Our Rivers And Mountains, Our Plains And Meadows And Forests. This Is Our Patrimony. This Is What We Leave To Our Children. And Our Great Moral Responsibility Is To Leave It To Them Either As We Found It Or Better Than We Found It.

What Is Important Is That One Strives To Achieve A Goal.

I've Been Told That Some Members Of Congress Disagree With My Tax Cut Proposal. Well, You Know It's Been Said That Taxation Is The Art Of Plucking Feathers Without Killing The Bird. It's Time They Realized The Bird Just Doesn't Have Any Feathers Left.

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!

There's No Question I Am An Idealist, Which Is Another Way Of Saying 'i Am An American.'

One Picture Is Worth 1,000 Denials.

Governments Tend Not To Solve Problems, Only To Rearrange Them.

You And I Have A Rendezvous With Destiny. We Will Preserve For Our Children This, The Last Best Hope Of Man On Earth.

State Problems Should Involve State Solutions.

How Can A President Not Be An Actor?

Illegal Immigrants In Considerable Numbers Have Become Productive Members Of Our Society And Are A Basic Part Of Our Work Force. Those Who Have Established Equities In The United States Should Be Recognized And Accorded Legal Status. At The Same Time, In So Doing, We Must Not Encourage Illegal Immigration.

And We're Also Remembering The Guiding Light Of Our Judeo-christian Tradition. All Of Us Here Today Are Descendants Of Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob, Sons And Daughters Of The Same God. I Believe We Are Bound By Faith In Our God, By Our Love For Family And Neighborhood, By Our Deep Desire For A More Peaceful World, And By Our Commitment To Protect The Freedom Which Is Our Legacy As Americans. These Values Have Given A Renewed Sense Of Worth To Our Lives. They Are Infusing America With Confidence And Optimism That Many Thought We Had Lost.

The United States Trades More With The Province Of Ontario Alone Than With Japan.

This Is The Real Task Before Us: To Reassert Our Commitment As A Nation To A Law Higher Than Our Own, To Renew Our Spiritual Strength. Only By Building A Wall Of Such Spiritual Resolve Can We, As A Free People, Hope To Protect Our Own Heritage And Make It Someday The Birthright Of All Men.

My Friends, We Did It. We Weren't Just Marking Time, We Made A Difference. We Made (america) Stronger - We Made (america) Freer - And We Left Her In Good Hands. All In All, Not Bad. Not Bad At All. And So, Goodbye. God Bless You. And God Bless The United States Of America.

I Can't Believe That This World Can Go On Beyond Our Generation And On Down To Succeeding Generations With This Kind Of Weapon On Both Sides Poised At Each Other Without Someday Some Fool Or Some Maniac Or Some Accident Triggering The Kind Of War That Is The End Of The Line For All Of Us. And I Just Think Of What A Sigh Of Relief Would Go Up From Everyone On This Earth If Someday-and This Is What I Have-my Hope, Way In The Back Of My Head-is That If We Start Down The Road To Reduction, Maybe One Day In Doing That, Somebody Will Say, 'why Not All The Way? Let's Get Rid Of All These Things'.

Governments Don't Reduce Deficits By Raising Taxes On The People; Governments Reduce Deficits By Controlling Spending And Stimulating New Wealth.

Public Servants Say, Always With The Best Of Intentions, 'what Greater Service We Could Render If Only We Had A Little More Money And A Little More Power.' But The Truth Is That Outside Of Its Legitimate Function, Government Does Nothing As Well Or As Economically As The Private Sector.

A Troubled And Afflicted Mankind Looks To Us, Pleading For Us To Keep Our Rendezvous With Destiny; That We Will Uphold The Principles Of Self-reliance, Self-discipline, Morality, And - Above All - Responsible Liberty For Every Individual That We Will Become That Shining City On A Hill.

