--- title: "14 Reagan Quotes By Rick Perlstein" description: "14 Reagan quotes by Rick Perlstein. Plus more from Rick Perlstein and more Reagan sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a30/rick-perlstein-3637_abortion_ronald-reagan-never-did-much-to-make-abo_1957991.jpg" --- > [Ronald Reagan never did much to make abortion illegal. He did, however, deliver videotaped greetings, fulsome in praise for his hosts, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/ronald-reagan-never-did-much-to-make-abortion-illegal-he-did-however/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a30/rick-perlstein-3637_abortion_ronald-reagan-never-did-much-to-make-abo_1957991.jpg) > [Reagan's emotional intelligence, his ability to suss out people's longings and to channel them for political purposes, was better than just about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/reagan-s-emotional-intelligence-his-ability-to-suss-out-people-s/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/327/rick-perlstein-3637_ability_reagan-s-emotional-intelligence-his-abil_1542744.png) > [Everyone on the Left has a favorite story that allows them to kind of excuse Reagan, explain away Reagan, say he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/everyone-on-the-left-has-a-favorite-story-that-allows-them-to-kind-of/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0de/rick-perlstein-3637_ability_everyone-on-the-left-has-a-favorite-stor_1468387.png) > [Leaders are for calling people to their better angels, for helping guide them to a kind of sterner, more mature sense of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/leaders-are-for-calling-people-to-their-better-angels-for-helping/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e04/rick-perlstein-3637_absolution_leaders-are-for-calling-people-to-their_838437.jpg) > [My big subject as a historian is how Americans divide themselves. What are the divisions that structure our political lives. Richard Nixon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/my-big-subject-as-a-historian-is-how-americans-divide-themselves-what/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/rick-perlstein-3637_american_my-big-subject-as-a-historian-is-how-ame_1558614.jpg) > [Ronald Reagan knew audiences. It was a key element of his political genius. One of the things at which brilliant politicians are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/ronald-reagan-knew-audiences-it-was-a-key-element-of-his-political/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64b/rick-perlstein-3637_audiences_ronald-reagan-knew-audiences-it-was-a-ke_527384.png) > [In Ronald Reagans case, he always bore with him this extraordinary ability to radiate confidence, optimism, clarity, a blitheness of spirit, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/in-ronald-reagans-case-he-always-bore-with-him-this-extraordinary/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/rick-perlstein-3637_ability_in-ronald-reagans-case-he-always-bore-wi_1611566.png) > [Whatever you think about his intelligence, what's unquestionable is that Reagan had extraordinary emotional intelligence. He could sense the temperature of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/whatever-you-think-about-his-intelligence-what-s-unquestionable-is/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/rick-perlstein-3637_about_whatever-you-think-about-his-intelligenc_559528.png) > [I feel bound to respect Ronald Reagan, as every American should - not least because he chose a career of public service…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-feel-bound-to-respect-ronald-reagan-as-every-american-should-not/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d59/rick-perlstein-3637_american_i-feel-bound-to-respect-ronald-reagan-as_686041.jpg) > [My liberal friends love to dismiss Reagan. You know, they'll say something like, 'Oh, didn't he, like, only read one-page memos when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reagan-you-know-they-ll-say/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/595/rick-perlstein-3637_dismiss_my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reaga_1495816.jpg) > [Watergate got us to think of leaders as mere mortals. America began to think of itself in a very different way -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as-mere-mortals-america-began-to/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/rick-perlstein-3637_america_watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as_45140.png) > [In Ronald Reagan's chaotic childhood, the imagination was armor. There is nothing unusual about that; transcending the doubts, hesitations, and fears swirling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/in-ronald-reagan-s-chaotic-childhood-the-imagination-was-armor-there/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/rick-perlstein-3637_about_in-ronald-reagan-s-chaotic-childhood-the_1987829.png) > [The reason inflation was brought down to manageable levels, by the time of Ronald Reagan's re-election, was directly attributable to Jimmy Carter's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/the-reason-inflation-was-brought-down-to-manageable-levels-by-the/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/rick-perlstein-3637_act_the-reason-inflation-was-brought-down-to_2738240.jpg) > [Again and again as president, Reagan let it slip that he concurred with fundamentalists' belief that the world would end in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/again-and-again-as-president-reagan-let-it-slip-that-he-concurred/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe9/rick-perlstein-3637_abandoned_again-and-again-as-president-reagan-let_1046231.png) ## Other authors on Reagan ## More by Rick Perlstein > [I love trade magazines - any trade's magazine: by entering into what is taken for granted in a world not your own, you better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-love-trade-magazines-any-trade-s-magazine-by-entering-into-what-is/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [When the 2008 victory of Barack Obama and the defeat of grumpy old John McCain began looking, um, inevitable, I started fielding inquiries about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/when-the-2008-victory-of-barack-obama-and-the-defeat-of-grumpy-old/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Watergate got us to think of leaders as mere mortals. America began to think of itself in a very different way - I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as-mere-mortals-america-began-to/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Part of the fantasy certain pro-reform Republicans like to broadcast about Hispanics, family-oriented, churchgoing traditionalists, is that they are somehow natural conservatives, just waiting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/part-of-the-fantasy-certain-pro-reform-republicans-like-to-broadcast/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [I'm just a Bolshevik with a laptop.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-m-just-a-bolshevik-with-a-laptop/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [The history of American higher education over the twentieth century is an extraordinary one, the story of the creation of a powerhouse set of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/the-history-of-american-higher-education-over-the-twentieth-century/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [The only times during my religious instruction I remember hearing God's name invoked with any sincere conviction at all was in the oft-repeated and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/the-only-times-during-my-religious-instruction-i-remember-hearing-god/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [As a general rule of thumb, Democrats do better in national elections when the year's defining issue is economic fairness, and Republicans do better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/as-a-general-rule-of-thumb-democrats-do-better-in-national-elections/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Computers have cut-and-paste functions. So does right-wing historical memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/computers-have-cut-and-paste-functions-so-does-right-wing-historical/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Empirical debunking cannot reach the deepest fear of the reactionary mind, which is that the state - that devouring leviathan - will soon swallow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/empirical-debunking-cannot-reach-the-deepest-fear-of-the-reactionary/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [I think that all politicians who aspire to the presidency are a little nuts, but for different reasons. What kind of person aspires to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-think-that-all-politicians-who-aspire-to-the-presidency-are-a/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Chicago's privatization mania began during Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration, which ran from 1989 to 2011. Under his successor, Rahm Emanuel, the trend has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/chicago-s-privatization-mania-began-during-mayor-richard-m-daley-s/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [One thing Republicans understand: In American elections, you have to choose from among only two people - not between the perfect and the good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/one-thing-republicans-understand-in-american-elections-you-have-to/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Social conservatism, business conservatism: the one side constitutes the other, like some infernal Mobius strip.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/social-conservatism-business-conservatism-the-one-side-constitutes/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [Sometimes I like to think that the responsibility of every new generation of Democrats is to devise a program that mints new Democrats for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/sometimes-i-like-to-think-that-the-responsibility-of-every-new/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reagan/rick-perlstein/#itemlist", "name": "14 Reagan Quotes By Rick Perlstein", "numberOfItems": 14, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Ronald Reagan never did much to make abortion illegal. 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And after the 1970s, that was catnip.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/in-ronald-reagans-case-he-always-bore-with-him-this-extraordinary/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/rick-perlstein-3637_ability_in-ronald-reagans-case-he-always-bore-wi_1611566.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/rick-perlstein-3637_ability_in-ronald-reagans-case-he-always-bore-wi_1611566.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/rick-perlstein-3637_ability_in-ronald-reagans-case-he-always-bore-wi_1611566.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In Ronald Reagans case, he always bore with him this extraordinary ability to radiate confidence, optimism…” — Rick Perlstein", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Whatever you think about his intelligence, what's unquestionable is that Reagan had extraordinary emotional intelligence. He could sense the temperature of a room, and tell them a story and make them feel good. And that's more fun, right? It's more fun to feel good than feel bad. That's part of our human state.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/whatever-you-think-about-his-intelligence-what-s-unquestionable-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/rick-perlstein-3637_about_whatever-you-think-about-his-intelligenc_559528.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/rick-perlstein-3637_about_whatever-you-think-about-his-intelligenc_559528.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/rick-perlstein-3637_about_whatever-you-think-about-his-intelligenc_559528.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whatever you think about his intelligence, what's unquestionable is that Reagan had extraordinary emotional…” — Rick Perlstein", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I feel bound to respect Ronald Reagan, as every American should - not least because he chose a career of public service when he could have made a lot more money doing something else, and not least because he took genuine risks for peace.