Ronald Reagan

Statesman

1911-02-06 – 2004-06-05

American statesman and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was previously governor of California and became a leading figure in modern American conservatism. His presidency is associated with major Cold War-era policy shifts and economic debates.

Books by Ronald Reagan

An American Life
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Speaking My Mind
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State of the Union Addresses of Ronald Reagan
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Quotes by Ronald Reagan

It seems to me that America is constantly reinventing what America means.
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Life is one grand sweet song so start the music
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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.
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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.
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Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
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As government expands, liberty contracts.
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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'.
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If politics were a musical, it would be Promises, Promises.
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We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.
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You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.
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If there's one observation that rings true in today's changing world, it is that freedom and peace go hand in hand.
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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.
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If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.
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The miracle of life is given by One greater than ourselves, but once given, each life is ours to nurture and preserve, to foster, not only for today's world but for a better one to come. There is no purpose more noble than for us to sustain and celebrate life in a turbulent world, and that is what we must do now. We have no higher duty, no greater cause as humans. Life and the preservation of freedom to live it in dignity is what we are on this Earth to do. Everything we work to achieve must seek that end so that some day our prime ministers, our premiers, our presidents, and our general secretaries will talk not of war and peace, but only of peace.
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Someday, the realm of liberty and justice will encompass the planet. Freedom is not just the birthright of the few, it is the God-given right of all His children, in every country. It won't come by conquest. It will come, because freedom is right and freedom works. It will come, because cooperation and good will among free people will carry the day.
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If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.
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A people free to choose will always choose peace.
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More than a decade ago, a Supreme Court decision literally wiped off the books of fifty states statutes protecting the rights of unborn children. Abortion on demand now takes the lives of up to 1.5 million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy will some day pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does. Unless and until it can be proven that the unborn child is not a living entity, then its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must be protected.
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Our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring democracy the tolerance it requires to survive
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We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
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