Today It Is Difficult To Find Leaders Who Are Independent Of The Forces That Have Brought Us Our Problems: The Congress, The Bureaucracy, The Lobbyists, Big Business, And Big Labor.

Why Should The Government Subsidize Intellectual Curiosity?

The Fourth Landing Of The Columbia Is The Historical Equivalent Of The Driving Of The Golden Spike Which Completed The First Transcontinental Railroad. It Marks Our Entrance Into A New Era.

One Day, A Pretty, Fresh-faced Young Lady - Intelligent And Sincerely Concerned - Asked Me If Abortion Wasn't Preferable To Making A Young, Unmarried Girl Have A Baby She Didn't Want And Which Would, Therefore, Grow Up Unloved And Probably Turn Out To Be A Criminal. I Gave An Answer Which Apparently She Hadn't Considered. I Told Her There Were Literally Millions Of People In This Country Who Wanted But Could Not Have Children And Who Waited Eagerly, Sometimes For Years, To Adopt The Baby She Had Described.

Protecting The Rights Of Even The Least Individual Among Us Is Basically The Only Excuse The Government Has For Even Existing.

I'm Not A Politician By Profession. I Am A Citizen Who Decided I Had To Be Personally Involved In Order To Stand Up For My Own Values And Beliefs. My Candidacy Is Based On My Record, And For That Matter, My Entire Life.

The Bible Tells Us There Will Be A Time For Peace. But, So Far In This Century, Mankind Has Failed To Find It.

I Think All Of Us Are Agreed That War Is Probably Man's Greatest Stupidity And I Think Peace Is The Dream That Lives In The Heart Of Everyone Wherever He May Be In The World, But Unfortunately, Unlike A Family Quarrel, It Doesn't Take Two To Make A War. It Only Takes One, Unless The Other One Is Prepared To Surrender At The First Hint Of Force.

America's Best Days Lie Ahead. You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

Many A Man Has Failed Because He Had His Wishbone Where His Backbone Should Have Been.

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.

The National Democratic Leadership Is Going So Far Left, They've Left America. Don't Let Them Bury The American Dream In Their Graveyard Of Gloom And Envy.

More Than Any Gift Or Toy, Ornament Of Tree, Let Us Resolve That This Christmas Shall Be, Like That First Christmas, A Celebration Of Interior Treasures.

Sometimes When I'm Faced With An Atheist, I Am Tempted To Invite Him To The Greatest Gourmet Dinner That One Could Ever Serve, And When We Have Finished Eating That Magnificent Dinner, To Ask Him If He Believes There's A Cook.

There Was A Time When "sound As A Dollar" Was A Description, Not A Joke.

Our Principles Were Revolutionary. We Began As A Small, Weak Republic. But We Survived. Our Example Inspired Others, Imperfectly At Times, But It Inspired Them Nevertheless. This Constitutional Republic, Conceived In Liberty And Dedicated To The Proposition That All Men Are Created Equal, Prospered And Grew Strong. To This Day, America Is Still The Abiding Alternative To Tyranny. That Is Our Purpose In The World - Nothing More And Nothing Less.

Latinos Are Republican. They Just Don't Know It Yet.

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.

Bureaucracy Is Adept At Protecting Its Nest.

With All This Talk About The Supposed Strain In Relations [with The Soviet Union], There Is An Inference That Somehow It Is Our Fault. But We Didn't Kill Russian Civilians By Shooting Down A Civilian Airplane. We Didn't Attempt To Conquer An Adjacent Country To Ours. We Didn't Walk Out On Negotiations And Refuse To Give A Date For When We Would Resume.

We Were Told Four Years Ago That 17 Million People Went To Bed Hungry Each Night. Well That Was Probably True. They Were All On A Diet.

The Man Who Puts Into The Marriage Only Half Of What He Owns Will Get That Out.

Now, So There Will Be No Misunderstanding, It's Not My Intention To Do Away With Government. It Is Rather To Make It Work - Work With Us, Not Over Us; To Stand By Our Side, Not Ride On Our Back. Government Can And Must Provide Opportunity, Not Smother It; Foster Productivity, Not Stifle It.

