Our nation was built and civilized by men and women who used guns in self-defense and in pursuit of peace. One wonders indeed, if the rising crime rate, isn't due as much as anything to the criminal's instinctive knowledge that the average victim no longer has means of self-protection.

By 1980, we knew it was time to renew our faith, to strive with all our strength toward the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with an orderly society. We believed then and now there are no limits to growth and human progress when men and women are free to follow their dreams.

[The Soviets] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth; they are the focus of evil in the modern world.

Coersion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.

And let us never forget that in honoring our flag, we honor the American men and women who have courageously fought and died for it over the last 200 years, patriots who set an ideal above any consideration of self. Our flag flies free today because of their sacrifice.

Let us renew our faith that as free men and women we still have the power to better our lives.

Our liberties, our values, all for which America stands is safe today because brave men and women have been ready to face the fire at freedom's front. And we thank God for them.

Our Founding Fathers well understood that concentrated power is the enemy of liberty and the rights of man. They knew that the American experiment in individual liberty, free enterprise and republican self-government could succeed only if power were widely distributed. And since in any society social and political power flow from economic power, they saw that wealth and property would have to be widely distributed among the people of the country. The truth of this insight is immediately apparent.

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...t here 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.

Socialists ignore the side of man that is the spirit. They can provide you shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when you're ill, all the things guaranteed to a prisoner or a slave. They don't understand that we also dream.

The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism has been by way of medicine....If you don't do this, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was like in American when men were free.

There are those, of course, who claim we must give up freedom in exchange for economic progress. Well, pardon me, but anyone trying to sell you that line is no better than a three-card-trick man. One thing becoming more clear every day is that freedom and progress go hand in hand. Throughout the developing world, people are rejecting socialism because they see that it doesn't empower people, it impoverishes them.

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should. Happy Fourth of July.

We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.

Freedom is the very essence of our nation. To be sure, ours is not a perfect nation. But even with our troubles, we remain the beacon of hope for oppressed peoples everywhere. Never give up the fight for freedom - a fight which, though it may never end, is the most ennobling known to man.

Great nations which fail to meet their responsibilities to God are consigned to the dust bin of history. We grew from that small, weak republic which had as its assets spirit, optimism, faith in God and an unshakeable belief that free men and women could govern themselves wisely. We became the leader of the free world, an example for all those who cherish freedom. If we are to continue to be that example-if we are to preserve our own freedom-we must understand those who would dominate us and deal with them with determination.

The WPA was one of the most productive elements of FDR's alphabet soup of agencies because it put people to work building roads, bridges, and other projects... It gave men and women a chance to make some money along with the satisfaction of knowing they earned it.

We must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in 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. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors. As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; We will not surrender for it, now or ever. We are Americans.

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

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

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

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.

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, you might say, by choice.

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.

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?

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.

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.

Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.

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

A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?

I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.

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.

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.

Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.

I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.

I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.

Please assure me that you are all Republicans.

Elena, my four year old, says to me in all seriousness; "Mommy, you need to buy another baby".

Until now has there ever been a time in which so many of the prophecies are coming together? There have been times in the past when people thought the end of the world was coming, and so forth, but never anything like this.

We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry every night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet.

... a faceless mass, waiting for handouts.

Today a newcomer to the state is automatically eligible for our many aid programs the moment he crosses the border.

We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in education and the decline in profit over recent years.

They've done away with those committees. That shows the success of what the Soviets were able to do in this country.

I know all the bad things that happened in that war. I was in uniform four years myself.