Ronald Reagan Quotes

The more publicized the presidency the less powerful the office.

We have entered the era of the “imperial” former presidency with lavish libraries, special staffs and benefits, around-the-clock Secret Service protection for life and other badges of privilege.

No man who ever held the office of President would ever congratulate a friend on obtaining it.

Well, Warren Harding, I have got you the presidency. What are you going to do with it?

The office of President is a great one; to every true American it seems the greatest on earth. And to me, as I was engaged in weaving a background of music for the pageantry of it, there came a deeper realization of the effect of that office on the man.

Of all presidential perks, the pardon power has a special significance. It is just the kind of authority that would attract the special attention of someone obsessed with himself and his own ability to influence events.

One of the roles of the Presidency is to lead a political party. Having a President in office is usually a huge advantage to a party because it gives the party a mouthpiece and an advocate at the highest level.

No doubt it was better to have become president than not.

You may depend on being the Contempt, the Scorn and the Derision of all Europe, while you call your national Conductor, General or President. You may depend on another Thing. The State Government will ever be uppermost in America in the Minds of our own People, till you give a superior Title to your first national Magistrate.

There is a substantial difference between the President being able to wave to the crowd from a hospital window and being able to govern.

Never underestimate the power of an American President in his early days.

My God. What is there about this place [the White House] that a man should ever want to get into it?

Experience concurs with reason in concluding that the first magistrate [President] will always be re-elected if the constitution permits it. He is then an officer for life.

The roots of power in the White House are often bourbon and branch water taken with the President at the end of the day.

The social power of the Presidency is one of the most powerful tools a President can use.

The president today is the seat of all power.

The involvement of the government in military adventures always results in the expansion, at least temporarily, of Presidential power.

Any President can control the agenda.

My childhood dream was to be prime minister.

You cannot denude the presidency of the substance and power of its office. It can't be done.

Any man who has ever been honored by being made President of the United States is thereby forever after rendered the American people.

There is one thing about being President—nobody can tell you when to sit down.

The actions of our president systematically provide both the legal and political justifications for similar initiatives undertaken by later presidents.

Power does seep away from the President in his second term.

The firing of FBI Director James Comey was the biggest mistake in modern political history.