If You Owe The Bank $10,000 You Have A Problem. If You Owe The Bank $10,000,000 They Have A Problem. After All Is Said And Done, More Is Said Than Done. Government Does Not Solve Problems; It Subsidizes Them.

Perhaps No Custom Reveals Our Character As A Nation So Clearly As Our Celebration Of Thanksgiving Day. Rooted Deeply In Our Judeo-christian Heritage, The Practice Of Offering Thanksgiving Underscores Our Unshakable Belief In God As The Foundation Of Our Nation And Our Firm Reliance Upon Him From Whom All Blessings Flow.

I Can't Claim To Know The Words Of All The National Anthems In The World, But I Don't Know Of Any Other That Ends With A Question And A Challenge As Ours Does: Does That Flag Still Wave O'er The Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave? That Is What We Must All Ask.

Blondes Have The Hottest Kisses. Red-heads Are Fair-to-middling Torrid, And Brunettes Are The Frigidest Of All. It's Something To Do With Hormones, No Doubt.

There Is A Limit To What You Can Do In Politics.

I Believe That George Washington Knew The City Of Man Cannot Survive Without The City Of God; That The Visible City Will Perish Without The Invisible City.

After Watching The State Of The Union Address The Other Night [1994], I'm Reminded Of The Old Adage That Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery. Only In This Case, It's Not Flattery, But Grand Larceny: The Intellectual Theft Of Ideas That You And I Recognize As Our Own. Speech Delivery Counts For Little On The World Stage Unless You Have Convictions, And, Yes, The Vision To See Beyond The Front Row Seats.

We Have Seen Numerous Instances In Which American Businesses Have Brought In Foreign Skilled Workers After Having Laid Off Skilled American Workers, Simply Because They Can Get The Foreign Workers More Cheaply. It Has Become A Major Means Of Circumventing The Costs Of Paying Skilled American Workers Or The Costs Of Training Them.

For The Eight Years I Was President I Never Let My Dream Of A Nuclear-free World Fade From My Mind.

We Cannot Escape Our Destiny, Nor Should We Try To Do So. The Leadership Of The Free World Was Thrust Upon Us Two Centuries Ago In That Little Hall Of Philadelphia. In The Days Following World War Ii, When The Economic Strength And Power Of America Was All That Stood Between The World And The Return To The Dark Ages, Pope Pius Xii Said, 'the American People Have A Great Genius For Splendid And Unselfish Actions. Into The Hands Of America God Has Placed The Destinies Of An Afflicted Mankind.' We Are Indeed, And We Are Today, The Last Best Hope Of Man On Earth.

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.

For A Time, We Forgot The American Dream Isn't One Of Making Government Bigger, It's Keeping Faith With The Mighty Spirit Of Free People Under God

Politics And Morality Are Inseparable. And As Morality's Foundation Is Religion, Religion And Politics Are Necessarily Related. We Need Religion As A Guide. We Need It Because We Are Imperfect, And Our Government Needs The Church, Because Only Those Humble Enough To Admit They're Sinners Can Bring To Democracy The Tolerance It Requires In Order To Survive.

Perhaps There Is A Simple Answer -- Not An Easy Answer -- But Simple: If You And I Have The Courage To Tell Our Elected Officials That We Want Our National Policy Based On What We Know In Our Hearts Is Morally Right.

History Comes And History Goes, But Principles Endure, And Ensure Future Generations Will Defend Liberty Not As A Gift From Government But As A Blessing From Our Creator.

The Best Social Reform Program In The World Is A Job.

We Don't Celebrate Dependence Day On The Fourth Of July. We Celebrate Independence Day.

...i Believe That It Is Not Enough, As I Said, To Tinker At The Margins Of U.s. Immigration Law... The United States Must Institute Comprehensive Reforms That Conform To The Realities Of The Era In Which We Live.

