The Quotable Ronald Reagan

Joseph R. Holmes edited and compiled a favorite book of mine that I've referred to many times throughout the years.  Holmes' "The Quotable Ronald Reagan - The Common Sense and Straight Talk of Former California Governor Ronald Reagan" was published in 1975, but many of these direct quotes compiled from various speeches and interviews still resonate today.

I've listed just a few of my favorite quotes below:

BUREAUCRATS
If a bureaucrat had been writing the 10 Commandments, a simple rock slab would not have been near enough room. Those simple rules would have read: "Thou Shalt Not, unless you feel strongly to the contrary, or for the following stateside exceptions, see paragraphs 1-10 subsection #A."
June 6, 1974

CONSTITUTION
Our constitution is a document that protects the people from government.
Sept 17, 1973

CREDIT
I have a little bronze plaque on my desk and I hope I can live by the inscription it bears - "You can accomplish much if you don't care who gets the credit."
June 28, 1972

ETERNAL LIFE
Too many people, especially in government, feel that the nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.
May 10, 1972

HABIT
We sure can't be like the fellow's wife who used to cut off both ends of the ham before she cooked it.  When he asked her why she did that, she said because that's the way her mother always did it.

One day, he got the chance to ask his mother-in-law why she cut off both ends of the ham before she cooked it. And she said because that's the way HER mother did it.

Came the holidays and Grandma was visiting and he told her about it and asked if that was true- why did she cut off both ends of the ham before she cooked it? She said, "that's simple. I never had a pan big enough to get the whole ham in it."
May 31, 1974

SCHOOL
Your teachers will hate me for this but my favorite subject in college was football. Today, I am fascinated with history.
March 8, 1973

David Baucom