How I miss Ronald Reagan...

As some of you may know, Ronald Reagan is my absolute hero. Just such a beautiful, decent man. I am truly saddened that some people will never be able to see beyond politics to see the greatness of the man.

Anyway, thought some of his quotes deserved their own post.

On Making the World a Better Place:

"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

On Moral Courage:

"There are no easy answers ... but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right."

On Blind Hope:

"To sit back hoping that someday, someway, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last--but eat you he will."

On Language:

"We've heard a great deal about Republican "fat cats," and how the Republicans are the party of big contributions. I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a "fat cat" and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a "public-spirited philanthropist."

On War:

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

On Goals:

"My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose -- somehow we win out"

On Troubled Times:

"The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas-a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated."

On Politics:

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

On Sleeping and Leadership:

"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."

On Jellybeans:

"You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans."

On Congress:

"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress."

On Facing Reality:

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."

and lastly:

On the Future:

"The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology."