Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.
There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.
Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in’.
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.
The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave.
I have left orders to be awakened at any time during national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.
I’ve heard that hard work never killed anyone, but I say why take the chance?
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.
Our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they’re sinners can bring democracy the tolerance it requires to survive
A people free to choose will always choose peace.
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
If there’s one observation that rings true in today’s changing world, it is that freedom and peace go hand in hand.
If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.
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.
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.
If politics were a musical, it would be “Promises, Promises”.
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.
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’.
Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
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.
It seems to me that America is constantly reinventing what “America” means.
Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.
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.
You can’t tax business. Business doesn’t pay taxes. It collects taxes.
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.
Yes, our country has its shortcomings, but there’s no moral equivalency between democracy and totalitarianism…There’s no moral equivalency between propaganda and the truth.
You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.
Just think how happy you’d be if you lost everything you have right now & then got it back.
Government does not solve problems. It subsidizes them.
Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem. It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant, it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.
Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program.
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.
I was not a great communicator, but I communicated great things.
I discovered that night (in his college’s student politics) that an audience has a feel to it, and, in the parlance of the theater, that audience and I were together.
I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.
Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty
They had that special grace, that special spirit that says, ‘Give me a challenge and I’ll meet it with joy.” on Challenger disaster
Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver 5 minutes longer.
We do not deny any nation’s legitimate interest in security. But protecting the security of one nation by robbing another of its national independence and national traditions is not legitimate. In the long run, it is not even secure.
There is no humanity or charity in destroying self-reliance, dignity, and self-respect.
Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.
Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders. … The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip.
There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.
I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.
Government is like a baby: an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Double-no triple-our troubles and we’d still be better off than any other people on earth.
Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
Money can’t buy happiness but it will certainly get you a better class of memories.
Every new day begins with possibilities. It’s up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace.
God’s miracles are to be found in nature itself the wind and waves the wood that becomes a tree – all of these are explained biologically but behind them is the hand of God.
Every new day begins with possibilities. It’s up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace.
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
If we love our country we should also love our countrymen.
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
They say hard work never hurt anybody but I figure why take the chance.
We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.
We should declare war on North Vietnam. We could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and still be home by Christmas.
History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.
It’s silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas.
It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?
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.
The taxpayer – that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.
Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.
Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.
There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.
You can tell alot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.
It’s difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn’t available.
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
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.
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. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.
Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.
I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.
All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
Going to college offered me the chance to play football for four more years.
If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.
When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
You know, if I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough, I would be convinced we’re in an economic downturn and people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we’ve got to do something about the unemployed.
There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.
Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
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. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.
One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.
Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.
Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.
Government does not solve problems it subsidizes them.
If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!
Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.
Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.
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.
While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.