Out of all the Presidents of the United States, Ronald Reagan definitely stands out in an unusual way. Instead of following the classical career path of a politician, Reagan rose to popularity as a Hollywood movie actor as well as TV and radio host. Only later on in his life, he chose to become politically active and served as governor of California for eight years. In 1981, he will become the 40th President of the United States and served for a total of eight years. To help you learn more about his personality and leadership style, we’ve collected famous Ronald Reagan quotes. Enjoy reading! For even more inspirational quotes, have a look at our selection of Theodore Roosevelt quotes.
The unusual career path of Ronald Reagan serves as an inspirational example. It tells the story of an individual who worked himself all the way to the White House, despite pursuing an entirely different career in his earlier life.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
As such, Ronald Reagan is the role model for all those who seek a change in their career paths. His example shows that with dedication, hard work, a rock-solid plan, and a little luck, almost anything is possible.
At the same time, many people forget that Reagan unsuccessfully ran for president in 1968 as well as in 1976. Had he given up after his first or second attempt, he would not have become the president who would, later on, received strong approval ratings from US citizens.
The 100 Best Ronald Reagan Quotes
By not giving up after both failures, he was finally elected in 1980. He had the bold determination to pursue his goal for more than 12 years, which was eventually rewarded. His example shows how important it is to always get back up on your feet after each defeat. To help you learn more about this unique President of the United States, the following list of Ronald Reagan quotes was created.
Here are the best Ronald Reagan quotes:
1.
“Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.”
Ronald Reagan
2.
“The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave.”
Ronald Reagan
3.
“Never let the things you can’t do, stop you from doing what you can.”
Ronald Reagan
4.
“I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.”
Ronald Reagan
5.
“Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver 5 minutes longer.”
Ronald Reagan
6.
“Here you discover that so long as books are kept open, then minds can never be closed.”
Ronald Reagan
7.
“When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”
Ronald Reagan
8.
“There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder.”
Ronald Reagan
9.
“We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.”
Ronald Reagan
10.
“I’ve heard that hard work never killed anyone, but I say why take the chance?”
Ronald Reagan
11.
“Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.”
Ronald Reagan
12.
“America is too great for small dreams.”
Ronald Reagan
13.
“If you think you can – you can!”
Ronald Reagan
14.
“How can we love our country and not love our countrymen; and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they’re sick, and provide an opportunity to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?”
Ronald Reagan
15.
“My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.”
Ronald Reagan
16.
“I was not a great communicator, but I communicated great things.”
Ronald Reagan
17.
“I learned that hard work is an essential part of life—that by and large, you don’t get something for nothing—and that America was a place that offered unlimited opportunity to those who did work hard”
Ronald Reagan
18.
“We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.”
Ronald Reagan
19.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
20.
“Surround yourself with great people; delegate authority; get out of the way.”
Ronald Reagan
21.
“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
Ronald Reagan
22.
“Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in’.”
Ronald Reagan
23.
“Someday, the realm of liberty and justice will encompass the planet.”
Ronald Reagan
24.
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Ronald Reagan
25.
“Life is one grand sweet song so start the music”
Ronald Reagan
26.
“If history teaches anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.”
Ronald Reagan
27.
“While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.”
Ronald Reagan
28.
“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.”
Ronald Reagan
29.
“A people free to choose will always choose peace. „
Ronald Reagan
30.
“Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”
Ronald Reagan
31.
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Ronald Reagan
32.
“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
Ronald Reagan
33.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
Ronald Reagan
34.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
35.
“Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.”
Ronald Reagan
36.
“I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all Gods children & therefore equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.”
Ronald Reagan
37.
“Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.”
Ronald Reagan
38.
“As government expands, liberty contracts.”
Ronald Reagan
39.
“I don’t think we’ll solve the problem of the deficit until three things happen: We need more discipline on spending in Congress. We need a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget. And we need to give our presidents a line-item veto.”
Ronald Reagan
40.
“If freedom, democracy, and the rights of man are to be preserved through the ages, free men and women must accept the responsibilities that go with their freedoms.”
Ronald Reagan
41.
“If we’re free to dare – and we are – if we’re free to give – and we are – then we’re free to shape the future and have within our grasp all that we dream the future will be.”
Ronald Reagan
42.
“I spoke to ears that refused to hear.”
Ronald Reagan
43.
“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 goodwill among free people will carry the day.”
Ronald Reagan
44.
“[Freedom] must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or 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.”
Ronald Reagan
45.
“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited.”
Ronald Reagan
46.
“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”
Ronald Reagan
47.
