The conservative ideology is illustrated best via quotes from the Godfather himself, Ronald Reagan.  The following Ronald Reagan quotes should help you understand and appreciate what Reagan meant for the conservative movement and why his ideas are so universal.  I organized them by theme for facilitative purposes.

Business/Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.

Communism

How do you tell a communist?  Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin.  And how do you tell an anti-Communist?  It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.

Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Economy

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.

Family

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

Freedom

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

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.

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.

Global Warming

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.

Government

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

Man is not free unless government is limited.

Human Nature

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.

Miscellaneous

Facts are stubborn things.

It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?

Nuclear Energy

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.

Religion

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

War

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.