Honoring Nancy Reagan: 10 of The Former First Lady’s Most Memorable Quotes

By Kim Lachance Shandrow | Mar 07, 2016
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Nancy Reagan, actress, activist and former first lady of the United States, died yesterday of congestive heart failure at her home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to her spokesperson at the . She was 94.

Born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921, the New York native, who later took the stage name Nancy Davis, is best known as the wife of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president. While often painted as merely the vigilantly protective “,” she was a political force in her own right, spearheading the “Just Say No” anti-drug crusade of the 1980s and later championing embryonic stem-cell research.

Related: 8 U.S. Presidents Who Started as Âé¶¹Éçs

President Barack Obama remembered Reagan, a graceful, stylish conservative Republican who brought more than a touch of Hollywood glamor to the White House, for her compassionate efforts advocating for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers. Her husband was diagnosed with the disease in 1994.

“Our former first lady redefined the role in her time here,” Obama . “Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer’s, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives.”

Related: 10 Inspirational Presidential Quotes

In honor of her extensive charitable work, commitment to Alzheimer’s advocacy and her historic role as first lady, here are 10 of Nancy Reagan’s most memorable quotes:

1. “You learn something out of everything, and you come to realize more than ever that we’re all here for a certain space of time, and then it’s going to be over, and you .”

2. “There’s a big, wonderful world out there for you. It belongs to you. It’s exciting and stimulating and rewarding. out of this promise.”

3. “Feminism is the ability to choose what you want to do.”

Related: The 15 Ronald Reagan Quotes Every Business Leader Must Know

4. “Drugs take away the dream from every child’s heart and replace it with a nightmare, and it’s time we in America stand up and replace those dreams.”

5. “Each day is different, and you get up, put one foot in front of the other, and go, and love; .”

6. “I must say acting was good training for the political life which lay ahead for us.”

7. “I am a big believer that eventually everything comes back to you. .”

8. “The movies compared to politics.”

Related: Here Is How Leaders and Influencers Reacted to Nancy Reagan’s Death on Social Media

9. “Just say no to drugs.”

10. “To my young friends out there: Life can be great, but not when you can’t see it. So, open your eyes to life: to see it in the vivid colors that God gave us as a precious gift to his children, to enjoy life to the fullest, and to make it count. .”

Nancy Reagan, actress, activist and former first lady of the United States, died yesterday of congestive heart failure at her home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to her spokesperson at the . She was 94.

Born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921, the New York native, who later took the stage name Nancy Davis, is best known as the wife of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president. While often painted as merely the vigilantly protective “,” she was a political force in her own right, spearheading the “Just Say No” anti-drug crusade of the 1980s and later championing embryonic stem-cell research.

Related: 8 U.S. Presidents Who Started as Âé¶¹Éçs

Kim Lachance Shandrow • Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Âé¶¹Éç.com. Previously, she was a... Read more
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