Reagan, Ronald

"My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I've just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."

"Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

"I favour the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary."

"I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

"How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."

"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."

"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, subsidise it."

"You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by the way he eats jelly beans."

"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?"

"The Government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a healthy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." - quoted in New York Times Magazine