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In My Eighty Years, I Prefer To Call That The Forty-first Anniversary Of My Thirty Ninth Birthday, I've Seen What Men Can Do For Each Other And Do To Each Other, I've Seen War And Peace, Feast And Famine, Depression And Prosperity, Sickness And Health. I've Seen The Depth Of Suffering And The Peaks Of Triumph And I Know In My Heart That Man Is Good, That What Is Right Will Always Eventually Triumph And That There Is Purpose And Worth To Each And Every Life.

-Ronald Reagan

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In My Eighty Years,

Ronald Reagan

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In My Eighty Years, I Prefer To Call That The Forty-first Anniversary Of My Thirty Ninth Birthday, I've Seen What Men Can Do For Each Other And Do To Each Other, I've Seen War And Peace, Feast And Famine, Depression And Prosperity, Sickness And Health. I've Seen The Depth Of Suffering And The Peaks Of Triumph And I Know In My Heart That Man Is Good, That What Is Right Will Always Eventually Triumph And That There Is Purpose And Worth To Each And Every Life.

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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.

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.

Well, The Task I've Set Forth Will Long Outlive Our Own Generation. But Together, We Too Have Come Through The Worst. Let Us Now Begin A Major Effort To Secure The Best- A Crusade For Freedom That Will Engage The Faith And Fortitude Of The Next Generation. For The Sake Of Peace And Justice, Let Us Move Toward A World In Which All People Are At Last Free To Determine Their Own Destiny.

Free Enterprise Is A Rough And Competitive Game. It Is A Hell Of A Lot Better Than A Government Monopoly.

Here's My Strategy On The Cold War: We Win, They Lose.

Individual Liberty Depends Upon Keeping Government Under Control.

[write To Your Congressional Representative Against The Health Care Reform Proposal Or] We Will Awake To Find That We Have Socialism.

I Have Learned That One Of The Most Important Rules In Politics Is Poise - Which Means Looking Like An Owl After You Have Behaved Like A Jackass.

A People Free To Choose Will Always Choose Peace.

We Must Remove Government's Smothering Hand From Where It Does Harm; We Must Seek To Revitalize The Proper Functions Of Government. We Do These Things To Set Loose Again The Energy And The Ingenuity Of The American People. We Do These Things To Reinvigorate Those Social And Economic Institutions Which Serve As A Buffer And A Bridge Between The Individual And The State - And Which Remain The Real Source Of Our Progress As A People.

What Would This Country Be Without This Great Land Of Ours.

For The Sake Of Peace And Justice, Let Us Move Toward A World In Which All People Are At Last Free To Determine Their Own Destiny.

I Like Photographers-you Don't Ask Questions.

We Will Always Remember. We Will Always Be Proud. We Will Always Be Prepared, So We Will Always Be Free.

There Are Many Well-meaning People Today Who Work At Placing An Economic Floor Beneath All Of Us So That No One Shall Exist Below A Certain Level Or Standard Of Living, And Certainly We Don't Quarrel With This. But Look More Closely And You May Find That All Too Often These Well-meaning People Are Building A Ceiling Above Which No One Shall Be Permitted To Climb And Between The Two Are Pressing Us All Into Conformity, Into A Mold Of Standardized Mediocrity.

A State Is Nothing More Than A Reflection Of Its Citizens; The More Decent The Citizens, The More Decent The State.

I Want You To Know That This Administration Is Motivated By A Political Philosophy That Sees The Greatness Of America In You, Her People, And In Your Families, Churches, Neighborhoods, Communities - The Institutions That Foster And Nourish Values Like Concern For Others And Respect For The Rule Of Law Under God.

In The 38th Chapter Of Ezekiel, It Says That The Land Of Israel Will Come Under Attack By The Armies Of The Ungodly Nations, And It Says That Libya Will Be Among Them. Do You Understand The Significance Of That? Libya Has Now Gone Communist, And That's A Sign That The Day Of Armageddon Isn't Far Off.

Education Is Not The Means Of Showing People How To Get What They Want. Education Is An Exercise By Means Of Which Enough Men, It Is Hoped, Will Learn To Want What Is Worth Having.