“They had that special grace, that special spirit that says, ‘Give me a challenge and I’ll meet it with joy.”
Ronald Reagan
48.
“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
Ronald Reagan
49.
“I have left orders to be awakened at any time during a national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.”
Ronald Reagan
50.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
51.
“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
Ronald Reagan
52.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
53.
“Don’t be afraid to see what you see.”
Ronald Reagan
54.
“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives”
Ronald Regan
55.
“If there’s one observation that rings true in today’s changing world, it is that freedom and peace go hand in hand.”
Ronald Reagan
56.
“If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.”
Ronald Reagan
57.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
58.
“To sit back hoping that someday, someway, 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
59.
“We are never defeated unless we give up on God.”
Ronald Reagan
60.
“Just think how happy you’d be if you lost everything you have right now & then got it back.”
Ronald Reagan
61.
“Harry Truman once said: “Find me a one-armed economist, because everyone I know always says, ‘Well, on the other hand…”
Ronald Reagan
62.
“We fought a war on poverty, and poverty won”
Ronald Reagan
63.
“Preparing for the future must begin, as always, with our children. We need to set for the new and more rigorous goals.”
Ronald Reagan
64.
“The Democrats in the legislature agreed with us that welfare costs were headed for the stratosphere but claimed the solution was a huge tax increase—in other words, to keep pouring more money into a bucket that was full of holes.”
Ronald Reagan
65.
“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’.”
Ronald Reagan
66.
“For years, I’ve heard the question: “How could an actor be president?” I’ve sometimes wondered how you could be president and not be an actor.”
Ronald Reagan
67.
“Here’s my formula: I usually start with a joke or story to catch the audience’s attention; then I tell them what I am going to tell them, I tell them, and then I tell them what I just told them.”
Ronald Reagan
68.
“I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
Ronald Reagan
69.
“Freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.”
Ronald Reagan
70.
“It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”
Ronald Reagan
71.
“History is made by men and women of vision and courage. Tonight freedom is on the march.”
Ronald Reagan
72.
“As I have often said, governments don’t produce economic growth, people do.”
Ronald Reagan
73.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
74.
“There can be no freedom without order, and there is no order without virtue.”
Ronald Reagan
75.
“No government has ever voluntarily reduced itself in size—and that, in a way, became my theme.”
Ronald Reagan
76.
“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.”
Ronald Reagan
77.
“You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.”
Ronald Reagan
78.
“I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic Party left me.”
Ronald Reagan
79.
“A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at? „
Ronald Reagan
80.
“I’d learned a few lessons about negotiating: You’re unlikely to ever get all you want; you’ll probably get more of what you want if you don’t issue ultimatums and leave your adversary room to maneuver; you shouldn’t back your adversary into a corner, embarrass him, or humiliate him; and sometimes the easiest way to get some things done is for the top people to do them alone and in private.”
Ronald Reagan
81.
“There are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.”
Ronald Reagan
82.
“America will never be whole as long as the right to life granted by our Creator is denied to the unborn.”
Ronald Reagan
83.
“I cannot and will not stand by and see this great country destroy itself.”
Ronald Reagan
84.
“They don’t subscribe to our sense of morality; they don’t believe in an afterlife; they don’t believe in a God or religion. And the only morality they recognize, therefore, is what will advance the cause or socialism.”
Ronald Reagan
85.
“I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home.”
Ronald Reagan
86.
“Radio was theater of the mind.”
Ronald Reagan
87.
“We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.”
Ronald Reagan
88.
“I more than love you, I’m not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I’m waiting for you to return so I can start living again.”
Ronald Reagan
89.
“I don’t 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.”
Ronald Reagan
90.
“The key for any speaker is to establish his own point of view for the audience, so they can see the game through his eyes.”
Ronald Reagan
91.
“Tax increases don’t eliminate deficits they increase govt. spending.”
Ronald Reagan
92.
“I think growing up in a small town is a good foundation for anyone who decides to enter politics. You get to know people as individuals, not as blocs or members of special interest groups.”
Ronald Reagan
93.
“You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery.”
Ronald Reagan
94.
“Morality in the long run aligned with strategy.”
Ronald Reagan
95.
“If politics were a musical, it would be “Promises, Promises”.”
Ronald Reagan
96.
“I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.”
Ronald Regan
97.
“Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.”
Ronald Reagan
98.
“A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”
Ronald Reagan
99.
“Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.”
Ronald Reagan
100.
“America was founded by people who believe that God was their rock of safety.”
Ronald Reagan
I hope you enjoyed this collection of inspirational Ronald Reagan quotes.
Stay victorious!
