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Unfortunately, in the last two decades we've experience an onslaught of such twisted logic that if Alice were visiting America, she might think she'd never left Wonderland. We're told that it somehow violates the rights of others to permit students in school who wish to pray to do so… We can and must respect the rights of those who are non-believers, but we must not cut ourselves off from this indispensable source of strength and guidance.

It is the responsibility of the President of the United State.. To ensure that the safety of our people cannot be successfully threatened by a hostile foreign power.

I…have been described as an undying optimist, always seeing a glass half full when some see it as half empty. And, yes, it's true--I always see the sunny side of life. And that's not just because I've been blessed by achieving so many of my dreams. My optimism comes not just from my strong faith in God, but from my strong and enduring faith in man.

Millions of average parents pay their full share of taxes to support public school while choosing to send their children to parochial or other independent schools. Doesn't fairness dictate that they should have some help in carrying a double burden?

The Constitution was never meant to prevent people from praying; its declared purpose was to protect their freedom to pray.

I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God's help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can't expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.

Terrorism is the preferred weapon of weak and evil men.

A truly successful army is one that, because of its strength and ability and dedication, will not be called upon to fight, for no one will dare to provoke it.

Because we are a great nation, our challenged seem complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours.

What our critics really believe is that those in Washington know better how to spend your money than you, the people, do. But we're not going to let them do it, period.

Perhaps at this late date, we can all agree that we've learned one lesson: that young Americans must never be sent to fight and die unless we are prepared to let them win.

The war on poverty created a great new upper-middle class of bureaucrats that found they had a fine career as long as the could keep enough needy people there to justify their existence.

We and our trading partners are in the same boat. If one partner shoots a hole in the boat, it makes no sense for the other partner to shoot another hole in the boat. That's not getting tough; it's getting wet. And, eventually, it means sinking the boat that's headed for greater growth and prosperity. Protectionism only opens the door to retaliation.

Welfare needs a purpose: to provide for the needy, of course, but more than that, to salvage these, our fellow citizens, to make them self-sustaining and, as quickly as possible, independent of welfare. There has been something terribly wrong with a program that grows ever larger even when prosperity for everyone else is increasing. We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.

We have to realize that this country in its private sector has been fighting the most successful war on poverty the world has seen for the last 200 years.

History teaches that wars begin when governments believe that the price of aggression is cheap.

No one has yet found a way to repeal the Law of Supply and Demand.

We don't have a trillion dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion dollar debt because we spend too much.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it… In my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get there. That's how I saw it, and see it still.

We should also answer the central question of public service: Why are we here? What do we believe in? Well, for one thing, we're here to see that the government continues to serve the people and not the other way around. Yes, government should do all that is necessary, but only that which is necessary.

Profit is the legitimate earnings that someone gets on his investment. The average citizen should understand it if he has a savings account. The bank pays him for the privilege of using his money.

When we've taken up arms, it has been for the defense of freedom for ourselves and for other peaceful nations who needed our help. But now, faced with the development of weapons of immense destructive power, we have no choice but to maintain ready defense forces that are second to none. Yes, the cost is high, but the price of neglect would be higher.

I should warn you that things in this city[Washington, DC] aren't often the way seem. Where but in Washington would they call the department that's in charge of everything outdoors… the Department of the Interior?

[According to the Democrats], 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.

All change in America begins at the dinner table.

In New York recently at a dinner party a prominent editor sought the advice of several of us on "What do you tell a teenager who uses pot?" I said, "Why don't you tell him if you catch him with one of those things in his mouth you'll kick his bottom side up between his shoulders?"

This fellow they've nominated claims he's the new Thomas Jefferson. Well, let me tell you something: I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine and Governor… you're no Thomas Jefferson.
1992 Republican National Convention

Today, if you don't like the laws in your state, you can move. When the federal government takes control there is no place to move to.

The fact that anyone at any time can move across a state line is a protection against tyranny in state government.

I'm not worried about the deficit; it's big enough to take care of itself.

One legislator accused me of having a 19th century attitude on law and order. That is a totally false charge. I have an 18th century attitude. That is when the Founding Fathers made it clear that the safety of law-abiding citizens should be one of the government's primary concerns.

Why is it inflationary to let the people keep more of their money and spend it the way they'd like, and it isn't inflationary to the (the President) take that money and spend it the way he wants?

When I say ours is the best and most advanced system of political freedom yet devised by man, I certainly do not mean we are perfect. I hope none of us will ever be so smug as to think there are no more injustices to correct, no more wrongs to right.

We dare not allow America to become weak and defenseless because if we do, the day could come when we would not be divided into hawks or doves -- just pigeons.

When 50,000 American make the ultimate sacrifice to defend the people of a small, defenseless country in Southeast Asia from Communist tyranny, that, my friends, is a collective act of moral courage, not an example of moral poverty.

In the long post-World War II years of affluence, perhaps we have forgotten that no one gave America the world's highest standard of living. We earned it, by being the most productive and efficient industrial nation in the world.

I've always been opposed to monopoly, always believed that monopoly is evil. I don't care whether it's corporate monopoly, or government monopoly, or labor monopoly, it's monopoly that's evil, not who's doing it.

Wouldn't it be better for the human spirit and for the soul of this nation to encourage people to accept more responsibility to care for one a another, rather than leaving those tasks to paid bureaucrats?

Government does not tax to get the money it needs; government always finds a need for the money it gets. Our loyalty lies with little taxpayers, not big spenders.

I believe the biggest threat is big government, but it is supported by and feeds on big labor, and I fear that there are those in business who see a chance at monopoly, whether they use the word or not, if they go along with big government. I'm afraid the fight is never-ending, but we must continue.

Our problem isn't a shortage of fuel, it's a surplus of government.

I'm sure everyone feels sorry for the individual who has fallen by the wayside or who can't keep up in our competitive society, but my own compassion goes beyond that to those millions of unsung men and women who get up every morning, send the kids to school, go to work, try to keep up the payments on their house, pay exorbitant taxes to make possible compassion for the less fortunate, and as a result have to sacrifice many of their own desires and dreams and hopes. Government owes them something better than always finding a new way to make them share the fruit of their toils with others.

It would be a mistake to tell the enemy that we would never use nuclear weapons. I don't believe in a war where the other side has a kind of feeling they have a sanctuary, and we have none.

Call it mysticism if you will, I have always believes that there was some divine plan that places this nation between the oceans to be sought out and found by those with a special kind of courage and an overabundant love of freedom.

Let us remember that whether we be Christian or Jew or Moslem, we are all children of Abraham, we are all children of the same God.

The basic freedoms: the freedom to worship, the freedom to choose your occupation, the freedom to try and fail and, if need be, to try again, the freedom to make mistakes and to do things other might consider stupid.

For forty years or more this country has been following the lute song of the liberals. Suddenly, when they came undone with their planned economy, their deficit spending, and their deliberately planned inflation, which they said would maintain prosperity, how the hell do conservatives get blamed?

We have found in our country that when people have the right to make decisions as close to home as possible, they usually make the right decisions.

There is no single reason why the crime rate keeps rising in America. But up near the top of the list must be the sad fact that so much of our criminal justice systems has become a technical game between lawyers, without regard for guilt or innocence.

To blame the military for war makes about as much sense as suggesting that we get rid of cancer by getting rid of doctors.

A child in America should grow up with the assurance that his parents have accepted the responsibility for defining right and wrong.