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.

California Produces 40% Of America's Fresh Fruits, Vegetables And Nuts - The Kind You Eat. We Have Had A Bumper Crop Of The Other Variety, Too.

I Know That Some Believe That Voluntary Prayer In Schools Should Be Restricted To A Moment Of Silence. We Already Have The Right To Remain Silent - We Can Take Our Fifth Amendment.

The Constitution Was Never Meant To Prevent People From Praying, It's Declared Purpose Was To Protect Their Freedom To Pray

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

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.

I've Heard Drug Experts Say They Believe If Penicillin Were Discovered Today, The Fda Wouldn't License It.

America Has Not Been A Story Or A Byword. That Small Community Of Pilgrims Prospered And, Driven By The Dreams And, Yes, By The Ideas Of The Founding Fathers, Went On To Become A Beacon To All The Oppressed And Poor Of The World.

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.

America Is A Melting Pot, And Education Has Been A Mainspring For Our Democracy And Freedom, A Means Of Providing Gifts Of Knowledge And Opportunity To All Citizens, No Matter How Humble Their Background, So They Could Climb Higher, Help Build The American Dream, And Leave A Better Life For Those Who Follow.

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

We Will Remain Steady. We Will Pursue Every Avenue In The Search For Peace And Stability.

Our System Freed The Individual Genius Of Man. Released Him To Fly As High & As Far As His Own Talent & Energy Would Take Him. We Allocate Resources Not By Government. Decision But By The Millions Of Decisions Customers Make When They Go Into The Market. Place To Buy. If Something Seems Too High-priced We Buy Something Else. Thus Resources Are Steered Toward Those Things The People Want Most At The Price They Are Willing To Pay. It May Not Be A Perfect System But It's Better Than Any Other That's Ever Been Tried.

Whatever Else History May Say About Me When I'm Gone, I Hope It Will Record That I Appealed To Your Best Hopes, Not Your Worst Fears; To Your Confidence Rather Than Your Doubts. My Dream Is That You Will Travel The Road Ahead With Liberty's Lamp Guiding Your Steps And Opportunity's Arm Steadying Your Way.

We Could Say The Government Spend Like Drunken Sailors, But That Would Be Unfair To Drunken Sailors, Because The Sailors Are Spending Their Own Money.

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.

We May Be The Generation That Sees Armageddon.

Man Is Not Free Unless Government Is Limited.

Presidents Come And Go. History Comes And Goes, But Principles Endure.

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.

We Don't Lump People By Groups Or Special Interests. And Let Me Add, In The Party Of Lincoln There Is No Room For Intolerance And Not Even A Small Corner For Anti-semitism Or Bigotry Of Any Kind. Many People Are Welcome In Our House, But Not The Bigots.

Concentrated Power Has Always Been The Enemy Of Liberty. Democracy Is Worth Dying For, Because It's The Most Deeply Honorable Form Of Government Ever Devised By Man.entrepreneurs And Their Small Enterprises Are Responsible For Almost All The Economic Growth In The United States.

America Is The Moral Force That Defeated Communism And All Those Who Would Put The Human Soul Itself Into Bondage.

You Get To Know People As Individuals. The Dreams Of People May Differ, But Everybody Wants Their Dreams To Come True. And America, Above All Places, Gives Us The Freedom To Do That

When Liberals Say 'family', They Mean 'big Brother In Washington.' When We Say 'family,' We Mean 'honor Thy Father And Mother.'

Liberals Are People Who Think That Being Tough On Crime Means Longer Suspended Sentences.

We Must Act Today In Order To Preserve Tomorrow

To Say Congress Is Spending Like Drunken Sailors Is An Insult To Drunken Sailors.

We Have Consistently Supported A Legalization Program Which Is Both Generous To The Alien And Fair To The Countless Thousands Of People Throughout The World Who Seek Legally To Come To America. The Legalization Provisions In This Act Will Go Far To Improve The Lives Of A Class Of Individuals Who Now Must Hide In The Shadows, Without Access To Many Of The Benefits Of A Free And Open Society. Very Soon Many Of These Men And Women Will Be Able To Step Into The Sunlight And, Ultimately, If They Choose, They May Become Americans.

