Besides being the birthday of my beautiful wife, it is also the birthday of one of the greatest U.S. presidents ever: Ronald Reagan, a.k.a. Ronaldus Magnus
To observe the 98th birthday of Reagan, here are a few (dozen) of my favorite quotes:
On government and society
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
Government is like a baby: an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.
Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.
Man is not free unless government is limited.
One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.
I’ve never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a “fat cat” and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a “public-spirited philanthropist.”
We were told four years ago [in 1960] that 17 million people went to bed hungry each night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet.
On the economy and taxation:
The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.
Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15th.
The problem is not that people are taxed too little; the problem is that government spends too much.
The taxpayer: That’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.
I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.
Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.
Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.
We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
On freedom:
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.
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.
Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.
On God and morality
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.
Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.
On communism and other global evils
How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
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.
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.
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.
We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
The famous Reagan wit:
Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
[T]here are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.
It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.” And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.
My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
[Democrats say] we are now going to solve the dropout problem, juvenile delinquency, by reinstituting something like the old CCC camps, and we are going to put our young people in camps, but again we do some arithmetic, and we find that we are going to spend each year just on room and board for each young person that we help $4,700 a year. We can send them to Harvard for $2,700! … Don't get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that Harvard is the answer to juvenile delinquency.
When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.
How far (down) we’ve gone in 20 years!
God bless, Gipper.
Of course, I could also include quotes from my wife, but somehow “Stop hogging all the covers!” and “Ewww, can’t you spray after you do that!?” doesn’t quite do the trick.
Recent Comments