Paul Ryan famous quotes

Big-government economics breeds crony capitalism. It's corrupt, anything but neutral, and a barrier to broad participation in prosperity.
-- Paul Ryan

#Government #Prosperity #Economics

The problem with our deficit is not because Americans are taxed too little. The problem with the deficit is because Washington spends too much money. We have got to stop spending money we don't have.
-- Paul Ryan

#Littles #Too Much #Problem

And to this day, my Mom is my role model.
-- Paul Ryan

#Mom #Mother #Role Models

When government misleads the country about a terrorist attack, that erodes trust.
-- Paul Ryan

#Country #Government #Erode

Everyone who feels stuck in the Obama economy is right to focus on the here and now. And I hope you understand this too, if you're feeling left out or passed by: You have not failed, your leaders have failed you.
-- Paul Ryan

#Leader #Focus #Feelings

So here's the question: Without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?
-- Paul Ryan

#Leadership #Years #Four

College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life.
-- Paul Ryan

#Moving #College #Childhood

Mr. Vice President, I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground but I think people would be better served if we don't keep interrupting each other.
-- Paul Ryan

#Thinking #People #President

I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are.
-- Paul Ryan

#Reading #Who I Am #Taught

None of us have to settle for the best this administration offers - a dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a government-planned life, a country where everything is free but us.
-- Paul Ryan

#Country #Journey #Government

Only by taking responsibility for oneself, to the greatest extent possible, can one ever be free, and only a free person can make responsible choices - between right and wrong, saving and spending, giving or taking.
-- Paul Ryan

#Responsibility #Giving #Choices

A Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare, for my Mom's generation, for my generation, and for my kids and yours.
-- Paul Ryan

#Mom #Mother #Kids

I accept the calling of my generation to give our children the America that was given to us, with opportunity for the young and security for the old - and I know that we are ready.
-- Paul Ryan

#Children #Opportunity #America

If borrowing and spending all this money led to more jobs than we would be at full employment already.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Would Be #Employment

Since taking office, President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25 percent for domestic government agencies - an 84 percent increase when you include the failed stimulus. All of this new government spending was sold as 'investment.'
-- Paul Ryan

#Agency #Government #Law

We will not duck the tough issues, we will lead.
-- Paul Ryan

#Issues #Ducks #Tough

We need to stop spending money we don't have.
-- Paul Ryan

#Needs #Spending #Spending Money

Behind every small business, there's a story worth knowing. All the corner shops in our towns and cities, the restaurants, cleaners, gyms, hair salons, hardware stores - these didn't come out of nowhere.
-- Paul Ryan

#Business #Cities #Knowing

Are we interested in treating the symptoms of poverty and economic stagnation through income redistribution and class warfare, or do we want to go at the root causes of poverty and economic stagnation by promoting pro-growth policies that promote prosperity?
-- Paul Ryan

#Class #Roots #Growth

If we don't make tough decisions today our children are going to have to make much, much tougher decisions tomorrow.
-- Paul Ryan

#Children #Decision #Today

A free economy and strong communities honor the dignity of every person, rewarding effort with justice, promoting upward mobility, and building solidarity among citizens.
-- Paul Ryan

#Strong #Justice #Effort

Exploiting people's emotions of fear, envy and anxiety is not hope, it's not change, it's partisanship. We don't need partisanship. We don't need demagoguery, we need solutions.
-- Paul Ryan

#Envy #People #Anxiety

Our founders got it right when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence that our rights come from nature and nature's God, not from government.
-- Paul Ryan

#Government #Rights #Independence

I call crony capitalism, where you take money from successful small businesses, spend it in Washington on favored industries, on favored individuals, picking winners and losers in the economy, that's not pro-growth economics. That's not entrepreneurial economics. That's not helping small businesses. That's cronyism, that's corporate welfare.
-- Paul Ryan

#Successful #Growth #Helping

Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together.
-- Paul Ryan

#Successful #Achievement #Community

And if small businesspeople say they made it on their own, all they are saying is that nobody else worked seven days a week in their place. Nobody showed up in their place to open the door at five in the morning. Nobody did their thinking, and worrying, and sweating for them.
-- Paul Ryan