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.

We Maintain The Peace Through Our Strength; Weakness Only Invites Aggression.

Peace Through Strength

It Doesn't Do Any Good To Hold The Door Open For Someone If They Don't Have A Way To Walk Through It. And If They Do Have A Way To Pass Through It Then You Probably Don't Need To Hold It Open Because They Can Open It For Themselves.

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.'

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.

One Picture Is Worth 1,000 Denials.

Nations Crumble From Within When The Citizenry Asks Of Government Those Things Which The Citizenry Might Better Provide For Itself.

Those Who Have Known Freedom And Then Lost It, Have Never Known It Again

Today, If You Invent A Better Mousetrap, The Government Comes Along With A Better Mouse.

And Children, If Your Parents Haven't Been Teaching You What It Means To Be An American, Let 'em Know And Nail 'em On It. That Would Be A Very American Thing To Do.

If Not Us, Who? And If Not Now, When?

Could There Be Anything But Widespread Misery, Where A Privileged Few Controlled A Nation's Wealth, While Millions Labored For A Pittance, And Millions More Were Desperate For Want Of Employment?

By 1980, We Knew It Was Time To Renew Our Faith, To Strive With All Our Strength Toward The Ultimate In Individual Freedom Consistent With An Orderly Society. We Believed Then And Now There Are No Limits To Growth And Human Progress When Men And Women Are Free To Follow Their Dreams.

I Hope You're All Republicans.

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

There Are Simple Answers To The Nation's Problems, But Not Easy Ones.

George Burns . . . The Only Man I Know Who Does Fool Mother Nature.

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!

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.

Regimes Planted By Bayonets Do Not Take Root... 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, For The Ultimate Determinant In The Struggle That's Now Going On In The World Will Not Be Bombs And Rockets But A Test Of Wills And Ideas, A Trial Of Spiritual Resolve, The Values We Hold, The Beliefs We Cherish, The Ideals To Which We Are Dedicated.

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.

There Is No Love Like A Mother’s - She Who Carries The Child That God Knits In The Womb, She Who Nourishes And Guides, She Who Teaches And Inspires, She Who Gives Of Her Heart And Soul And Self For The Good And The Happiness Of Her Children And Her Family.

Law And Freedom Must Be Indivisible Partners. For Without Law, There Can Be No Freedom, Only Choas And Disorder; And Without Freedom, Law Is But A Cynical Veneer For Injustice And Oppression.

We're Americans, And We Have A Rendezvous With Destiny . . . No People Who Have Ever Lived On This Earth Have Fought Harder, Paid A Higher Price For Freedom, Or Done More To Advance The Dignity Of Man Than Americans.

You Can Achieve Anything In Politics Provided That You Let Someone Else Take The Credit.

Tyranny, Like Fog In The Well Known Poem, Often Creeps In Silently 'on Little Cat Feet.'

When The Lord Calls Me Home, Whenever That May Be, I Will Leave With The Greatest Love For This County Of Ours And Eternal Optimism For Its Future.

Admittedly, There Is A Risk In Any Course We Follow Other Than This, But Every Lesson In History Tells Us That The Greater Risk Lies In Appeasement, And This Is The Specter Our Well-meaning Liberal Friends Refuse To Face.

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

Could There Be A Better Answer To The Stupidity Of Karl Marx Than Millions Of Workers Individually Sharing In The Ownership Of The Means Of Production.

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.

It's Hard, When You're Up To Your Armpits In Alligators, To Remember You Came Here To Drain The Swamp.

Our Moral Imperative Is To Work With All Our Powers For That Day When The Children Of The World Grow Up Without The Fear Of Nuclear War.

In This Springtime Of Hope, Some Lights Seem Eternal; America's Is.

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.

Only Our Deep Moral Values And Our Strong Social Institutions Can Hold Back That Jungle And Restrain The Darker Impulses Of Human Nature.

