Ronald Reagan Quotes

We should distinguish carefully skepticism about Big Government from contempt for all government.

I don’t want to kill the government. I just want to shrink it down to a small enough size that I can flush it down the toilet.

The best view of big government is in the rearview mirror as we leave it behind.

We do not believe that if you cut back what government does you diminish its authority. On the contrary, a government that did less, and therefore did better, would strengthen its authority.

You elected government officials to make decisions and it's about time they started making good ones.

I believe that smaller government is better government. But I also believe that in the areas where government does play a legitimate role, we should demand that it is done better.

The American people have made it abundantly clear that they want less government, not more. They want problems solved in a bipartisan manner, not the creation of new problems.

If you set as your goal to roll back the size of government, you have an obligation to answer the tough questions and show real courage, not just appeal to ideology. Treat the voters like adults.

The government is already into our lives a whole lot more than they should be. If I were president, I'd roll everything back. Everything!

The maxim, that governments ought to train the people in the way in which they should go, sounds well. But is there any reason for believing that a government is more likely to lead the people in the right way than the people to fall into the right way of themselves?

Fiscal conservatism is just an easy way to express something that is a bit more difficult, which is that the size and scope of government, and really the size and scope of politics in our lives, has grown uncomfortable, unwieldy, intrusive and inefficient.

The essence of good government is trust.

Before my tenure, people didn't seem to think that citizens had a right to limit the size of their government.

I don’t want to eliminate government. I just want to shrink it down to the size that you can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the tub.

It has been my philosophy all my life that good government is good politics.

The American people are starved for two things: The truth and leadership.

We are a nation that has a government - not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our government has no power except that granted to it by the people It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

If more government is the answer, then it was a really stupid question.

Here in America, government began as a tool to assure freedom. It gradually turned into a hideously expensive political toy designed to redistribute your wealth and control most aspects of your business and private life.

I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.

I'm a Democrat, and there are an important group of things only the government can do. But let us be clear that for most of the world, what they most need is less government.

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.

As government grows, freedom recedes.

We create the government that screws you, and then you're supposed to thank us for protecting you from it.