"Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing."

"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives."

"Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root... Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle that's now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated."

"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."

"The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much."

"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."

"Latinos are Republican. They just don't know it yet."

"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."

"People do not make wars; governments do."

"Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders."

"We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added."

"Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

"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."

"I have left orders to be awakened at any time during national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."

"Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong."

"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."

"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."

"Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music."

"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."

"Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'."

"As government expands, liberty contracts."

"Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources."

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

"Someday, the realm of liberty and justice will encompass the planet. Freedom is not just the birthright of the few, it is the God-given right of all His children, in every country. It won't come by conquest. It will come, because freedom is right and freedom works. It will come, because cooperation and good will among free people will carry the day."

"Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."

"Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours."

"Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man."

"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer."

"Vietnam was a noble cause imperfectly pursued."

"Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known."

"Every new day begins with possibilities. It's up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace."

"You can tell alot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans."

"But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret."

"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 is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

"There is no humanity or charity in destroying self-reliance, dignity, and self-respect."

"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."