I Think People Have A Need To Feel Good About The Country They Live In, But What's Happening, I Think, Is That That Need - Which Is A Good Thing - Is Getting Manipulated And Exploited.

A Moment I've Been Dreading. George Brought His Ne're-do-well Son Around This Morning And Asked Me To Find The Kid A Job. Not The Political One Who Lives In Florida. The One Who Hangs Around Here All The Time Looking Shiftless. This So-called Kid Is Already Almost 40 And Has Never Had A Real Job. Maybe I'll Call Kinsley Over At The New Republic And See If They'll Hire Him As A Contributing Editor Or Something. That Looks Like Easy Work.

For Centuries The Bible's Emphasis On Compassion And Love For Our Neighbor Has Inspired Institutional And Governmental Expressions Of Benevolent Outreach Such As Private Charity, The Establishment Of Schools And Hospitals, And The Abolition Of Slavery.

God, The Source Of All Knowledge, Should Never Have Been Expelled From Our Children's Classrooms.

A University Is A Place Where Ancient Tradition Thrives Alongside The Most Revolutionary Ideas. Perhaps As No Other Institution, A University Is Simultaneously Committed To The Day Before Yesterday And The Day After Tomorrow.

I Do Not Feel Betrayed. ... He Has A Fine Record. He Is A National Hero. (on Oliver L North's Work)

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

The Taxpayer - That's Someone Who Works For The Federal Government But Doesn't Have To Take The Civil Service Examination.

America Stands Unique In The World: The Only Country Not Founded On Race But On A Way, An Ideal. Not In Spite Of But Because Of Our Polyglot Background, We Have Had All The Strength In The World. That Is The American Way.

For An America Of Wisdom That Honors The Family, Knowing That If The Family Goes, So Goes Our Civilization.

The Challenge Of Statesmanship Is To Have The Vision To Dream Of A Better, Safer World And The Courage, Persistence, And Patience To Turn That Dream Into Reality.

Preservation Of Our Environment Is Not A Liberal Or Conservative Challenge, It's Common Sense.

I, In My Own Mind, Have Always Thought Of America As A Place In The Divine Scheme Of Things That Was Set Aside As A Promised Land...any Person With The Courage, With The Desire To Tear Up Their Roots, To Strive For Freedom, To Attempt And Dare To Live In A Strange And Foreign Place, To Travel Halfway Across The World Was Welcome Here.

In Case Anybody Asks You About My Position On Capital Punishment, You Can Tell Them I Favor It; And If They Want To Know Why, You Can Tell Them This Story.

Could There Be Anything Resembling A Free Enterprise Economy, If Wealth And Property Were Concentrated In The Hands Of A Few, While The Great Majority Owned Little More Than The Shirts On Their Backs?

We Are Not A Warlike People. Nor Is Our History Filled With Tales Of Aggressive Adventures And Imperialism, Which Might Come As A Shock To Some Of The Placard Painters In Our Modern Demonstrations. The Lesson Of Vietnam, I Think, Should Be That Never Again Will Young Americans Be Asked To Fight And Possibly Die For A Cause Unless That Cause Is So Meaningful That We, As A Nation, Pledge Our Full Resources To Achieve Victory As Quickly As Possible.

America Has Never Gotten In A War Because We Were Too Strong.

I Don't Think Any Of Us Should Forget That The Security Of America Is Our Highest Responsibility.

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!

Yes, Deficits Are A Problem. I've Been Saying So For More Than A Quarter Of A Century Now. But The Problem Is Not The Size Of The Deficit, It's The Size Of Government's Claim On Our Economy.

We Have Found, In Our Country, That When People Have The Right To Make Decisions As Close To Home As Possible, They Usually Make The Right Decisions.

