"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - at the Berlin Wall, 1987 "The best view of government is seen on a rear view mirror as one is driving away from it." "Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his." - in the 1980 campaign "I love three things in life: drama, politics and sports and I'm not sure they always come in that order." - in 1964 "I remember some of my own views when I was quite young. For heaven's sake, I was even a Democrat!" - 1980 "Honey, I forgot to duck." - to his wife after the assassination attempt "I hope all of you are Republicans." - to his doctors prior to going in the surgery room after being shot "Does Nancy know about us?" - semi-consciously, to the nurse who hauled him on the gurney "I know what it's like to pull the Republican lever for the first time, because I used to be a Democrat myself, and I can tell you it only hurts for a minute and then it feels just great." - 1980 "I've been criticized for going over the heads of the Congress. So, what's the fuss? A lot of things go over their heads." - 1985 "America is too great to dream small dreams." "I now begin the journey that will lead me to the sunset of my life. I know that for America, there will always be a bright dawn ahead." -from the Alzheimer's letter. "Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book." "You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans." "Government is not the solution to our problems. Government IS the problem!" "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." - in a 1984 debate, referring to Walter Mondale "All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk." "Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal." "I have a feeling that we are doing better in the war than the people have been told." - on Vietnam "You may think this a little mystical, and I've said it many times before, but I believe there was a Divine Plan to place this great continent here between the two oceans to be found by peoples from every corner of the earth. I believe we were preordained to carry the torch of freedom for the world." [Carmel, CA, June 1990] "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency - even if I'm in a Cabinet meeting." "My fellow Americans. I'm pleased to announce that I've signed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes." - During a microphone check on August 11 1984, unaware that he was being broadcast. "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles." "They say hard work never hurt anybody, but I figure why take the chance." "Well, I learned a lot....I went down to Latin America to find out from them and (learn) their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries." "We are trying to get unemployment to go up, and I think we're going to succeed." "When I go in for a physical, they no longer ask how old I am. They just carbon- date me." "Nobody ever 'went Hollywood.' They were already that way when they got here. Hollywood just brought it out in them." (From a 1950s interview) "Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards." "Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born." "Tonight is a very special night, although at my age, every night is a special night." "I like them. They remind me of Congress." - His opinion of the Klingon warriors he saw during a visit to the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation. "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make your dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." - During his re-election campaign in 1984 "I think that's just been arranged." - confirming his 1984 re-election victory to the crowd chanting, 'Four more years' "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." "I don't know how anybody could be in politics if they *hadn't* been an actor! "I can't do a damn thing until I'm elected!" "If I could paraphrase a well-known statement by Will Rogers that he never met a man he didn't like, I'm afraid we have some people around here who never met a tax they didn't like." "There you go again." [at the 1980 presidential debate, when Jimmy Carter accused him of opposing Medicare] "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. But 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 the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still."-From his Presidential Farewell Address. "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." (on Bill Clinton) Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under. The taxpayer: that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. 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. The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West will not contain Communism, it will transcend Communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written. (Notre Dame University. 17 May 1981) Film is forever. I've been trapped in some film forever myself. "Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to understand that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." "It isn't that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so much that isn't so."