Ronald Reagan

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. Plutarch warned, 'The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.'

It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government. This idea that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power, is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave.

Man is not free unless government is limited.

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, 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

Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and lost it, have never known it again.

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.

Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.

Eighty percent of air pollution comes from plants and trees.

Well, I would -- if they realized that we -- again if -- if we led them back to that stalemate only because our retaliatory power, our seconds, or strike at them after our first strike, would be so destructive they they couldn't afford it, that would hold them off.

If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

Politycy mają skłonność do myślenia o następnych wyborach, a nie o następnym pokoleniu.

You can accomplish much if you don't care who gets the credit.

Status quo. To znaczy po łacinie „bałagan, w którym jesteśmy”.

Status quo. Latin for “the mess we're in.”

There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits on the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder.

The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take a civil service exam.

It's difficult to see that people are starving in this country because food isn't available.(1986)

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans.

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result. (Quoting Churchill)

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.

Komunista to ktoś, kto czyta Marksa i Lenina. Antykomunista to ktoś, kto rozumie Marksa i Lenina.

„Rząd nie rozwiązuje problemów. On je subsydiuje.”

„Państwo jest jak niemowlę – z jednej strony ma ciągły apetyt, z drugiej nie ponosi żadnej odpowiedzialności za swoje czyny.”

„Polityka uważana jest za drugi najstarszy zawód świata. Jeśli się zastanowić, okazuje się, że ma sporo wspólnego z pierwszym.”

„Recesja jest wtedy, gdy twój sąsiad traci pracę. Depresja, gdy ty tracisz pracę. A uzdrowienie, gdy pracę traci Jimmy Carter.”

„Sukces działania opieki społecznej (welfare’s) powinniśmy mierzyć ilością ludzi, którzy jej nie potrzebują, nie zaś ilością ludzi, którzy z niej korzystają.”

„Wydałem polecenie, by w razie ważnej potrzeby budzono mnie niezwłocznie w każdym wypadku, nawet podczas posiedzenia gabinetu.”