“Honey, I forgot to duck.”
“Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.”
“Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.”
“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.”
“Approximately 80 percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards for man-made sources.”
“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.”
“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 who are homeless, you might say, by choice.”
“So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.”
“If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.”
“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.”
“If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.”
“Status quo, you know, that is Latin for ''the mess we're in.''”
“Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.”
“Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.”
“Let us ask ourselves; ''What kind of people do we think we are?''”
“We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.”
“Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.”
“It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?”
“Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.”
“You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans.”
“The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.”
“Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”
“Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.”
“While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.”
“No matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.”
“Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.”
“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
“I've often said there's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.”
“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere.”