RWN is dedicating the weekend's posting to Ronald Reagan material, and this list of quotes is pretty good. Scroll to Reagan's farewell letter while you're there. One favorite:
"I have seen the rise and fall of Nazi tyranny, the subsequent cold war and the nuclear nightmare that for fifty years haunted the dreams of children everywhere. During that time my generation defeated totalitarianism. As a result, your world is poised for better tomorrows. What will you do on your journey?"
(via The Lopsided Poopdeck, knocking around in his new blog home)
More:
Fred Barnes covered the Reagan White House, and now remembers.
A.S. in brief
Bill Kristol (reprinted from 1997):
Courage is the first of the virtues, and Reagan had it.Posted by dan at June 6, 2004 03:00 PMHis courage and his optimism were connected in this way: Courage often goes hand-in-hand with the belief--not always an entirely rational belief--that your cause will prevail. Reagan was serenely confident that he, and America, would prevail. He believed in the American people and in American principles; he believed that men deserve to be free and that they have the capacity to govern themselves; and he believed these principles would be victorious.
Reagan believed this because he was convinced Providence was somehow on America's side. Reagan was perhaps not conventionally religious, but his confidence that God was looking out for America and for the right seems to have helped give him the courage to do all that he did.