Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
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.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. congress.
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
"...I know it's hard when you're up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp. (February 10, 1982)
I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.
I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.
But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.
Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.
When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.
