Reagan

Reagan
"I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves." (Reagan)

“This is the issue of this election is 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.” (Reagan)

“There is only an up or down to man's age-old dream -- the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."(Reagan)

Government
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." (Reagan)

"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." (Reagan)

"Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of government those things which the citizenry might better provide for itself." (Reagan)

"Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." (Reagan)

"The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution."(Reagan)

Economy
"Are you entitled to the fruits of your own labor or does government have some presumptive right to spend and spend and spend?"(Reagan)

"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. When it stops moving, subsidize it." (Reagan)

"Are you entitled to the fruits of your own labor or does government have some presumptive right to spend and spend and spend?" --Ronald Reagan

"We were poor when I was young, but the difference then was that the government didn't come around telling you you were poor."(Reagan)

"Communism is neither an economic nor a political system -- it is a form of insanity -- a temporary aberration which will one day disappear from the earth because it is contrary to human nature. I wonder how much more misery it will cause before it disappears." (Reagan)

"The march of freedom and democracy ... will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people." (Reagan)

Cold War
"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose." (Reagan)

"There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace — and you can have it in the next second — surrender." (Reagan)

"Our enemies may be irrational, even outright insane, driven by nationalism, religion, ethnicity, or ideology. They do not fear the United States for its diplomatic skills or the number of automobiles and software programs it produces. They respect only the firepower of our tanks, planes, and helicopter gunships." (Reagan)

"Who can forget those so-called 'experts' who said our military buildup threatened a dangerous escalation of tensions? What kind of fool, they asked, would call the Soviet Union an 'Evil Empire'?" (Reagan)

"No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men." (Reagan)

Liberal Labels
"In all that time I won a nickname, the 'Great Communicator.' But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference. It was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things” (Reagan)

Quotes
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." (Reagan)

"When you see all that rhetorical smoke billowing up from the Democrats, well, ladies and gentlemen, I'd follow the example of their nominee [Bill Clinton]: don't inhale." (Reagan)