The Bible And Its Teachings Helped Form The Basis For The Founding Fathers' Abiding Belief In The Inalienable Rights Of The Individual, Rights Which They Found Implicit In The Bible's Teachings Of The Inherent Worth And Dignity Of Each Individual. This Same Sense Of Man Patterned The Convictions Of Those Who Framed The English System Of Law Inherited By Our Own Nation, As Well As The Ideals Set Forth In The Declaration Of Independence And The Constitution.

They [the Soviet Union] Are The Focus Of Evil In The Modern World.

Before I Refuse To Take Your Questions, I Have An Opening Statement.

The Future Doesn't Belong To The Light-hearted. It Belongs To The Brave.

On Father's Day, We Pay Tribute To All In Our Society Who Have Taken On The Responsibilities And Joys Of Fatherhood. Whether Our Fathers Are Near At Hand Or A Continent Away, With Their Families Or Watching From The Light Of Eternity, We Take This Day To Remember Them, To Say Our Thanks For The Years They Have Given Us, And To Ask That They Receive God's Blessings.

The American People Cannot Close Their Eyes To Abuses Of Human Rights And Injustice, Whether They Occur Among Friend Or Adversary Or Even On Our Own Shores.

We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams.

I Never Thought It Was My Style Or The Words I Used That Made A Difference. It Was The Content. I Wasn't A Great Communicator, But I Communicated Great Things.

A Tree's A Tree. How Many More Do You Need To Look At?

We Will Never Disarm Any American Who Seeks To Protect His Or Her Family From Fear And Harm.

We Must Never Remain Silent In The Face Of Bigotry. We Must Condemn Those Who Seek To Divide Us. In All Quarters And At All Times, We Must Teach Tolerance And Denounce Racism, Anti-semitism And All Ethnic Or Religious Bigotry Wherever They Exist As Unacceptable Evils. We Have No Place For Haters In America -- None, Whatsoever.

I Like Photographers-you Don't Ask Questions.

Seventy-five Years Ago I Was Born In Tampico, Illinois, In A Little Flat Above The Bank Building. We Didn't Have Any Other Contact With The Bank Than That.

We Have The Means To Change The Laws We Find Unjust Or Onerous. We Cannot, As Citizens, Pick And Choose The Laws We Will Or Will Not Obey.

You And I Are Told We Must Choose Between A Left Or Right, But I Suggest There Is No Such Thing As A Left Or Right. There Is Only An Up Or Down. Up To Man's Age-old Dream -- The Maximum Of Individual Freedom Consistent With Order --or Down To The Ant Heap Of Totalitarianism. Regardless Of Their Sincerity, Their Humanitarian Motives, Those Who Would Sacrifice Freedom For Security Have Embarked On This Downward Path.

The Ongoing Migration Of Persons To The United States In Violation Of Our Laws Is A Serious National Problem Detrimental To The Interests Of The United States.

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.

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.

When I've Heard All I Need To Make A Decision, I Don't Take A Vote. I Make A Decision.

I Didn't Leave The Democratic Party; The Democratic Party Left Me.

I've Spoken Of The Shining City All My Political Life, But I Don't Know If I Ever Quite Communicated What I Saw When I Said It. But In My Mind It Was A Tall, Proud City Built On Rocks Stronger Than Oceans, Windswept, God-blessed, And Teeming With People Of All Kinds Living In Harmony And Peace; A City With Free Ports That Hummed With Commerce And Creativity. And If There Had To Be City Walls, The Walls Had Doors And The Doors Were Open To Anyone With The Will And Heart To Get There. That's How I Saw It, And See It Still.

For One, We Very Much Need In Any Immigration Bill - We Need Protection For People Who Are In This Country And Who Have Not Become Citizens, For Example, That They Are Protected And Legitimized And Given Permanent Residency Here. And We Want To See Some Things Of That Kind Added To The Immigration Bill.

If You Want More Of Something, Subsidize It; If You Want Less Of Something, Tax It.

