Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Ronald ReaganRead
Our status as a free society and world power is not based on brute strength. When we've taken up arms, it has been for the defense of freedom for ourselves and for other peaceful nations who needed our help. But now, faced with the development of weapons with immense destructive power, we've no choice but to maintain ready defense forces that are second to none. Yes, the cost is high, but the price of neglect would be infinitely higher.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Freedom and defense are paramount for a successful society, and neglecting them can have dire consequences.
In this quote, Ronald Reagan emphasizes that the strength of a free society lies not merely in its military might but in its commitment to defend freedom and assist others. He acknowledges the high cost of maintaining a powerful defense but argues that this cost is justified when compared to the potentially catastrophic consequences of neglecting our responsibility to protect ourselves and support peace globally.
Themes
FreedomDefenseSocietyPowerResponsibility
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on national security, this quote can illustrate the need for a strong defense.
More from Ronald Reagan
All quotes →I'm spending more time at this library in four days than I did at the Eureka College Library in four years.
Ronald ReaganRead
I'm not a politician by profession. I am a citizen who decided I had to be personally involved in order to stand up for my own values and beliefs. My candidacy is based on my record, and for that matter, my entire life.
Ronald ReaganRead
My fellow citizens, our nation is poised for greatness. We must do what we know is right, and do it with all our might. Let history say of us: "These were golden years - when the American Revolution was reborn, when freedom gained new life, and America reached for her best."
Ronald ReaganRead
We must have faith in the people of this country and faith in our principles.
Ronald ReaganRead
We seek a constitutional amendment to permit voluntary school prayer. God should never have been expelled from America's classrooms in the first place.
Ronald ReaganRead
Similar quotes
If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people.
Karl MarxRead
There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
Thomas JeffersonRead
The good Bishop of Assisi expressed a sort of horror at the hard life which the Little Brothers lived at the Portiuncula, without comforts, without possessions, eating anything they could get and sleeping anyhow on the ground. St. Francis answered him with that curious and almost stunning shrewdness which the unworldly can sometimes wield like a club of stone. He said, 'If we had any possessions, we should need weapons and laws to defend them.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.
Friedrich SchillerRead
AI don't make a big thing out of my race. If you try to preach, people give you a little sympathy and then they want to get out of the way. So you don't preach; you tell the story.
Jim BrownRead
The question is not so much whether there is life on Mars as whether it will continue to be possible to live on Earth
Immanuel KantRead