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 Unleashed The Energy And Individual Genius Of Man To A Greater Extent Than Has Ever Been Done Before. Freedom And The Dignity Of The Individual Have Been More Available And Assured Here Than In Any Other Place On Earth. The Price For This Freedom At Times Has Been High, But We Have Never Been Unwilling To Pay That Price.

We Are A Nation That Has A Government-not The Other Way Around. And That Makes Us Special Among The Nations Of The Earth.

I Know Teddy Kennedy Had Fun At The Democratic Convention When He Said That I Said That Trees And Vegetation Caused 80 Percent Of The Air Pollution In This Country. ... Well, Now He Was A Little Wrong About What I Said. I Didn't Say 80 Percent. I Said 92 Percent-93 Percent, Pardon Me. And I Didn't Say Air Pollution, I Said Oxides Of Nitrogen. Growing And Decaying Vegetation In This Land Are Responsible For 93 Percent Of The Oxides Of Nitrogen. ... If We Are Totally Successful And Can Eliminate All The Manmade Oxides Of Nitrogen, We'll Still Have 93 Percent As Much As We Have In The Air Today.

Surround Yourself With Great People; Delegate Authority; Get Out Of The Way

I Have A Feeling That We Are Doing Better In The War Than The People Have Been Told.

We're Approaching The End Of A Bloody Century Plagued By A Terrible Political Invention, Totalitarianism. Optimism Comes Less Easily Today, Not Because Democracy Is Less Vigorous, But Because Democracy's Enemies Have Refined Their Instruments Of Repression.

Without God, There Is No Virtue Because There Is No Prompting Of The Conscience... Without God, There Is A Coarsening Of The Society; Without God, Democracy Will Not And Cannot Long Endure.

I'm A Sucker For Hero Worship.

When A Child Loses His Parent, They Are Called An Orphan. When A Spouse Loses Her Or His Partner, They Are Called A Widow Or Widower. When Parents Lose Their Child, Their Isn't A Word To Describe Them. This Month Recognizes The Loss So Many Parents Experience Across The United States And Around The World. It Is Also Meant To Inform And Provide Resources For Parents Who Have Lost Children Due To Miscarriage, Ectopic Pregnancy, Molar Pregnancy, Stillbirths, Birth Defects, Sids, And Other Causes.

The White House Is The Leakiest Place I've Ever Been In. (on Special Measures To Ensure Secrecy Of Plans To Bomb Libya)

Freedom Is The Very Essence Of Our Nation. To Be Sure, Ours Is Not A Perfect Nation. But Even With Our Troubles, We Remain The Beacon Of Hope For Oppressed Peoples Everywhere. Never Give Up The Fight For Freedom - A Fight Which, Though It May Never End, Is The Most Ennobling Known To Man.

Simple Fairness Dictates That Government Must Not Raise Taxes On Families Struggling To Pay Their Bills.

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.

I'm Just A Citizen Temporarily In Public Service.

Government Must Not Supersede The Will Of The People Or The Responsibilities Of The People. The Function Of Government Is Not To Confer Happiness, But To Give Men The Opportunity To Work Out Happiness For Themselves.

Double - No, Triple - Our Troubles And We'd Still Be Better Off Than Any Other People On Earth.

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

How Could An Actor Become President?

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.

If It's To Be A Bloodbath, Let It Be Now. Appeasement Is Not The Answer.

There Are Worse Things To Be Called Than A Dreamer.

[the Soviets] Preach The Supremacy Of The State, Declare Its Omnipotence Over Individual Man, And Predict Its Eventual Domination Of All Peoples On The Earth; They Are The Focus Of Evil In The Modern World.

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're More Than Friends And Neighbors And Allies; We Are Kin, Who Together Have Built The Most Productive Relationship Between Any Two Countries In The World Today.

As A Nation, We Must Choose Between The Sanctity Of Life Ethic And The Quality Of Life Ethic. I Have No Trouble Identifying The Answer Our Nation Has Always Given To This Basic Question, And The Answer That I Hope And Pray It Will Give In The Future.

Don't Be Afraid To See What You See.

I Don't Have Too Much Time For Fiction.

