Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
6 Quotes: Ronald Reagan on freedom
6 Quotes: Ronald Reagan on freedom
Mar 11, 2026 11:21 AM

Today is the 106th birthday of Ronald Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States. Reagan wasa great lover of America and one of the most eloquent advocates of liberty in modern history

In honor of his birthday, here are six quotes on freedom by President Reagan:

“Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuing revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us to recognize ings and seek solutions. It is the right to put forth an idea, scoffed at by the experts, and watch it catch fire among the people. It is the right to dream — to follow your dream or stick to your conscience, even if you’re the only one in a sea of doubters. Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put on this world has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.” (Source)

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” (Source)

“If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.” (Source)

“With regard to the freedom of the individual for choice with regard to abortion, there’s one individual who’s not being considered at all. That’s the one who is being aborted. And I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.” (Source)

“If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay the price.” (Source)

“The dreams of people may differ, but everybody wants their dreams e true. And America, above all places, gives us the freedom to do that.” (Source)

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The EU: Something Completely Different
“If the nation-state is passé,” asks Todd Huizinga in this week’s Acton Commentary, “why do “Europeans” cling to it?” Current events have made it more crucial than ever to understand what makes the European Union tick. What are the ideological roots of the eurozone crisis? Why do so many EU leaders seem willing to risk exposing their people to more jihadist terror and to invite a potentially unmanageable de-Westernization of Europe by opening the floodgates to immigrants from a burning...
Are You Unknowingly Breaking the Law?
The weekend forecast calls for sunny skies, so you decide to have a picnic in a national park with your family. After finishing your meal you throw away your trash. Your son, however, isn’t so careful — he leaves behind a few leftover items. As you leave your picnic area, a park ranger asks if you or your family has left trash in the area. You tell him that you’ve cleaned up after yourself. You’ve mitted an arguable federal felony:...
Explainer: What You Should Know About School Choice
In honor of the sixth annual National School Choice Week, here are some facts you should know about school choice in America. What does “school choice” mean? The term “school choice” refers to programs that give parents the power and opportunity to choose the schools their children attend, whether public, private, parochial, or homeschool. Why is school choice necessary? While there are some excellent public schools in America, many students are trapped in schools with inadequate facilities, substandard curriculum, and...
The predicament facing France (and the rest of Europe)
“Dramatic events often focus our minds on the dilemmas we would prefer to ignore,” begins Samuel Gregg in a recent article for the Library of Law and Liberty. He discuses France and Situation de la France, a new book by professor of political philosophy at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Pierre Manent. In a nation’s life, there are moments that decisively change its trajectory. One such event was the fall of France in June 1940—a humiliation from...
7 Figures: Faith and the 2016 Campaign
A new Pew Research Center survey examines how voters feel about the religiosity of presidential candidates. Here are seven figures you should know from the report: 1. More than half of Americans (51 percent) say they would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who does not believe in God. (This is down from 63 percent in 2007.) 2. About half of U.S. adults say it’s “very important” (27 percent) or “somewhat important” (24 percent) for a president...
Heaven’s Not Just for Progressives
Any number of meanings are attached to “the Kingdom of God” as an essential element of Jesus’ teaching for Christian praxis. Used as just another slogan for political activism, in which the shade of meaning is usually reconstructing Heaven on Earth along collectivist lines, has me tossing the theological yellow flag. Another way to put this futile and often dangerous exercise is immanentizing the eschaton. This business has raised many skeptics. From St. Thomas More we received the word “utopia,”...
Acton Institute named a top think tank in the world in new report
Acton Institute and Instituto Acton have taken top spots in a new ranking. Earlier today, the University of Pennsylvania’sThink Tank & Civil Societies Program released the 2015 Global Go-To Think Tanks Report which maintains data on almost 7,000 organizations worldwide and creates a detailed report ranking them in various categories. Acton was named in five categories and Instituto Acton was named in one. See the highlights: Acton Institute is 9th (out of 90) in the Top Social Policy Think Tanks...
Revisiting the Tensions of ‘Faithful Presence’
A generation of Christians hasbeen inspired and challenged by James Davison Hunter’s popular work, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World 1st Edition. Published five years ago, the book promotes a particular approach to cultural engagement(“faithful presence”) thatstirred a wide and rich conversation across Christendom. Its influence continues toendure, whether instirring individualimaginations or shapingthe arc of institutions. To reflect on that influence, The Gospel Coalition recently rounded up a series of...
Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess vs. Big Government
Defenses of limited government are rare in pop culture. You won’t find many characters in movies or TV that say that what is needed is for the state to be less intrusive and less centralized. So it’s particularly surprising to find one of the most passionate appeals for individual freedom over government encroachment on a television station that wascreated by an act of the United States Congress and partially funded by the federal government. That’s what awaited fans in last...
Donald Trump and Catholic Social Teaching
I was recently asked by Time Magazine for my general opinion on Donald Trump, his relation to Catholic ideas and White Evangelicals and any other thoughts I might have. I was briefly quoted in Time. But I thought I would include here the parts of my remarks that were not used in the article as well. Trump’s moral positions on life and sexual morality stray widely from Catholic moral and social teaching in many respects. I would also think that...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved