Background Image

...

To Sit Back Hoping That Someday, Some Way, 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

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

To Sit Back Hoping

Ronald Reagan

...

To Sit Back Hoping That Someday, Some Way, Someone Will Make Things Right Is To Go On Feeding The Crocodile, Hoping He Will Eat You Last - But Eat You He Will.

Views: 13

Topic

More From Ronald Reagan

I Know That For America There Will Always Be A Bright Dawn Ahead.

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

Since I Came To The White House, I Got Two Hearing Aids, A Colon Operation, Skin Cancer, A Prostate Operation, And I Was Shot. The Damn Thing Is, I've Never Felt Better In My Life.

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.

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.

One Way To Make Sure Crime Doesn't Pay Would Be To Let The Government Run It.

America's Economic Strength Depends On Industry's Ability To Improve Productivity And Quality And To Remain On The Cutting Edge Of Technology, And That's Why The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Is So Important.

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

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.

Our Natural, Inalienable Rights Are Now Considered To Be A Dispensation From Government, And Freedom Has Never Been So Fragile, So Close To Slipping From Our Grasp As It Is At This Moment.

Within The Covers Of The Bible Are The Answers For All The Problems Men Face.

Church And State Are, And Must Remain, Separate.

I Call Upon The Scientific Community In Our Country, Those Who Gave Us Nuclear Weapons, To Turn Their Great Talents Now To The Cause Of Mankind And World Peace: To Give Us The Means Of Rendering These Nuclear Weapons Impotent And Obsolete.

Cannot Swords Be Turned To Plowshares? Can We And All Nations Not Live In Peace? In Our Obsession With Antagonisms Of The Moment, We Often Forget How Much Unites All The Members Of Humanity. 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. And Yet, I Ask You, Is Not An Alien Force Already Among Us? What Could Be More Alien To The Universal Aspirations Of Our Peoples Than War And The Threat Of War?

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.

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

Our Goal Is Peace. We Can Gain That Peace By Strengthening Our Alliances, By Speaking Candidly About The Dangers Before Us, By Assuring Potential Adversaries Of Our Seriousness, By Actively Pursuing Every Chance Of Honest And Fruitful Negotiation.

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.

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?

Our Liberty Springs From And Depends Upon An Abiding Faith In God.

With Freedom Goes Responsibility, A Responsibility That Can Only Be Met By The Individual Himself.

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.

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.

The Bible And Its Teachings Helped Form The Basis For The Founding Fathers' Abiding Belief In The Inalienable Rights Of The Individual.

Today, We're Taking A Break From The Concerns And The Bustle Of The Work-a-day World. But We're Also Making A New Beginning. As We Gather Around Our Dining Room Tables For The Midday Meal, 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.

I Would Have Voted Against The Civil Rights Act Of 1964.

What's Happening In Cuba Is Not A Failure Of The Cuban People. It's A Failure Of Fidel Castro And The Communists.

In An Atmosphere Of Liberty, Artists And Patrons Are Free To Think The Unthinkable And Create The Audacious; They Are Free To Make Both Horrendous Mistakes And Glorious Celebrations.

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.

The Same Technology Transforming Our Lives Can Solve The Greatest Problem Of The 20th Century. A Security Shield Can One Day Render Nuclear Weapons Obsolete And Free Mankind From The Prison Of Nuclear Terror. America Met One Historic Challenge And Went To The Moon. Now America Must Meet Another: To Make Our Strategic Defense Real For All The Citizens Of Planet Earth.

I'm Sure Everyone Feels Sorry For The Individual Who Has Fallen By The Wayside Or Who Can't Keep Up In Our Competitive Society, But My Own Compassion Goes Beyond That To Those Millions Of Unsung Men And Women, Who Get Up Every Morning, Send The Kids To School, Go To Work, Try To Keep Up The Payments On Their House, Pay Exorbitant Taxes To Make Possible Compassion For The Less Fortunate, And As A Result Have To Sacrifice Many Of Their Own Desires And Dreams And Hopes. Government Owes Them Something Better Than Always Finding A New Way To Make Them Share The Fruit Of Their Toils With Others.

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

Abortion Is Advocated Only By Persons Who Have Themselves Been Born.

Every New Day Begins With Possibilities.

New Possibilities

We Are Participating In The Orderly Transfer Of Administrative Authority By The Direction Of The People. And This Is The Simple Magic Which Makes A Commonplace Routine A Near Miracle To Many Of The World

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.

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.

The More The Plans Fail, The More The Planners Plan.

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

Without A Vision The People Perish.

How Can We Not Believe In The Greatness Of America? How Can We Not Do What Is Right And Needed To Preserve This Last Best Hope Of Man On Earth? After All Our Struggles To Restore America, To Revive Confidence In Our Country, Hope For Our Future - After All Our Hard-won Victories Earned Through The Patience And Courage Of Every Citizen - We Cannot, Must Not, And Will Not Turn. We Will Finish Our Job. How Could We Do Less? We're Americans.

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.

The Greatest Security For Israel Is To Create New Egypts.

I Thought The Function Of The Government Was To Promote The General Welfare, Not To Provide It.

It's Silly Talking About How Many Years We Will Have To Spend In The Jungles Of Vietnam When We Could Pave The Whole Country And Put Parking Stripes On It And Still Be Home By Christmas.

I've Long Believed One Of The Mainsprings Of Our Own Liberty Has Been The Widespread Ownership Of Property Among Our People And The Expectation That Anyone's Child, Even From The Humblest Of Families, Could Grow Up To Own A Business Or Corporation.

If You Put It On The Table As A Bargaining Chip, It Becomes A Bargaining Chip

Our Tax Policy Is Engineered By People Who View Tax As A Means Of Achieving Changes In Our Social Structure.

The Men Of Normandy Had Faith That What They Were Doing Was Right, Faith That They Fought For All Humanity, Faith That A Just God Would Grant Them Mercy On This Beachhead Or The Next. It Was The Deep Knowledge - And Pray God We Have Not Lost It - That There Is A Profound Moral Difference Between The Use Of Force For Liberation And The Use Of Force For Conquest.

I'm Convinced, More Than Ever, That Man Finds Liberation Only When He Binds Himself To God And Commits Himself To His Fellow Man.

America's View Of Apartheid Is Simple And Straightforward: We Believe It Is Wrong. We Condemn It. And We Are United In Hoping For The Day When Apartheid Will Be No More.

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.

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.

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

Self-defense Is Not Only Our Right; It Is Our Duty.

We Must Have Faith In The People Of This Country And Faith In Our Principles.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Freedom Is The Right To Question And Change The Established Way Of Doing Things. It Is The Continuing Revolution Of The Marketplace. It Is The Understanding That Allows Us To Recognize Shortcomings And Seek Solutions. It Is The Right To Put Forth An Idea, Scoffed At By The Experts, And Watch It Catch Fire Among The People. It Is The Right To Follow Your Dream, Or Stick To Your Conscience Even If You're The Only One In A Sea Of Doubters.

I Hope Americans Will Read And Study The Bible In The Coming Year. It's My Firm Belief That The Enduring Values, As I Say, Presented In Its Pages Have A Great Meaning For Each Of Us And For Our Nation.

The Time Has Come To Turn To God And Reassert Our Trust In Him.

Spiritual Renewal

God...should Never Have Been Expelled From America's Schools. As We Struggle To Teach Our Children...we Dare Not Forget That Our Civilization Was Built By Men And Women Who Placed Their Faith In A Loving God. If Congress Can Begin Each Day With A Moment Of Prayer...so Then Can Our Sons And Daughters.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wherever A Beautiful Soul Has Been There Is A Trail Of Beautiful Memories.

What We Have Found In This Country, And Maybe We're More Aware Of It Now, Is One Problem That We've Had, Even In The Best Of Times, And That Is The People Who Are Sleeping On The Grates, The Homeless, You Might Say, By Choice.

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

The Best Social Program Is A Productive Job For Anyone Who's Willing To Work.

We Meant To Change A Nation, And Instead, We Changed A World.

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.

A Recession Is When Your Neighbor Loses His Job. A Depression Is When You Lose Yours.

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.

Entrepreneurs Are The Forgotten Heroes Of America.

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

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.

Permanent Brain Damage Is One Of The Inevitable Results Of The Use Of Marijuana.

I Recently Learned Something Quite Interesting About Video Games. Many Young People Have Developed Incredible Hand, Eye, And Brain Coordination In Playing These Games. The Air Force Believes These Kids Will Be Our Outstanding Pilots Should They Fly Our Jets.

A Nation Without Borders Is No Nation At All.

A Leader, Once Convinced That A Particular Course Of Action Is The Right One, Must....be Undaunted When The Going Gets Tough.

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.

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

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.

The Founders Of The United Nations Sought To Replace A World At War With A World Of Civilized Order. They Hoped That A World Of Relentless Conflict Would Give Way To A New Era, One Where Freedom From Violence Prevailed.... But The Awful Truth Is That The Use Of Violence For Political Gain Has Become More, Not Less, Widespread In The Last Decade.

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.

Freedom Is One Of The Deepest And Noblest Aspirations Of The Human Spirit. People, Worldwide, Hunger For The Right Of Self-determination, For Those Inalienable Rights That Make For Human Dignity And Progress. America Must Remain Freedom's Staunchest Friend, For Freedom Is Our Best Ally And It Is The World's Only Hope To Conquer Poverty And Preserve Peace. Every Blow We Inflict Against Poverty Will Be A Blow Against Its Dark Allies Of Oppression And War. Every Victory For Human Freedom Will Be A Victory For World Peace.

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.

The Most Fundamental Paradox Is That If We're Never To Use Force, We Must Be Prepared To Use It And To Use It Successfully. We Americans Don't Want War And We Don't Start Fights. We Don't Maintain A Strong Military Force To Conquer Or Coerce Others. The Purpose Of Our Military Is Simple And Straightforward: We Want To Prevent War.

I Doubt Evolution Is Real.

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.

It's Difficult To Believe That People Are Still Starving In This Country Because Food Isn't Available.

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.

The Things That Unite Us-america's Past Of Which We Are So Proud, Our Hopes And Aspirations For The Future Of The World And This Much Loved Country-these Things Far Outweigh What Little Divides Us.

A Bird On A Tether, No Matter How Long The Rope, Can Always Be Pulled Back.

Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look.

The Crew Of The Space Shuttle Challenger Honored Us By The Manner In Which They Lived Their Lives.

If We Love Our Country, We Should Also Love Our Countrymen.

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.

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.

If The Soviet Union Let Another Political Party Come Into Existence, They Would Still Be A One-party State, Because Everybody Would Join The Other Party.

You Can't Be For Big Government, Big Taxes And Big Bureaucracy And Still Be For The Little Guy.

Ours Was The First Revolution In The History Of Mankind That Truly Reversed The Course Of Government, And With Three Little Words: 'we The People.' 'we The People' Tell The Government What To Do, It Doesn't Tell Us. 'we The People' Are The Driver, The Government Is The Car. And We Decide Where It Should Go, And By What Route, And How Fast. Almost All The World's Constitutions Are Documents In Which Governments Tell The People What Their Privileges Are. Our Constitution Is A Document In Which 'we The People' Tell The Government What It Is Allowed To Do. 'we The People' Are Free.

When We Speak Of Peace, We Should Not Mean Just The Absence Of War. True Peace Rests On The Pillars Of Individual Freedom, Human Rights, National Self-determination, And Respect For The Rule Of Law.

I Know I'm Not In Government Anymore. In Fact I'm Out Of Work.

For Too Long, Too Many People Dependent On Social Security Have Been Cruelly Frightened By Individuals Seeking Political Gain Through Demagoguery And Outright Falsehood, And This Must Stop.

He Struck A Mighty Blow For Equality, Freedom And The American Way Of Life. Jackie Robinson Was A Good Citizen, A Great Man, And A True American Champion.

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.

It Is My Fervent Goal And Hope... That We Will Someday No Longer Have To Rely On Nuclear Weapons To Deter Aggression And Assure World Peace. To That End The United States Is Now Engaged In A Serious And Sustained Effort To Negotiate Major Reductions In Levels Of Offensive Nuclear Weapons With The Ultimate Goal Of Eliminating These Weapons From The Face Of The Earth.

To Do Whatever Needs To Be Done To Preserve This Last And Greatest Bastion Of Freedom.

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

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.

Government Is The People's Business And Every Man, Woman And Child Becomes A Shareholder With The First Penny Of Tax Paid.

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.

Marijuana Is Probably The Most Dangerous Drug In America Today.

I Don't Want To Do A Tv Series. It's No Fun Working From Dawn To Sunset Every Day. An Occasional Movie Would Be Fine, And Then I'll See What Might Develop On The Political Front.

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.

In This New World Economy, National Boundaries Are Increasingly Becoming Obsolete.

The Real Question Today Is Not When Human Life Begins, But, What Is The Value Of Human Life? The Abortionist Who Reassembles The Arms And Legs Of A Tiny Baby To Make Sure All Its Parts Have Been Torn From Its Mother's Body Can Hardly Doubt Whether It Is A Human Being. The Real Question For Him And For All Of Us Is Whether That Tiny Human Life Has A God-given Right To Be Protected By The Law - The Same Right We Have.

This Country Was Founded And Built By People With Great Dreams And The Courage To Take Great Risks.

There Are No Words To Express The Extraordinary Strength And Character Of This Breed Of People We Call American. They Are The Kind Of Men And Women Tom Paine Had In Mind When He Wrote, During The Darkest Days Of The American Revolution, We Have It In Our Power To Begin The World Over Again.

Evil Is Powerless If The Good Are Unafraid.

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.

Why Should The Government Subsidize Intellectual Curiosity?

Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago? One Of My Favorite Quotes Is It Easier For You To Go And Buy Things In The Stores ... Is There More Or Less Unemployment?

I'm Beginning To Wonder If The Symbol Of The United States Pretty Soon Isn't Going To Be An Ambassador With A Flag Under His Arm Climbing Into An Escape Helicopter.

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.

If You Think You Can - You Can!

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

The Economic Welfare Of All Our People Must Ultimately Stem Not From Government Programs, But From The Wealth Created By A Vigorous Private Sector.

A Truly Successful Army Is One That, Because Of Its Strength And Ability And Dedication, Will Not Be Called Upon To Fight, For No One Will Dare To Provoke It.

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.

Our National Motto - 'in God We Trust' - Was Not Chosen Lightly. It Reflects A Basic Recognition That There Is A Divine Authority In The Universe To Which This Nation Owes Homage.

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

What Does An Actor Know About Politics?

Unemployment Insurance Is A Pre-paid Vacation For Freeloaders.

Americans Are Not Going To Tolerate Intimidation, Terror And Outright Acts Of War Against This Nation And Its People. And We Are Especially Not Going To Tolerate These Attacks From Outlaw States Run By The Strangest Collection Of Misfits, Looney Tunes And Squalid Criminals Since The Advent Of The Third Reich ... There Can Be No Place On Earth Where It Is Safe For These Monsters To Rest,or Train Or Practice Their Cruel And Deadly. We Must Act Together - Or Unilateraly, If Necessary - To Ensue That These Terrorists Have No Sanctuary, Anywhere.

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

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

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.

One Day We Will Spend Our Sunset Years Telling Our Children And Our Children's Children What It Was Once Like In The United States Where Men Were Free.

This Crime Against Humanity Must Never Be Forgotten.

No Government Ever Voluntarily Reduces Itself In Size.

The Joke In Our Family Is That We Can Cry Reading The Phone Book.

A People Free To Choose Will Always Choose Peace.

Fascism Was Really The Basis For The New Deal. It Was Mussolini's Success In Italy, With His Government-directed Economy, That Led The Early New Dealers To Say "but Mussolini Keeps The Trains Running On Time.

Wouldn't It Be Better For The Human Spirit And For The Soul Of This Nation To Encourage People To Accept More Responsibility To Care For Each Other Rather Than Leaving Those Tasks To Paid Bureaucrats.

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.

For Us To Ignore By Inaction The Slaughter Of American Civilians And American Soldiers, Whether In Nightclubs Or Airline Terminals, Is Simply Not In The American Tradition. Self-defense Is Not Only Our Right, It Is Our Duty.

Don't Let The Doom Criers And The Cynics Persuade You That The Best Is Past.

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

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

Poverty Is A Career For Lot's Of Well Paid People

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.

I'm Just A Citizen Temporarily In Public Service.

You Know, If I Listened To Michael Dukakis Long Enough, I Would Be Convinced We're In An Economic Downturn And People Are Homeless And Going Without Food And Medical Attention And That We've Got To Do Something About The Unemployed.

Democracy Is Worth Dying For, Because It's The Most Deeply Honorable Form Of Government Ever Devised By Man.

May All Of You As Americans Never Forget Your Heroic Origins, Never Fail To Seek Divine Guidance, And Never Lose Your Natural God-given Optimism.

Divine Guidance

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.

There Are No Constraints On The Human Mind, No Walls Around The Human Spirit, No Barriers To Our Progress Except Those We Ourselves Erect.

Everyone Is A Liberal Until They Have Something To Conserve. Then They Become A Conservative.

The Basis Of Conservatism Is A Desire For Less Government Interference Or Less Centralized Authority Or More Individual Freedom...

I Have Seen The Rise And Fall Of Nazi Tyranny, The Subsequent Cold War And The Nuclear Nightmare That For Fifty Years Haunted The Dreams Of Children Everywhere. During That Time My Generation Defeated Totalitarianism. As A Result, Your World Is Poised For Better Tomorrows. What Will You Do On Your Journey?

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!

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

Education Is Like A Diamond With Many Facets: It Includes The Basic Mastery Of Numbers And Letters That Give Us Access To The Treasury Of Human Knowledge, Accumulated And Refined Through The Ages; It Includes Technical And Vocational Training As Well As Instruction In Science, Higher Mathematics, And Humane Letters.

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.

Hope Remains The Highest Reality, The Age-old Power.

There Are Those, Of Course, Who Claim We Must Give Up Freedom In Exchange For Economic Progress. Well, Pardon Me, But Anyone Trying To Sell You That Line Is No Better Than A Three-card-trick Man. One Thing Becoming More Clear Every Day Is That Freedom And Progress Go Hand In Hand. Throughout The Developing World, People Are Rejecting Socialism Because They See That It Doesn't Empower People, It Impoverishes Them.

Our Country Is Great Because It Is Built On Principles Of Self-reliance, Opportunity, Innovation, And Compassion For Others.

I Won't Hold My Opponent's Youth And Inexperience Against Him.

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.

You On The Cutting Edge Of Technology Have Already Made Yesterday's Impossibilities The Commonplace Realities Of Today.

The Person Who Agrees With You 80 Percent Of The Time Is A Friend And An Ally - Not A 20 Percent Traitor.

But I Also Happen To Be Someone Who Believes In Tithing--the Giving Of A Tenth .

There Can Be No Security Anywhere In The Free World If There Is No Fiscal And Economic Stability Within The United States.

Unless And Until It Can Be Proven That An Unborn Child Is Not A Living Human Being, Can We Justify Assuming Without Proof That It Isn't? No One Has Yet Offered Such Proof; Indeed, All The Evidence Is To The Contrary.

It's Been Written That The Most Sublime Figure In American History Was George Washington On His Knees In The Snow At Valley Forge. He Personified A People Who Knew That It Was Not Enough To Depend On Their Own Courage And Goodness, That They Must Also Seek Help From God - Their Father And Preserver. Where Did We Begin To Lose Sight Of That Noble Beginning, Of Our Conviction That Standards Of Right And Wrong Do Exist And Must Be Lived Up To? Do We Really Think That We Can Have It Both Ways, That God Will Protect Us In A Time Of Crisis Even As We Turn Away From Him In Our Day-to-day Life?

Isn't It Interesting That All Of Those People Who Support The Choice Of Abortion Have Already Been Born?

All Systems Are Capitalist. It's Just A Matter Of Who Owns And Controls The Capital -- Ancient King, Dictator, Or Private Individual. We Should Properly Be Looking At The Contrast Between A Free Market System Where Individuals Have The Right To Live Like Kings If They Have The Ability To Earn That Right And Government Control Of The Market System Such As We Find Today In Socialist Nations.

Our American Tradition Of Neighbor Helping Neighbor Has Always Been One Of Our Greatest Strengths And Most Noble Traditions.

I Feel That The Whole Western World Will Benefit By The Resurrection Of The Neutron Bomb Project.

I've Often Wondered, What If All Of Us In The World Discovered That We Were Threatened By An Outer -- A Power From Outer Space, From Another Planet. Wouldn't We All Of A Sudden Find That We Didn't Have Any Differences Between Us At All, We Were All Human Beings, Citizens Of The World, And Wouldn't We Come Together To Fight That Particular Threat?

Are You Entitled To The Fruits Of Your Own Labor Or Does Government Have Some Presumptive Right To Spend And Spend And Spend?

Government Is Not A Solution To Our Problem Government Is The Problem.

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.

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

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

The Federal Reserve Is Answerable To No One.

Federal Reserve

The Task That Has Fallen To Us As Americans Is To Move The Conscience Of The World, To Keep Alive The Hope And Dream Of Freedom. For If We Fail Or Falter, There'll Be No Place For The World's Oppressed To Flee To. This Is Not A Role We Sought. We Preach No Manifest Destiny. But Like The Americans Who Brought A New Nation Into The World 200 Years Ago, History Has Asked Much Of Us In Our Time. Much We've Already Given; Much More We Must Be Prepared To Give.

The Full Consequences Of A Default Or Even The Serious Prospect Of Default By The United States Are Impossible To Predict And Awesome To Contemplate. Denigration Of The Full Faith And Credit Of The United States Would Have Substantial Effects On The Domestic Financial Markets And On The Value Of The Dollar In Exchange Markets. The Nation Can Ill Afford To Allow Such A Result. The Risks, The Cost, The Disruptions, And The Incalculable Damage Lead Me To But One Conclusion: The Senate Must Pass This Legislation Before The Congress Adjourns.

Intelligence Reports Say Castro Is Very Worried About Me. I'm Very Worried That We Can't Come Up With Something To Justify His Worrying.

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

We Intend To Keep The Peace - We Will Also Keep Our Freedom.

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

Trending Author

Elizabeth Gilbert

Category