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/i-feel-bound-to-respect-ronald-reagan-as-every-american-should-not/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d59/rick-perlstein-3637_american_i-feel-bound-to-respect-ronald-reagan-as_686041.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d59/rick-perlstein-3637_american_i-feel-bound-to-respect-ronald-reagan-as_686041.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d59/rick-perlstein-3637_american_i-feel-bound-to-respect-ronald-reagan-as_686041.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I feel bound to respect Ronald Reagan, as every American should - not least because he chose a career of…” — Rick Perlstein", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My liberal friends love to dismiss Reagan. You know, they'll say something like, 'Oh, didn't he, like, only read one-page memos when he was in the White House?' Well, that's just good managerial practice. I mean, Franklin Roosevelt made people write one-page memos.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reagan-you-know-they-ll-say/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/595/rick-perlstein-3637_dismiss_my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reaga_1495816.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/595/rick-perlstein-3637_dismiss_my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reaga_1495816.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/595/rick-perlstein-3637_dismiss_my-liberal-friends-love-to-dismiss-reaga_1495816.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My liberal friends love to dismiss Reagan. You know, they'll say something like, 'Oh, didn't he, like, only…” — Rick Perlstein", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Watergate got us to think of leaders as mere mortals. America began to think of itself in a very different way - I would say a salutary way - and Reagan was most important in shifting the grand dynamic thrust of the American historical process by ending that.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as-mere-mortals-america-began-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/rick-perlstein-3637_america_watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as_45140.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/rick-perlstein-3637_america_watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as_45140.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/rick-perlstein-3637_america_watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as_45140.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Watergate got us to think of leaders as mere mortals. 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There is nothing unusual about that; transcending the doubts, hesitations, and fears swirling around you by casting yourself internally as the hero of your own adventure story is a characteristic psychic defense mechanism of the Boy Who Disappears.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/in-ronald-reagan-s-chaotic-childhood-the-imagination-was-armor-there/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/rick-perlstein-3637_about_in-ronald-reagan-s-chaotic-childhood-the_1987829.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/rick-perlstein-3637_about_in-ronald-reagan-s-chaotic-childhood-the_1987829.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/rick-perlstein-3637_about_in-ronald-reagan-s-chaotic-childhood-the_1987829.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In Ronald Reagan's chaotic childhood, the imagination was armor. There is nothing unusual about that…” — Rick Perlstein", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The reason inflation was brought down to manageable levels, by the time of Ronald Reagan's re-election, was directly attributable to Jimmy Carter's very courageous act, hiring a Federal Reserve chair, with the charge to induce a recession. That recession was probably the reason he didn't win a second term.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/the-reason-inflation-was-brought-down-to-manageable-levels-by-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/rick-perlstein-3637_act_the-reason-inflation-was-brought-down-to_2738240.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/rick-perlstein-3637_act_the-reason-inflation-was-brought-down-to_2738240.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/rick-perlstein-3637_act_the-reason-inflation-was-brought-down-to_2738240.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The reason inflation was brought down to manageable levels, by the time of Ronald Reagan's re-election, was…” — Rick Perlstein", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Again and again as president, Reagan let it slip that he concurred with fundamentalists' belief that the world would end in a fiery Armageddon. This did not hurt him politically. The kind of people offended by such talk had already largely abandoned the Republican Party.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Perlstein" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/again-and-again-as-president-reagan-let-it-slip-that-he-concurred/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe9/rick-perlstein-3637_abandoned_again-and-again-as-president-reagan-let_1046231.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe9/rick-perlstein-3637_abandoned_again-and-again-as-president-reagan-let_1046231.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe9/rick-perlstein-3637_abandoned_again-and-again-as-president-reagan-let_1046231.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Again and again as president, Reagan let it slip that he concurred with fundamentalists' belief that the…” — Rick Perlstein", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reagan/rick-perlstein/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reagan/rick-perlstein/", "name": "Reagan Quotes by Rick Perlstein", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reagan/rick-perlstein/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a30/rick-perlstein-3637_abortion_ronald-reagan-never-did-much-to-make-abo_1957991.jpg" }, "description": "14 Reagan quotes by Rick Perlstein. 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