Many of Reagan's listeners thought he was dreaming. But Reagan had faith in freedom. He knew that communism, although militarily powerful, was ideologically dead. He knew what our Founders knew: that, in a truly legitimate government, power does not come out of the barrel of a gun, but only from the consent of the people.
Top-down government programs threaten to limit the freedom and opportunity that made this country great.
I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
The only freedom supposed to be left to the masses is that of grazing on the ration of simulacra the system distributes to each individual.
We ask the great masses of India to be patient a short time longer, while the cause of freedom is being fought out, not because we want to delay, but because the hard facts of war make a complete change impossible at the moment.
I have great respect for the men and women that have fought for this country. I have family, I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for the people, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone.
In all the great periods of the drama perfect freedom of choice and subject, perfect freedom of individual treatment, and an audience eager to give itself to sympathetic listening, even if instruction be involved, have brought the great results.
I don't think I am that hands-on. I'm much more of a believer in finding a great team of people and trusting them to follow their instincts. They work better when they feel they have freedom and they are trusted.
I think to be - for me to be an American is - you know, it's one of the greatest things in the world for - you know, for me just because I've been able to grow up with everything. The freedom. You know, in my eyes this is the greatest country in the world.
It is freedom that makes this the greatest country in the world. And it is freedom that so frequently keeps me on the optimistic side of life.
I often think that the Greatest Generation gave birth to the Crappiest Generation, the stinky hippies with their slacktivism and demand for government welfare in the name of freedom.
Americans have a profound longing for heroes - now perhaps more than ever. We need our explorers, our sports icons, our Medal of Freedom winners, our Nobel laureates. We need our Greatest Generation warriors, our 'Sully' Sullenbergers, our Neil Armstrongs. On some level, we still subscribe to the myth of the man in the white hat.
I think one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone is just access to the possibility of freedom that you don't have to be totally depressed and enslaved by your own environment.
One of the greatest gifts God ever gave to humanity was that of liberty. We love freedom and bloom under it. We cannot and should not try to force people to live by a certain religious code. To do so negates our free will.
The basis for all human relationships and where we derive our greatest strength and power, trust is single-handedly the most powerful source of positive energy and, once in place, unlocks a freedom and peace to explore.
The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.
I have never been able to renounce the light, the pleasure of being, and the freedom in which I grew up.
We are proud of the history of our country; we learned it in school and have grown up hearing of freedom, justice and human rights.
Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.
We're not like robots. God promises to guide us through the Holy Spirit, but He gives us the freedom to make our own decisions.
