Ronald Reagan kept this line on a plaque and quoted it in a 29 Feb 1988 speech — but he introduced it as “a little sign” on his desk, not his own words. Quote Investigator traces the idea to an 1863 diary record of the Jesuit Father Strickland, and the closest ancestor of this exact wording is Montague’s 1922 Disenchantment: “There is no limit to what a man can do so long as he does not care a straw who gets the credit for it.” The precise Reagan-era form has no identified author.
“There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit” An anonymous saying displayed by Ronald Reagan; closest to C.E. Montague, Disenchantment (1922). Not originated by Reagan.
⚠ The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Ronald Reagan. Use the credit shown above instead.
Can you use it?
? We couldn’t establish where this was first published, so there’s no rights status to give. Credit it as shown above — just don’t present it as public domain, and get permission for commercial or published reuse.
Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool
In context
Evoking the world of Charles Edward Montague — English journalist & essayist · Manchester Guardian. Theme: "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Minimalist
Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
An anonymous saying, refined over 120 years
Popularly credited to
Ronald Reagan (displayed it; did not originate it)
Earliest documented root
Father Strickland, recorded in an 1863 diary (per Quote Investigator)
Closest wording
Disenchantment
Author of that wording
Charles Edward Montague, 1922
On my desk in the Oval Office, I have a little sign that says: There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.
Reagan’s own framing in his 29 Feb 1988 remarks — he attributes the words to the sign, not to himself.
Quote Investigator traces this family of sayings to an 1863 diary entry recording the Jesuit Father Strickland, and finds the closest match to this wording in C.E. Montague’s 1922 Disenchantment: “There is no limit to what a man can do so long as he does not care a straw who gets the credit for it.”
In his 29 Feb 1988 remarks Reagan says: “On my desk in the Oval Office, I have a little sign that says…” — presenting the line as a saying, not his own coinage.
The Reagan Library confirms the plaque sat on his Oval Office desk but gives no author, and the Reagan Foundation files it under his quotes citing only that 1988 speech.
The idea is old and its early forms (Father Strickland, 1863; Montague’s 1922 Disenchantment) are public domain, but those use different wording. The exact Reagan-era phrasing — adding “or where he can go” — has no identified author or first-publication date, so no rights status can be responsibly asserted for this precise form.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
How Reagan got the credit
The line is one of the internet’s most common Reagan attributions, but Reagan himself never claimed it — he read it off a sign.
✕
The exact wordingRonald Reagan Displayed, didn’t author
Reagan kept the line on an Oval Office plaque and quoted it in his 29 Feb 1988 remarks, but introduced it as “a little sign that says…” — presenting it as an existing saying, not his own.
✕
The underlying ideaFather Strickland / anonymous Earliest root
Quote Investigator gives primary credit for the family of sayings to the Jesuit Father Strickland, recorded in an 1863 diary: “A man may do an immense deal of good, if he does not care who gets the credit for it.”
✕
Common alternatesHarry Truman & Benjamin Jowett Also mis-credited
The same thought is widely pinned to Truman (“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit”) and to Benjamin Jowett; QI shows these are later branches of the older saying.
✓The words are an evolved anonymous aphorism — closest to Montague’s 1922 Disenchantment and rooted in an 1863 diary — that Reagan popularized by keeping it on his desk.
Context
Why the saying stuck to Reagan
Reagan gave the line its modern fame not by writing it but by living with it: a small plaque on his Oval Office desk that he pointed to when praising people who worked without seeking recognition. When a president quotes a sign every so often, the sign’s words become his in the public memory.
The sentiment had already travelled for a century under many names before it reached that desk — which is exactly why the exact wording resists a single author.
Reagan didn’t coin it. He read it off a sign — and the sign became the quote.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
1867–1928 · English journalist & essayist · Manchester Guardian
Charles Edward Montague (1867–1928) was an English journalist, novelist and essayist who spent most of his career at the Manchester Guardian. His 1922 essay collection Disenchantment contains the closest documented ancestor of this line — though even Montague did not claim to have coined it, and Quote Investigator finds the underlying thought recorded decades earlier.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Documented in
Charles Edward Montague, Disenchantment (London: Chatto & Windus, 1922). Origin analysis: Garson O’Toole, “A Man May Do an Immense Deal of Good, If He Does Not Care Who Gets the Credit,” Quote Investigator, 21 Dec 2010.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/there-is-no-limit-to-what-a-man-can-do-or-where-he-can-go/