24 sourced quotes by Ronald Reagan on governance & administration, peace, non-violence & conflict, leadership, democracy & freedom, economy, development & poverty, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.
— Ronald ReaganTelevision address (4 March 1987) on Iran-Contra affair
Use itGS4 case study: admitting error when evidence contradicts one's intentions; accountability.
Today we recognize all these fine efforts of voluntarism by the Commission members as well as those of the Ad Council. Helping one another for the good of this country and its citizens and without concern for reward or payment, this is the heart of America -- strong, good, and true.
— Ronald ReaganFirst term of office (1981–1985) / Remarks at a White House Ceremony Marking Progress Made in the Campaign Against Drunk Driving with Michae
Use itGS4/Essay on volunteerism: helping others without reward as a nation's heart.
I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave.
— Ronald ReaganAs quoted in Who was Ronald Reagan? (2004), by Joyce Milton, p. 85
Use itEssay on risk and exploration; setbacks in space missions are part of progress.
Never a passive leader, never an armchair general, he was always in front of his troops and his nation. He did more than live up to the standards of the time; he set them.
— Ronald ReaganFirst term of office (1981–1985) / Remarks at a Mount Vernon, Virginia, Ceremony Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of George
Use itGS4: leading from the front; leaders set standards rather than merely meet them.
Washington was so popular he could have been king had he wanted that. But he had no hunger for personal power. His love was liberty, and his trust was in the people. He believed they were dependable and right-minded and he believed that a leader's responsibility is to bring out their best qualities.
— Ronald ReaganFirst term of office (1981–1985) / Remarks at a Mount Vernon, Virginia, Ceremony Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of George
Use itGS4: leader without hunger for power trusts people and brings out their best.
They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer — not an easy answer — but simple.
— Ronald ReaganIn some published transcripts or quotations of this speech a variant of this statement appears immediately before the quote by Churchill bel
Use itGS2/Essay: complex problems may have simple answers, but not easy ones.
Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.
— Ronald ReaganFirst term of office (1981–1985) / First Inaugural address (1981)
Use itGS2: government as enabler and facilitator, not controller; citizen-centric governance.
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.
— Ronald ReaganSpeech at the Republican National Convention, Platform Committee Meeting, Miami, Florida" (31 July 1968)
Use itGS4/GS2: balance social causes of crime with individual accountability for actions.
Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions.
— Ronald ReaganMoscow State University (31 May 1988)
Use itEssay on freedom and innovation: liberty as the right to question established ways.
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.
— Ronald ReaganSecond term of office (1985–1989) / Farewell Address (1989)
Use itGS2: limited government and civil liberties; caution against state overreach.
Prejudice is not a failing peculiar to one race, it can and does exist in people of every race and ethnic background. It takes individual effort to root it out of one's heart. In my case my father and mother saw that it never got a start. I shall be forever grateful to them.
— Ronald ReaganAs quoted in "Ronald Reagan and Race" (August 2019), by Jay Nordlinger, National Review
Use itGS1/GS4: prejudice is universal; role of family socialisation in rooting out bias.
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.
— Ronald ReaganAs quoted in The Guardian [London] (14 June 1989)
Use itEssay on information revolution: technology undermining authoritarian control.
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means.
— Ronald Reagan"Address at Commencement Exercises at Eureka College in Illinois," May 9, 1982. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American P
Use itEssay intro on peace: define it as peaceful conflict resolution, not mere absence of conflict.
Neither we nor the Soviet Union can wish away the differences between our two societies and our philosophies, but we should always remember that we do have common interests.
— Ronald ReaganAddress to the nation from the White House (16 January 1984)
Use itGS2 IR: India-China or rival ties; differences persist but common interests enable engagement.
On the streets of Moscow, looking into thousands of faces, I was reminded once again that it’s not people who make war, but governments — and people deserve governments that fight for peace in the nuclear age.
— Ronald ReaganPost-presidency (1989–2004) / An American Life (1990)
Use itEssay on war: people seek peace; governments must pursue it in nuclear age.
I believe with all my heart that our first priority must be world peace, and that use of force is always and only a last resort, when everything else has failed, and then only with regard to our national security.
— Ronald ReaganPresidential debate with Jimmy Carter (28 October 1980)
Use itGS2 IR answer: argue force only as last resort after diplomacy fails.