* “We are in different development stages, we have different historical responsibilities and we have different capacities.”–Xie Zhenhua, China’s chief climate official, on why the U.S. and China, the world’s top two carbon emitters, remain far apart on a global plan to cut emissions.
* “…The lesson to our American friends who seemingly want to become less involved and more European: There is no second America to back you up when you drop the ball.”–Clemens Wergin, foreign editor of the German newspaper group Die Welt.
* “We are negotiating the end of the conflict, not the participation of FARC in the government. They have to earn that in the future under a popular vote.”–Luis Carlos Villegas, Colombian ambassador to the U.S., on his government’s guerrilla-dialogue agenda.
* “I mean, think about that. You’re going to use taxpayer money to sue me for doing my job, while you don’t do your job.”–President Barack Obama.
* “We’re the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”–Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
* The largest companies are starting to realize climate change is a financial issue.”–Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, an environmental and investor advocacy group.
* “We’re not destined for greatness. We have to earn that greatness.”–Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution.
* “Widening and deepening inequality is not driven by immutable economic laws, but by laws we have written ourselves.”–Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist for the World Bank.
* “If Cuba is trapped in the 1950s, the Internet of Cuba is trapped in the 1990s.”–Google co-founder Eric Schmidt.
* “There’s no question that Silicon Valley feels different than it felt 28 years ago when I moved here. Something has happened. We used to be a Valley full of techies living middle class lives, and now we’re a Valley of the uber-rich carrying toy poodles around with them.”–Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley.
* “(Crist) needs the black community to turn out Obama-style. If that happens, he runs away with the election.”–State Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, an African-American from Fort Lauderdale.
* “They’re not getting steered to cast absentee ballots. They’re not getting mobilized on Election Day. If you’re registered as an NPA (no party affiliation), the two parties are less likely to think that you can be persuaded.”–University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith.
* “This institution (Florida Polytechnic University) is unique and different, and that’s why it was created. Except for New College, all the rest (of the state universities) are University of Florida wanna-bes.”–Former Republican state Sen. JD Alexander.
* “Our firm commitment remains to build upon the region’s largest economic engine in ways that place environmental considerations as top priority.”–Paul Anderson, president and CEO of Port Tampa Bay.
* “I have no illusions about the difficulties of running countywide. That’s one of the reasons we focused early on raising money.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham, now running for a District 7 seat.
* “It would be fantastic. This could help us financially by sending a strong message about our state.”–Jeffrey Abbaticchio, director of public relations at Loews Don CeSar Hotel on St. Pete Beach, on the impact of legalized same-sex marriage in Florida.
* “Obviously, if we didn’t put any houses there, we wouldn’t have any erosion problems. The sand would just move around.”–USF coastal geology professor Ping Wang on beach renourishment projects.
* “For a community surrounded by water not to have water-based connectivity doesn’t make sense.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.