It's Not Fair To Say That Congress Spends Money Like A Drunk Sailor. At Least The Sailor Is Spending His Own Money!

We Can Have Peace And Brotherly Love By Accepting Our Responsibility To Preserve Freedom.

A Small Nation, Faced With The Denial Of Its Sovereignty — Indeed, Of Its Very Existence — Reminded Us That The Price Of Freedom Is High But Never So Costly As The Loss Of Freedom.

Price Of Freedom

As For The Enemies Of Freedom, Those Who Are Potential Adversaries, They Will Be Reminded That Peace Is The Highest Aspiration Of The American People. We Will Negotiate For It, Sacrifice For It, We Will Not Surrender For It - Now Or Ever.

Government Is Not The Answer To The Problem - It Is The Problem.

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.

When Those Who Are Governed Do Too Little, Those Who Govern Can - And Often Will - Do Too Much.

Freedom Prospers Only Where The Blessings Of God Are Avidly Sought, And Humbly Accepted.

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall. And Get A Massage - You Look Really Stressed

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.

I'm No Linguist, But I Have Been Told That In The Russian Language, There Isn't Even A Word For Freedom.

Russian Language

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

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.

In My Eighty Years, I Prefer To Call That The Forty-first Anniversary Of My Thirty Ninth Birthday, I've Seen What Men Can Do For Each Other And Do To Each Other, I've Seen War And Peace, Feast And Famine, Depression And Prosperity, Sickness And Health. I've Seen The Depth Of Suffering And The Peaks Of Triumph And I Know In My Heart That Man Is Good, That What Is Right Will Always Eventually Triumph And That There Is Purpose And Worth To Each And Every Life.

My Fellow Citizens, Our Nation Is Poised For Greatness. We Must Do What We Know Is Right, And Do It With All Our Might. Let History Say Of Us: "these Were Golden Years - When The American Revolution Was Reborn, When Freedom Gained New Life, And America Reached For Her Best."

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

Young Americans Must Never Again Be Sent To Fight And Die Unless We Are Prepared To Let Them Win.

We Now Know That Inflation Results From All That Deficit Spending.

By Emphasizing The Importance Of A Common Language, We Safeguard A Proud Legacy And Help To Ensure That America's Future Will Be As Great As Her Past.

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.

When You See All That Rhetorical Smoke Billowing Up From The Democrats, Well Ladies And Gentleman, I'd Follow The Example Of Their Nominee; Don't Inhale.

You Know Economists; They're The Sort Of People Who See Something Works In Practice And Wonder If It Would Work In Theory.

We Who Live In Free Market Societies Believe That Growth, Prosperity And Ultimately Human Fulfillment, Are Created From The Bottom Up, Not The Government Down.

I Doubt Evolution Is Real.

That's The Nice Thing About This Job. You Get To Quote Yourself Shamelessly. If You Don't, Larry Speakes Will.

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.

I Don't Know What I Expected, But My First Morning In The Oval Office Had A Surprising Ring Of Familiarity To It. It Reminded Me A Lot Of My Job As Governor.

Trust The People -- That Is The Crucial Lesson Of History.

I Have Decided That Whatever Time I May Have Left Is Left For Him.

I Spoke To Ears That Refused To Hear.

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.

The Most Confident Person In Any Transaction Always Introduces Themselves First.

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.

People Who Think A Tax Boost Will Cure Inflation Are The Same Ones Who Believe Another Drink Will Cure A Hangover.

You And I, As Individuals, Can, By Borrowing, Live Beyond Our Means, But For Only A Limited Period Of Time. Why, Then, Should We Think That Collectively, As A Nation, We're Not Bound By That Same Limitation? We Must Act Today In Order To Preserve Tomorrow.

My Central Arms Control Objective Has Been To Reduce Substantially And Ultimately To Eliminate Nuclear Weapons And Rid The World Of The Nuclear Threat. The Prevention Of The Spread Of Nuclear Explosives Is To Additional Countries Is An Indispensable Part Of Our Efforts To Meet This Objective. I Intend To Continue My Pursuit Of This Goal With Untiring Determination And A Profound Sense Of Personal Commitment.

