Quotes

Reagan on Democracy

“The free institutions which the inhabitants of the United States possess and the political rights of which they make so much use remind every citizen that it is the duty as well as the interest of people to make themselves useful to their fellow creatures.”

April 18, 1988

“You may know of one foreign visitor, a Frenchman -- maybe you've heard of him -- called Alexis de Tocqueville. He toured the United States in the early 19th century. He wanted to find out how we did and what we were doing. And then he returned home and wrote about what he had seen here. And one thing he said was this: 'I have often seen Americans make great and real sacrifices to the public welfare. They hardly ever failed to lend faithful support to one another.' And in thinking why this was, he concluded that, in his words, 'The free institutions which the inhabitants of the United States possess and the political rights of which they make so much use remind every citizen that it is the duty as well as the interest of people to make themselves useful to their fellow creatures.'”

— Remarks to Representative of Volunteer Youth Groups