#Morning #Work #Thinking

Borrowing and spending is not the way to prosperity.
-- Paul Ryan

#Way #Prosperity #Spending

The president has declared that the debate over government-controlled health care is over. That will come as news to the millions of Americans who will elect Mitt Romney so we can repeal Obamacare.
-- Paul Ryan

#Obamacare #Government #President

We need leadership. We don't need a doubling down on the failed politics of the past.
-- Paul Ryan

#Leadership #Past #Needs

We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles.
-- Paul Ryan

#Trying #Principles #Founding

Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation's economic problems. And I'm going to level with you: We don't have that much time. But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this.
-- Paul Ryan

#Smart #Math #Intelligence

When I was waiting tables, washing dishes, or mowing lawns for money, I never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life. I was on my own path, my own journey, an American journey where I could think for myself, decide for myself, define happiness for myself.
-- Paul Ryan

#Journey #Thinking #Waiting

The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we're going to stop it.
-- Paul Ryan

#Obamacare #Threat #Medicare

We need to reclaim our American system of limited government, low taxes, reasonable regulations, and sound money, which has blessed us with unprecedented prosperity. And it has done more to help the poor than any other economic system ever designed.
-- Paul Ryan

#Blessed #Government #Needs

I voted to send people to war.
-- Paul Ryan

#War #People

Our debt is out of control. What was a fiscal challenge is now a fiscal crisis. We cannot deny it; instead we must, as Americans, confront it responsibly. And that is exactly what Republicans pledge to do.
-- Paul Ryan

#Challenges #Debt #Republican

Our rights come from nature and God, not government.
-- Paul Ryan

#Government #Rights #God And Nature

We will not spend four years blaming others, we will take responsibility.
-- Paul Ryan

#Responsibility #Years #Four

It all started off with stirring speeches, Greek columns, the thrill of something new. Now all that's left is a presidency adrift, surviving on slogans that already seem tired, grasping at a moment that has already passed, like a ship trying to sail on yesterday's wind.
-- Paul Ryan

#Tired #Wind #Yesterday

There is a consensus of willing leaders from both parties coalescing around the right way forward in health care. Reform should address government-imposed inequities and barriers to true choice and competition.
-- Paul Ryan

#Party #Government #Leader

It's a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature and of the concepts of liberty, freedom, and self-determination. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. He (Obama) believes that the pie is fixed and that he needs to more equitably divide up the slices.
-- Paul Ryan

#Determination #Believe #Self

To my great disappointment, it appears that the politics of division are making a big comeback. Many Americans share my disappointment - especially those who were filled with great hope a few years ago, when then-Senator Obama announced his candidacy in Springfield, Illinois.
-- Paul Ryan

#Disappointment #Years #Illinois

We are all representatives of the American people. We all do town hall meetings. We all talk to our constituents. And I've got to tell you, the American people are engaged. And if you think they want a government takeover of health care, I would respectfully submit you're not listening to them.
-- Paul Ryan

#Thinking #Government #People

Now it's a war on women; tomorrow it's going to be a war on left-handed Irishmen or something like that.
-- Paul Ryan

#War #Tomorrow #Irishmen

We must solve the problem in health care by curbing out-of-control costs that erode paychecks for working families and push quality coverage out of reach for millions of Americans.
-- Paul Ryan

#Quality #Care #Erode

We don't have a tax revenue problem in Washington, we have a spending problem in Washington.
-- Paul Ryan

#Problem #Spending #Taxes

We wonder if we will be the first generation in American history to leave our children with fewer opportunities and a less prosperous nation than the one we inherited.
-- Paul Ryan

#Children #Opportunity #Generations

We're saying no changes for Medicare for people above the age of 55. And in order to keep the promise to current seniors who've already retired and organized their lives around this program, you have to reform it for the next generation.
-- Paul Ryan

#Birthday #Senior #Order

What I'm concerned about is endless borrowing, which is going to compromise our economy not only today but in the future. Because we know the decisions we make right now really dramatically impact us in the future, and the debt is literally getting out of our control.
-- Paul Ryan

#Impact #Decision #Debt

Child support should do just that - support children, not the federal government.
-- Paul Ryan

#Children #Government #Support

What we heard today was not fiscal leadership from our Commander-in-Chief, what we heard today was a political broadside from our Campaigner-in-Chief.
-- Paul Ryan

