Paul Ryan Quotes & Sayings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place. — Paul Ryan

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

Either we have the government forcing us and telling us what we have to do, where we have to do it and how much we have to pay for it or we put ourselves in charge - we as consumers, as patients. — Paul Ryan

We do not have a functioning market in the true sense of the word in health care. That's a layer of transparency that's sorely needed in America. — Paul Ryan

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

While President Obama shirks his responsibility to advance solutions to our fiscal challenges, he can no longer hide from the merciless math of the balance sheet. Conservatives have made certain of that. — Paul Ryan

The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. — Paul Ryan

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

The rate of return on Social Security for people nearing retirement is about 1.5 percent. By the time young children like mine are ready to retire, that rate of return will be a negative percentage. — Paul Ryan

America is more than just a place ... it's an idea. It's the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from nature and God, not government. We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. — Paul Ryan

Class is not a fixed designation in this country. We are an upwardly mobile society with a lot of movement between income groups. — Paul Ryan

Obama is trying to paint us as a caricature, as if we're some bizarre individualists who are hardcore libertarians. It's a false dichotomy and intellectually lazy. Of course we believe in government. We think government should do what it does really well, but that it has limits. — Paul Ryan

I learned a good deal about economics, and about America, from the author of the Reagan tax reforms - the great Jack Kemp. What gave Jack that incredible enthusiasm was his belief in the possibilities of free people, in the power of free enterprise and strong communities to overcome poverty and despair. We need that same optimism right now. — Paul Ryan

I live on the same block where I grew up. We belong to the same parish where I was baptized. Janesville is that kind of place. — Paul Ryan

Look, the president is elected to lead and to face the country's biggest challenges. The country's biggest challenge domestically speaking, no doubt about it, is a debt crisis, and I'm really hoping that he is going to give us a budget that tackles this debt crisis. — Paul Ryan

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

Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable. — Paul Ryan

By failing seriously to confront the most predicable economic crisis in our nation's history, the President's policies are committing us and our children to a diminished future. — Paul Ryan

Life is short, you better make the most of it. — Paul Ryan

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

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

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

When our opponents on the Left have no serious ideas of their own, they resort to emotional appeals that play up Americans' fears about the future. — Paul Ryan

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

I never asked for stimulus. — Paul Ryan

The belief that recipients of government aid are better off the more we spend on them is remarkably persistent. No matter how many times this central tenet of liberalism gets debunked, like Brett Favre, it just keeps coming back. — Paul Ryan

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

Activist government overreach and ongoing economic stagnation have shown us why Washington should not try to displace what is best left to civil society. — Paul Ryan

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

The tax code is 10 times the size of the Bible with none of the good news. — Paul Ryan

I think you can walk and chew gum at the same time. I think you can oppose the president on some issue that you fundamentally disagree with, but also work with the other party on issues you do agree with. — Paul Ryan

I see myself as more of a policy maker than a political leader. — Paul Ryan

Conventional wisdom on government's role in inequality often has it backwards. Tax reforms have resulted in a more progressive federal income tax; government transfer payments have become less progressive. — Paul Ryan

When it comes to jobs, President Obama makes the Jimmy Carter years look like good old days. If we fired Jimmy Carter then, why would we rehire Barack Obama now? — Paul Ryan

We can't keep measuring success by how much money are we throw at programs. We have to measure success as, 'Is it working? — Paul Ryan

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

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

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

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

Film is the packaging of information in cans. Videotape is involved with the feeding back of process. Film rips information away from the situation for use elsewhere. Videotape can be fed back into a given situation and enrich experience. Film extends man as a spectator. Videotape extends man as a cybernator. Film imports information. Videotape implodes indigenous data. — Paul Ryan

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

What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus? More debt. That money wasn't just spent and wasted - it was borrowed, spent, and wasted. — Paul Ryan

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

Throughout human history, the American Idea has done more to help the poor than any other economic system ever designed. — Paul Ryan

A bold reform agenda is our moral obligation. If we make the case effectively and win this November, then we will have the moral authority to enact the kind of fundamental reforms America has not seen since Ronald Reagan's first year. — Paul Ryan

That's what we do in this country. That's the American Dream. That's freedom, and I'll take it any day over the supervision and sanctimony of the central planners. — Paul Ryan

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

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

We have a plan for a stronger middle class, with the goal of generating 12 million new jobs over the next four years. — Paul Ryan

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

I don't consult polls to tell me what my principles are or what our policies should be. — Paul Ryan

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

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

Our two party platforms were emphatic about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel. For the Obama administration to remove this language from the Democratic Party platform drives a wedge into one of the few issues that our two parties agreed on. — Paul Ryan

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

Hiding spending does not reduce spending. — Paul Ryan

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

If you're going to criticize, you should propose, — Paul Ryan

I have never seen opponents so silent about their record, and so desperate to keep their power. — Paul Ryan

If you're running for president, you've got to do a lot of things to line up a candidacy. I've not done any of those things. It's not my plan. My plan is to be a good chairman of the House Budget Committee and fight for the fiscal sanity of this nation. — Paul Ryan

The perfection of our union, especially our commitment to equality of opportunity, has been a story of constant striving to live up to our Founding principles. This is what Abraham Lincoln meant when he said, 'In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.' — Paul Ryan

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

What matters to me is that I do what I think is right and I see, I'm a numbers guy, that's my attitude. I know we have a debt tsunami coming, we are bankrupting this country and I'm in a position where I can actually advance ideas to prevent that from happening. That's exactly what I should be doing. — Paul Ryan

Every now and then, President Obama sorta drops his veil. He's less coy about his philosophy, he sort of reveals his true governing philosophy, what he really believes. — Paul Ryan

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

Free enterprise empowers entrepreneurs who have ideas and imagination, investors who take risks, and workers who hone their skills and offer their labor. — Paul Ryan

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

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

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

What's missing is leadership in the White House. And the story that Barack Obama does tell, forever shifting blame to the last administration, is getting old. The man assumed office almost four years ago - isn't it about time he assumed responsibility? — Paul Ryan

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

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

I've been really clear about this. If you want to be president, you should run for president. We should select our nominee from among the people who are running for president. Clear and simple. So no, I am not going to be the president. I am not going to be the nominee. — Paul Ryan

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

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

Politics has become a blood sport that goes beyond just the person whose name is on the ballot. — Paul Ryan

Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama. An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed, all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for. The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we're going to stop it. — Paul Ryan

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

When you take a look at the problems our country is facing, debt is No. 1. The math is downright scary and the credit markets aren't going to keep on giving us cheap rates. — Paul Ryan

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

In Pennsylvania, 38 percent of Pennsylvania seniors chose to get their Medicare from a plan called Medicare Advantage. It's their choice. Forty-seven percent of them are going to lose it under 'Obamacare' according to Medicare by 2017. — Paul Ryan

In government-directed economies, the collective takes priority over the individual. The moral ideal is equal results. That approach could not be further removed from the real world. — Paul Ryan

Here's the problem if you keep raising tax rates: You slow down economic growth. — Paul Ryan

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

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

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

We don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people into complacency and dependence. — Paul Ryan

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

The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand. The fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism. — Paul Ryan

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

People like me who are reform-minded ignore the people who say, 'Just criticize and don't do anything and let's win by default.' That's ridiculous. — Paul Ryan

The moral case for individual initiative in a free economy holds that people have a God-given right to use their creativity to produce things that improve our lives. — Paul Ryan

Hey, I'm a Catholic deer hunter, I am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion. — Paul Ryan