Well, It [evolution] Is A Theory, It Is A Scientific Theory Only, And It Has In Recent Years Been Challenged In The World Of Science And Is Not Yet Believed In The Scientific Community To Be As Infallible As It Once Was Believed. But If It Was Going To Be Taught In The Schools, Then I Think That Also The Biblical Theory Of Creation, Which Is Not A Theory But The Biblical Story Of Creation, Should Also Be Taught.

I Have Always Thought Of Government As A Kind Of Organism With An Insatiable Appetite For Money, Whose Natural State Is To Grow Forever Unless You Do Something To Starve It.

The Congress Of The United States, In Recognition Of The Unique Contribution Of The Bible In Shaping The History And Character Of This Nation, And So Many Of Its Citizens, Has By Senate Joint Resolution 165 Authorized And Requested The President To Designate The Year 1983 As The 'year Of The Bible.'

I Just Have To Believe That With Love For Our Natural Heritage And A Firm Resolve To Preserve It With Wisdom And Care, We Can And Will Give The American Land To Our Children, Not Impaired, But Enhanced. And In Doing This, We'll Honor The Great And Loving God Who Gave Us This Land In The First Place.

Are You Willing To Spend Time Studying The Issues, Making Yourself Aware, And Then Conveying That Information To Family And Friends? Will You Resist The Temptation To Get A Government Handout For Your Community?

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.

I'm Proud Of Having Been One Of The First To Recognize That States And The Federal Government Have A Duty To Protect Our Natural Resources From The Damaging Effects Of Pollution That Can Accompany Industrial Development.

The Signs Of The Vietnam War Protestors Said "make Love Not War!" It Didn't Seem To Me That They Were Capable Of Either.

Every New Day Begins With Possibilities. It's Up To Us To Fill It With The Things That Move Us Toward Progress And Peace.

We Didn't Discover Our Values In A Poll Taken A Week Before The Convention.

The Best Minds Are Not In Government. If Any Were, Business Would Steal Them Away.

You Can Never Underestimate The Ability Of The Democrats To Wet Their Finger And Hold It In The Wind.

When I Took The Oath Of Office, I Pledged Loyalty To Only One Special Interest Group - ‘we The People’.

We Know That This Mad Dog Of The Middle East Has A Goal Of A World Revolution. (on Muammar Qaddafi Of Libya)

Middle Age Is When You're Faced With Two Temptations And You Choose The One That Will Get You Home By Nine O'clock.

Our Nation Is Indeed Fortunate That We Can Still Draw On An Immense Reservoir Of Courage, Character, And Fortitude, That We Are Still Blessed With Heroes Like Those Of The Space Shuttle Challenger. Man Will Continue His Conquest Of Space. To Reach Out For New Goals And Ever-greater Achievements, That Is The Way We Shall Commemorate Our Seven Challenger Heroes.

Those Concerns Of A National Character-such As Air And Water Pollution That Do Not Respect State Boundaries, Or The National Transportation System, Or Efforts To Safeguard Your Civil Liberties-must, Of Course, Be Handled On The National Level.

Government's First Duty Is To Protect The People, Not Run Their Lives.

It Is No Coincidence That When The Thugs Tried To Wrest Control Over Grenada, There Were 30 Soviet Advisors And Hundreds Of Cuban Military And Paramilitary Forces On The Island.

I Wasn't A Great Communicator, But I Communicated Great Things.

And How Stands The City On This Winter Night? More Prosperous, More Secure, And Happier Than It Was 8 Years Ago. But More Than That: After 200 Years, Two Centuries, She Still Stands Strong And True On The Granite Ridge, And Her Glow Has Held Steady No Matter What Storm. And She's Still A Beacon, Still A Magnet For All Who Must Have Freedom, For All The Pilgrims From All The Lost Places Who Are Hurtling Through The Darkness, Toward Home.

If You Can't Summarize An Issue On One Page, You Don't Understand The Issue Well Enough.