In An Ironic Sense, Karl Marx Was Right. We Are Witnessing Today A Great Revolutionary Crisis, A Crisis Where The Demands Of The Economic Order Are Conflicting Directly With Those Of The Political Order. But The Crisis Is Happening Not In The . . . West, But In The Home Of Marxism-leninism, The Soviet Union. It Is The Soviet Union That Runs Against The Tide Of History By Denying Human Freedom And Human Dignity To Its Citizens.

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

I'm Not Smart Enough To Lie

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.

Of The Many Messages Found In The Hanukah Story, The One That Has Always Inspired Me Most Is This: With A Strong Faith In The Almighty, Nothing Is Impossible; And Without The Help Of Our Creator, We Labor In Vain.

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

The Montreal Protocol Is A Model Of Cooperation. It Is A Product Of The Recognition And International Consensus That Ozone Depletion Is A Global Problem, Both In Terms Of Its Causes And Its Effects. The Protocol Is The Result Of An Extraordinary Process Of Scientific Study, Negotiations Among Representatives Of The Business And Environmental Communities, And International Diplomacy. It Is A Monumental Achievement.

We Do Not Deny Any Nation's Legitimate Interest In Security. But Protecting The Security Of One Nation By Robbing Another Of Its National Independence And National Traditions Is Not Legitimate. In The Long Run, It Is Not Even Secure.

In A World Wracked By Hatred, Economic Crisis, And Political Tension, America Remains Mankind's Best Hope.

The Current Tax Code Is A Daily Mugging.

We Are For Aiding Our Allies By Sharing Of Our Material Blessings With Those Nations Which Share In Our Fundamental Beliefs, But We're Against Doling Out Money Government To Government, Creating Bureaucracy, If Not Socialism, All Over The World. We Set Out To Help 19 Countries. We're Helping 107. We've Spent 146 Billion Dollars. With That Money, We Bought A 2 Million Dollar Yacht For Haile Selassie. We Bought Dress Suits For Greek Undertakers, Extra Wives For Kenya[n] Government Officials. We Bought A Thousand Tv Sets For A Place Where They Have No Electricity.

He Will Long Be Remembered As One Of The Great Christian Thinkers Of Our Century, With A Childlike Faith And A Profound Compassion Toward Others. It Can Rarely Be Said Of An Individual That His Life Touched Many Others And Affected Them For The Better; It Will Be Said Of Francis Schaeffer That His Life Touched Millions Of Souls And Brought Them To The Truth Of Their Creator.

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.

The True Lesson Of The Vietnam War Is: Certainty Of Purpose And Ruthlessness Of Execution Win Wars.

We Can Look Forward To The Day When The Free Flow Of Trade, From The Southern Reaches Of Tierra Del Fuego To The Northern Outposts Of The Arctic Circle, Unites The People Of The Western Hemisphere In A Bond Of Mutually Beneficial Exchange, When All Borders Become What The U.s.-canadian Border So Long Has Been: A Meeting Place, Rather Than A Dividing Line.

There You Go Again. When I Opposed Medicare, There Was Another Piece Of Legislation Meeting The Same Problem Before The Congress. I Happened To Favor The Other Piece Of Legislation And Thought That It Would Be Better For The Senior Citizens To Provide Better Care Than The One That Was Finally Passed.

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.

Americans Are Hungering To Feel Proud And Patriotic Again.

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

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.

Although I Held Public Office For A Total Of Sixteen Years, I Also Thought Of Myself As A Citizen-politician, Not A Career One. Every Now And Then When I Was In Government, I Would Remind My Associates That "when We Start Thinking Of Government As 'us' Instead Of 'them,' We've Been Here Too Long." By That I Mean That Elected Officeholders Need To Retain A Certain Skepticism About The Perfectibility Of Government.

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 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.

We Think There Is A Parallel Between Federal Involvement In Education And The Decline In Profit Over Recent Years.

