Ronald Reagan: Trending quotes (page 4)

Address to the nation from the White House http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/11684a.htm (16 January 1984)
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)

War , History

“We cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide. My Administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land, and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.”

Ronald Reagan

1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation (1983)

Life , Men , Freedom

“Let's close the place down and see if anybody notices.”

Ronald Reagan

Comments made just before the United States federal government shutdowns of 1995 and 96, as quoted in and article by James C. Miller III, in The Wall Street Journal (18 October 1995), as discussed in Congress via the Congressional Record https://books.google.com/books?id=HH9KOKGZJJYC&pg=PA28413 by Phil Crane. p. 28413
Post-presidency (1989–2004)

“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 who are homeless, you might say, by choice.”

Ronald Reagan

Defending himself against charges of callousness on Good Morning America(31 January 1984), cited by Paul Slansky, The Clothes Have No Emperor
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)

People , Problem , Sleep , Time

“Yes, because for many years I was a Democrat.”

Ronald Reagan

Response to Sam Donaldson (September 1982), on whether he shared any blame for the ongoing recession
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)

“I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.”

Ronald Reagan

1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989), Farewell Address (1989)

Life , God , People , Peace

“I'm not smart enough to lie.”

Ronald Reagan

Response when asked what qualified him to be President, as quoted in Ronald Reagan : The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency (2003) by Peter J. Wallison, p. 167
Post-presidency (1989–2004)

Lie

“Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us that they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy "accommodation." And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers.”

Ronald Reagan

1960s, A Time for Choosing (1964)

Love , Peace , Way , Freedom

“The charge has been made that the United States has shipped weapons to Iran as ransom payment for the release of American hostages in Lebanon, that the United States undercut its allies and secretly violated American policy against trafficking with terrorists…. Those charges are utterly false…. We did not — repeat — did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.”

Ronald Reagan

television address (13 November 1986)
1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989)

Falseness

“Not to the extent of throwing up my hands and saying, "Well, it's all over." No. I think whichever generation and at whatever time, when the time comes, the generation that is there, I think will have to go on doing what they believe is right.”

Ronald Reagan

Answer to question about whether he's mused about Armageddon. Interview http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/120683c.htm for People magazine (12 June 1983)
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)

Thinking , Time

“We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals of our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the party over to the so-called moderates wouldn't make any sense at all.”

Ronald Reagan

As quoted in Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan https://books.google.com/books?id=qPfqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64(2015) by William E Pemberton. p. 64
Post-presidency (1989–2004)

Support , Sense

“The real question today is not when human life begins, but, What is the value of human life?”

Ronald Reagan

1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation (1983)

Life , Question

“Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it's common sense.”

Ronald Reagan

State of the Union address http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=40205 (25 January 1984)
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)

Sense

“When the chips are down and the decisions are made as to who the candidates will be, then the 11th commandment prevails and everybody goes to work, and that is: Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”

Ronald Reagan

Remarks in New York City at a Reception for Delegates to the State Republican Convention http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1982/61782e.htm (17 June 1982), this is a restatement of "The Eleventh Commandment" by California Republican Party Chairman Gaylord Parkinson, which Reagan first used in 1966
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)

Decision

“Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than this [surrender], but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face — that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand — the ultimatum. And what then? When Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we are retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he has heard voices pleading for "peace at any price" or "better Red than dead," or as one commentator put it, he would rather "live on his knees than die on his feet." And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us. 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. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin — just in the face of this enemy?”

Ronald Reagan

1960s, A Time for Choosing (1964)

Life , War , People , Peace

“You'd be surprised how much being a good actor pays off.”

Ronald Reagan

Responding to a question from students at Shanghai's University of Fudan as to which experiences best prepared him for the presidency (30 April 1984), cited by Paul Slansky, The Clothes Have No Emperor
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)