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.

All Of Us Can See What Happens Once You Establish The Precedent That The Government Can Determine A Man's Working Place And His Working Methods, Determine His Employment. From Here It's A Short Step To All The Rest Of Socialism, To Determining His Pay....he Will Wait For The Government To Tell Him Where He Will Go To Work And What He Will Do.

Baseball Is Our National Pastime, That Is If You Discount Political Campaigning.

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.

The War In Vietnam Threatened To Tear Our Society Apart, And The Political And Philosophical Disagreements That Separated Each Side Continue, To Some Extent. It's Been Said That These Memorials Reflect A Hunger For Healing.

In Israel, Free Men And Women Are Every Day Demonstrating The Power Of Courage And Faith. Back In 1948 When Isreal Was Founded, Pundits Claimed The New Country Could Never Survive. Today, No One Questions That. Israel Is A Land Of Stability And Democracy In A Region Of Tyranny And Unrest.

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.

America Has Always Been Greatest When We Dared To Be Great. We Can Reach For Greatness Again. We Can Follow Our Dreams To Distant Stars, Living And Working In Space For Peaceful, Economic, And Scientific Gain. Tonight, I Am Directing Nasa To Develop A Permanently Manned Space Station, And To Do It Within A Decade.

But The Simple Truth Is That We've Lost Control Of Our Own Borders, And No Nation Can Do That And Survive.

Now, I Happen To Be An Optimist.

Alec Has Forged A Unique Partnership Between State Legislators And Leaders From The Corporate And Business Community. This Partnership Offers Businessmen The Extraordinary Opportunity To Apply Their Talents To Solve America's Problems And Build On Our Opportunities.

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.

And There Is The Matter Of Abortion. We Must With Calmness And Resolve Help The Vast Majority Of Our Fellow Americans Understand That The More Than 112 Million Abortions Performed In America In 1980 Amount To A Great Moral Evil, An Assault On The Sacredness Of Human Life.

My Belief Has Always Been... That Wherever In This Land Any Individual's Constitutional Rights Are Being Unjustly Denied, It Is The Obligation Of The Federal Government-at Point Of Bayonet If Necessary-to Restore That Individual's Constitutional Rights

Hayek Is Amongst The Top 2-3 Of The All The People Who Ever Influenced Me.

Let Us Renew Our Faith That As Free Men And Women We Still Have The Power To Better Our Lives.

An Actor Knows Two Important Things - To Be Honest In What He Is Doing And To Be In Touch With The Audience. That's Not Bad Advice For A Politician Either.

We Have Not Inherited An Easy World. If Developments Like The Industrial Revolution, Which Began In England, And The Gifts Of Science And Technology Have Made Life Much Easier For Us, They Have Also Made It More Dangerous. There Are Threats Now To Our Freedom, Indeed To Our Very Existence, That Other Generations Could Never Even Have Imagined. There Is First The Threat Of Global War. No President, No Congress, No Prime Minister, No Parliament Can Spend A Day Entirely Free Of This Threat. If History Teaches Anything, It Teaches Self-delusion In The Face Of Unpleasant Facts Is Folly.

This Is A Matter Of Vital Importance To The Public Safety ... While We Recognize That Assault-weapon Legislation Will Not Stop All Assault-weapon Crime, Statistics Prove That We Can Dry Up The Supply Of These Guns, Making Them Less Accessible To Criminals.

Assault Weapons

It Would Seem That Not Only Is Religion Lacking In The Schools - So Is Common Sense. I Wonder What A Teacher Is Supposed To Say If A Kid Asks About Those Four Words On A Dime - 'in God We Trust.' Or Maybe That's Why They Aren't Being Taught How To Read These Days.

Of The Four Wars In My Lifetime, None Came About Because The U.s. Was Too Strong.

My Fellow Americans, I Am Pleased To Tell You I Just Signed Legislation Which Outlaws Russia Forever. The Bombing Begins In Five Minutes.