I Would Like To Dissolve The $10 Billion National Department Of Education Created By President Carter And Turn Schools Back To The Local School Districts, Where We Built The Greatest Public School System The World Has Ever Seen. I Think I Can Make A Case That The Decline In The Quality Of Public Education Began When Federal Aid Became Federal Interference.

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.

The People Of Central America - And, In A Broader Sense, The Entire Developing World - Need To Know First-hand That Freedom And Opportunity Are Not Just For The Elite, But The Birthright Of Every Citizen; That Property Is Not Just Something Enjoyed By A Few, But Can Be Owned By Any Individual Who Works Hard And Makes Correct Decisions.

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.

Democracy Is Not A Fragile Flower; Still It Needs Cultivating.

It Doesn't Require Expropriation Or Confiscation Of Private Property Or Business To Impose Socialism On A People. What Does It Mean Whether You Hold The Deed Or The Title To Your Business Or Property If The Government Holds The Power Of Life And Death Over That Business Or Property?

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.

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

We're Here To Mark That Day In History When The Allied Peoples Joined In Battle To Reclaim This Continent To Liberty. For Four Long Years, Much Of Europe Had Been Under A Terrible Shadow. Free Nations Had Fallen, Jews Cried Out In The Camps, Millions Cried Out For Liberation. Europe Was Enslaved, And The World Prayed For Its Rescue. Here In Normandy The Rescue Began. Here The Allies Stood And Fought Against Tyranny In A Giant Undertaking Unparalleled In Human History.

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.

The Greatest Security For Israel Is To Create New Egypts.

When Cruelty Is Inflicted On Innocent People, It Discredits Whatever Cause.

In Opening Our Hearts, We Hope This Might Promote Greater Awareness Of This Condition. Perhaps It Will Encourage A Clearer Understanding Of The Individuals And Families Who Are Affected By It.

Diplomacy, Of Course, Is A Subtle And Nuanced Craft, So Much So That It's Said That When The Most Wily Diplomat Of The Nineteenth-century Passed Away, Other Diplomats Asked, On Reports Of His Death, "what Do You Suppose The Old Fox Meant By That?

It Was The Hard Work Of Our People, The Freedom They Enjoyed And Their Faith In God That Built This Country And Made It The Envy Of The World. In All Of Our Great Cities And Towns Evidence Of The Faith Of Our People Is Found: Houses Of Worship Of Every Denomination Are Among The Oldest Structures. While Never Willing To Bow To A Tyrant, Our Forefathers Were Always Willing To Get To Their Knees Before God. When Catastrophe Threatened, They Turned To God For Deliverance. When The Harvest Was Bountiful The First Thought Was Thanksgiving To God.

Great Nations Which Fail To Meet Their Responsibilities Are Consigned To The Dustbin Of History. We Grew From That Small, Weak Republic Which Had As Its Assets Spirit, Optimism, Faith In God And An Unshakeable Belief That Free Men And Women Could Govern Themselves Wisely. We Became The Leader Of The Free World, An Example For All Those Who Cherish Freedom.

There Are No Easy Answers' But There Are Simple Answers. We Must Have The Courage To Do What We Know Is Morally Right.

How Does It Feel To Be The 's Third Choice? Humiliating? You Could Have Thrown A Dart. That's How Close They Were. We Had So Many Excellent Candidates.

Like The Genocide Of The Armenians Before It, And The Genocide Of The Cambodians Which Followed It ... The Lessons Of The Holocaust Must Never Be Forgotten.

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.

I Think The Presidency Is An Institution Over Which You Have Temporary Custody.

Nothing Lasts Longer Than A Temporary Government Program.

Outside Of Its Legitimate Function, Government Does Nothing As Well Or Economically As The Private Sector.

There Is Purpose And Worth To Each And Every Life.

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 The Virtues Handed Down To Us By Our Families, To Have The Courage To Defend Those Values And The Willingess To Sacrifice For Them. 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.

The Problem Is Not That People Are Taxed Too Little, The Problem Is That Government Spends Too Much.

All Great Change In America Begins At The Dinner Table.

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

The Victims Of Crime Have Been Transformed Into A Group Oppressively Burdened By A System Designed To Protect Them.

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Nathan Bedford Forrest

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