#Leadership #Political #Today

The work ahead will be hard. These times demand the best of us - all of us, but we can do this. Together, we can do this. We can get this country working again. We can get this economy growing again. We can make the safety net safe again. We can do this.
-- Paul Ryan

#Country #Safety #Together

The people of Wisconsin have been good to me. I've tried to live up to their trust. And now I ask those hardworking men and women, and millions like them across America, to join our cause and get this country working again. When Governor Romney asked me to join the ticket, I said, 'Let's get this done' - and that is exactly, what we're going to do.
-- Paul Ryan

#Country #Men #America

Look, I am not worried about Washington cutting too much spending too fast. I mean, the kinds of spending cuts we're talking about just right now are $100 billion out of a $3.7 trillion budget.
-- Paul Ryan

#Mean #Cutting #Talking

Look, only in Washington is not raising taxes considered a tax cut. Nobody's getting a tax cut here. We're not cutting taxes. We're preventing tax increases from occurring.
-- Paul Ryan

#Cutting #Looks #Increase

Mitt Romney and I know the difference between protecting a program, and raiding it. Ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate. We want this debate. We will win this debate.
-- Paul Ryan

#Winning #Differences #Gentleman

Americans are better off in a dynamic, free-enterprise-based economy that fosters economic growth, opportunity and upward mobility instead of a stagnant, government-directed economy that stifles job creation and fosters government dependency.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Opportunity #Government

Mom was 50 when my Dad died. She got on a bus every weekday for years, and rode 40 miles each morning to Madison. She earned a new degree and learned new skills to start her small business. It wasn't just a new livelihood. It was a new life.
-- Paul Ryan

#Mom #Mother #Morning

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored by the support of this convention for vice president of the United States. I accept the duty to help lead our nation out of a jobs crisis and back to prosperity - and I know we can do this.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Support #President

My Dad, a small-town lawyer, was also named Paul. Until we lost him when I was 16, he was a gentle presence in my life. I like to think he'd be proud of me and my sister and brothers, because I'm sure proud of him and of where I come from, Janesville, Wisconsin.
-- Paul Ryan

#Brother #Dad #Thinking

President Obama was asked not long ago to reflect on any mistakes he might have made. He said, well, 'I haven't communicated enough.' He said his job is to 'tell a story to the American people' - as if that's the whole problem here? He needs to talk more, and we need to be better listeners?
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Mistake #Long

President Obama's reckless defense cuts that are hanging over our cloud, hanging over the horizon could put almost 44,000 jobs at stake right here in Pennsylvania. we are not going to let that happen. You know why? Because No. 1, national defense is the first priority of the federal government.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Cutting #Government

Republicans have offered dozens of comprehensive healthcare plans many of which achieve comprehensive healthcare reform without breaking what's working in healthcare. We want to fix what's broken in healthcare.
-- Paul Ryan

#Broken #Dozen #Want

So, in Europe, they're cutting people's retirement and health benefits. And that's what we want to avoid from happening. They're raising taxes, entering a recession. That's the kind of economic program that President Obama has put in place.
-- Paul Ryan

#Retirement #Cutting #Europe

That's what the Romney plan is all about, how to get jobs created, how to get this debt and deficit under control, how to revive small businesses so we can create jobs, and how to bring growth and opportunity to society instead of this class warfare, instead of speaking to people like they're stuck in some class or station in life.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Opportunity #Class

The debt and the deficit is just getting out of control, and the administration is still pumping through billions upon trillions of new spending. That does not grow the economy.
-- Paul Ryan

#Debt #Administration #Doe

You're going to hear a lot from President Obama and yes, from Joe Biden, you're hearing a little bit about Medicare these days. What they will not tell you is they turned Medicare into a piggybank to fund 'Obamacare.' They took $716 billion dollars to pay for the 'Obamacare' program.
-- Paul Ryan

#Obamacare #President #Dollars

I never asked for stimulus.
-- Paul Ryan

#Election #Stimulus

If you’re going to criticize, you should propose,
-- Paul Ryan

#Should #Criticize #Propose

A Clinton presidency is an Obama third term. And it's very difficult for them to get away from it.
-- Paul Ryan

#Clinton #Get Away #Difficult

I'm as pro-life as a person gets. You're not going to have a truce.
-- Paul Ryan

#Pro Life #Truce #Persons

And when you look at the twentieth-century experiment with collectivism-that Ayn Rand, more than anybody else, did such a good job of articulating the pitfalls of statism and collectivism-you can't find another thinker or writer who did a better job of describing and laying out the moral case for capitalism than Ayn Rand.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Looks #Pitfalls