The Purpose Of America Is To Unleash The Full Talent And Genius Of Every Individual.

I Just Wanted To Speak To You About Something From The Internal Revenue Code. It Is The Last Sentence Of Section 509a Of The Code And It Reads: 'for Purposes Of Paragraph 3, An Organization Described In Paragraph 2 Shall Be Deemed To Include An Organization Described In Section 501c-4, 5, Or 6, Which Would Be Described In Paragraph 2 If It Were An Organization Described In Section 501c-3.' And That's Just One Sentence Out Of Those Fifty-seven Feet Of Books.

. . . And Always Remember That You Are Americans, And It Is Your Birthright To Dream Great Dreams In This Sweet And Blessed Land, Truly The Greatest, Freest, Strongest Nation On Earth.

Two Visions Of The World Remain Locked In Dispute. The First Believes All Men Are Created Equal By A Loving God Who Has Blessed Us With Freedom. The Second Vision Believes That Religion Is Opium For The Masses. It Believes That Eternal Principles Like Truth, Liberty, And Democracy Have No Meaning Beyond The Whim Of The State. And [vladimir] Lenin Spoke For Them.

It's Time That We Recognized That Ours Was In Truth A Noble Cause.

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.

Fascism Was Really The Basis For The New Deal.

With Regard To The Freedom Of The Individual For Choice With Regard To Abortion, There Is One Individual Who Is Not Being Considered At All, And That Is The One Who Is Being Aborted. And I Have Noticed That Everybody That Is For Abortion Has Already Been Born.

Government Is Not The Solution, But Rather The Cause Of Our Problems.

But There Are Advantages To Being Elected President. The Day After I Was Elected, I Had My High School Grades Classified Top Secret.

Government Exists To Protect Us From Each Other. Where Government Has Gone Beyond Its Limits Is In Deciding To Protect Us From Ourselves.

The Federal Government Did Not Create The States; The States Created The Federal Government.

Federal Government

I Also Believe This Blessed Land Was Set Apart In A Very Special Way, A Country Created By Men And Women Who Came Here Not In Search Of Gold, But In Search Of God. They Would Be Free People, Living Under The Law With Faith In Their Maker And Their Future. Sometimes, It Seems We've Strayed From That Noble Beginning, From Our Conviction That Standards Of Right And Wrong Do Exist And Must Be Lived Up To.

We Are Forever Indebted To Those Who Have Given Their Lives That We Might Be Free.

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, Economics Progress National Independence And International Stability - Means Supporting Our Friends And Defending Our Interests.

Politics Is, For Me, Forgive And -as You May Have Heard- Sometimes Forget.

Greatest Gift Is Human Life And That We Have A Duty To Protect The Life Of An Unborn Child.

Certain Forms Of Ammunition Have No Legitimate Sporting, Recreational, Or Self-defense Use And Thus Should Be Prohibited.

A Broader Reading Of History Shows That Appeasement, No Matter How It Is Labeled, Never Fulfills The Hopes Of The Appeasers.

I'm Spending More Time At This Library In Four Days Than I Did At The Eureka College Library In Four Years.

Let It Never Be Said Of This Generation Of Americans That We Became So Obsessed With Failure That We Refused To Take Risks That Could Further The Cause Of Peace And Freedom In The World.

This Generation

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)

If You Don't Know Whether A Body Is Alive Or Dead, You Would Never Bury It. I Think This Consideration Itself Should Be Enough For All Of Us To Insist On Protecting The Unborn.

A Political Party Cannot Be All Things To All People. It Must Represent Certain Fundamental Beliefs Which Must Not Be Compromised To Political Expediency, Or Simply To Swell Its Numbers.

I've Often Said There's Nothing Better For The Inside Of A Man Than The Outside Of A Horse.

There Are Only Two Things That The Liberals Don't Understand: The Things That Change And The Things That Don't.

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