Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911–2004) was an American Republican-party political leader who served as the 40th U.S. president 1981–89. He was a B-grade Hollywood actor and a union leader before entering politics.
Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan studied economics and became a radio announcer and sportscaster. He acted in over fifty mostly-unremarkable movies such as King’s Row (1941) and The Voice of the Turtle (1948.)
Reagan began his political career as a Democrat but later came to hate high taxes, big government, and communism. After two terms as governor of California, Reagan failed to gain the Republican party’s nomination in the 1968 and 1976 presidential elections. He was successful in 1980; he defeated Jimmy Carter and became, at the age of 61, then the oldest-ever president.
A conservative Republican, Reagan’s administration significantly increased defense spending, slashed taxes and social services funds but oversaw a significant rise in the national budget deficit.
Reagan held several summit meetings with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that brought about the nuclear forces non-proliferation treaty in 1987. Reagan left office in 1989, still massively popular with the American population.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Ronald Reagan
Honey, I forgot to duck.
—Ronald Reagan
We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.
—Ronald Reagan
Status quo, you know, that is Latin for the mess we’re in.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Change
We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.
—Ronald Reagan
I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964
—Ronald Reagan
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Freedom
In my eighty years, I prefer to call that the forty-first anniversary of my thirty ninth birthday, I’ve seen what men can do for each other and do to each other, I’ve seen war and peace, feast and famine, depression and prosperity, sickness and health. I’ve seen the depth of suffering and the peaks of triumph and I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and that there is purpose and worth to each and every life.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Humanity
Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Jobs, Economics
Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Drugs
We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Brave
There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Focus
We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Welfare
You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jelly beans.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Character
The 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.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Economy, Economics, Government
We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.
—Ronald Reagan
Entrepreneurs are the forgotten heroes of America.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Leadership
Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Morality, Morals
No matter what time it is, wake me, even if it’s in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Sleep
True, lasting peace cannot be secured through
the strength of arms alone. Among free peoples,
the open exchange of ideas ultimately is our greatest security.
—Ronald Reagan
Government is the people’s business and every man, woman and child becomes a shareholder with the first penny of tax paid.
—Ronald Reagan
Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: One liners
Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
—Ronald Reagan
Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Politics
In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Government, Crises
To grasp and hold a vision, that is the very essence of successful leadership—not only on the movie set where I learned it, but everywhere.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Leadership, Vision, Success
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Government
Let us ask ourselves; “What kind of people do we think we are?”
—Ronald Reagan
We have so many people who can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion that the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one!
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Justice
We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Economics, Economy
Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere.
—Ronald Reagan
Topics: Authority, Management
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Herbert Hoover American Statesman
Jimmy Carter American Head of State
Lyndon B. Johnson American Head of State
George H. W. Bush American Head of State
Richard Nixon American Head of State
Dwight D. Eisenhower American Head of State
John F. Kennedy American Head of State
William McKinley American Head of State
Theodore Roosevelt American Head of State
Fred Astaire American Dancer, Singer