Take a moment to imagine a world led by China or Russia. So we must lead.
-- Paul Ryan

#Russia #World #Moments

On July 4th, we renew our commitment to the American Idea-the belief that all men are created equal. We read the Declaration. We tell our kids the history. We remember those who died to protect our country. And along the way, we remind ourselves of why we love it.
-- Paul Ryan

#Country #4th Of July #Kids

It's no coincidence that trust in government is at an all-time low now that the size of government is at an all-time high.
-- Paul Ryan

#Government #Political #All Time Low

With all their attack ads, the President is just throwing away money...and he's pretty experienced at that.
-- Paul Ryan

#President #Politics #Republican

Let's pass a bill to cover the moon with yogurt that will cost $5 trillion today. And then let's pass a bill the next day to cancel that bill. We could save $5 trillion.
-- Paul Ryan

#Moon #Political #Bills

You can't fix a fundamentally broken law; you've got to replace it. That's why Congress can't save Obamacare with a few tweaks, despite what its defenders say. No quick fix can correct the main flaw: The law takes power away from patients and hands it to bureaucrats. ...
-- Paul Ryan

#Hands #Law #Obamacare

But just because we can't fix Obamacare doesn't mean we can't start to get rid of its worst features. On Thursday, the House will take up a bill to define 'full time' as 40 hours per week, so more people can work full time.
-- Paul Ryan

#Mean #Obamacare #People

Ultimately, the law will collapse under its own weight. Until then, we have to start building a better health care system in its place. And we need to start with a new principle: Put the patient in the driver's seat. That's how we can build a healthy economy.
-- Paul Ryan

#Law #Healthy #Needs

No, I’m not one (of those) people who votes for something then writes to the government to ask them to send us money. I did not request any stimulus money.
-- Paul Ryan

#Writing #Government #People

I think it is inflationary. I think it actually is counterproductive in many ways. You end up costing jobs from people who are at the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Thinking #People

Working together, America's military, Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi people have won a major battle in the war on terrorism.
-- Paul Ryan

#Military #War #America

PACs corrupt the system. They handle vast amounts of money and the money corrupts.
-- Paul Ryan

#Corruption #Pacs #Handle

Elections have consequences. And I fundamentally believe - this is my personal opinion, I know it's a slightly partisan thing to say - to really do what we think needs to be done, we're going to have to win some elections.
-- Paul Ryan

#Believe #Memorable #Winning

I give out Atlas Shrugged as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it.
-- Paul Ryan

#Giving #Atlas #Christmas Present

I don't have the time. It would take me too long to go through all of the math.
-- Paul Ryan

#Math #Long

I'm very proud of my pro-life record, and I've always adopted the idea that, the position that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life.
-- Paul Ryan

#Ideas #Pro Life #Records

Yes, absolutely because we think there is a way to do this through earned legalization without rewarding people who have come in with undocumented status, illegally. We don't want to give them an advantage over those who came here legally and we think that there's a way to do this while still respecting the rule of law. It's clear that what the President is talking about does not do that...
-- Paul Ryan

#Thinking #Talking #Law

There's no reason that patients can't have electronic access to their complete medical history... Just as people can check their bank account information online or using their ATM card, patients who want to should have electronic access to their medical records...
-- Paul Ryan

#People #Cards #Atm

I reject her [Ayn Rand's] philosophy. It's an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person's view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. Don't give me Ayn Rand.
-- Paul Ryan

#Atheist #Philosophy #Views

In a justly organized community, however, government exists to secure the right to life and the other human rights that follow from that primary right.
-- Paul Ryan

#Government #Rights #Community

Ayn Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Morality #Individualism

I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault.
-- Paul Ryan

#Jobs #Thinking #Moral

The man assumed office almost four years ago - isn't it about time he assumed responsibility?
-- Paul Ryan

#Responsibility #Men #Years

In a clean break from the Obama years, and frankly from the years before this president, we will keep federal spending at 20 percent of GDP, or less. That is enough. The choice is whether to put hard limits on economic growth, or hard limits on the size of government, and we choose to limit government.
-- Paul Ryan

#Government #Years #Gdp