* “We came from a policy of having zero problems with our neighbors, and now we’re having problems with almost everyone.”–Umit Pamir, Turkey’s former ambassador to the United Nations.
* “The French build in Paris, the English build in London, and the Israelis build in Jerusalem.”–Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
* “Israel today is surrounded on four out of five borders–South Lebanon, Gaza, Sinai and Syria–not by states but by militias, dressed as civilians, armed with rockets and nested among civilians. No other country faces such a threat.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
* “Any country that kills its own people, persecutes religious minorities and subjugates women is anathema to American Muslims. They can call themselves angels, but they cannot camouflage their evil under a religious veneer.”–Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
* “Evolution in nature doesn’t contradict the notion of creation because evolution presupposes the creation of beings who evolve.”–Pope Francis.
* “I never dreamed of this job in particular because it didn’t exist.”–David S. Cohen, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
* “Let’s temper the Ebola hysteria with knowledge, and remember to prevent an ever greater threat to our health by getting a flu shot.”–Dr. Mona V. Mangat, board chair of Doctors for America.
* “Trickle down economics has failed. Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in America and workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out–not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas.”–Hillary Clinton.
* “He has changed the Republican Party more than any other Republican in the Obama years.”–Conservative activist Grover Norquist on the impact of libertarian Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
* “America and Cuba have so much to gain by turning the page on these Cold War policies. And all of our friends in the hemisphere are in favor of that happening.”–U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.
* “Let’s not fool ourselves. We Americans have long boasted of having free and fair elections. Thanks to this Supreme Court, they are neither.”–Timothy Egan, New York Times.
* “Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts.”–Conclusion of the report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
* “The New York City skyline is whole again, as One World Trade Center takes its place in Lower Manhattan.”–Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
* “Nationally, we’re getting record revenues, so we’re a very, very valuable piece of property. What teams are getting locally is staggering. Our fans live and die with every game in all these places.”–Retiring Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.
* “Football is something a big city should have.”–Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
* “Apple CEO Tim Cook came out as gay. Then the CEO of Samsung came out as being even gayer. Those guys are always competing.”–Jimmy Fallon.
* “This decision is the single most important that has occurred in the last 25 years. This is bigger than baseball.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on the significance of USF putting its college of medicine downtown.
* “We would actually create a university district.”–Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.
* “It’s the largest square-footage deal that’s ever happened in downtown Tampa, that’s for sure.”–Mike Davis, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield, on the sale of the 38-story, 750,000-square-foot One Tampa City Center for $128.13 million.
* “We’re really seeing a renaissance in Ybor right now.”–Bob McDonough, the city of Tampa’s administrator of economic development.
* “We hope that in the not-too-distant future we will be able to make it daily year-round.”–Copa Airlines CEO Pedro Heilbron, on ultimate prospects for Copa, which begins direct flights between TIA and Panama four times a week next month.
* “In this recovering real estate environment, we look forward to being a part of something that will not only be successful for our company and partners, but also a celebrated new destination for the community, as well.”–Beck Daniel, vice president of acquisitions and development for BTI Partners, which plans on resuscitating the former New Port Tampa Bay project at Westshore and Gandy boulevards.
* “Our goal is to give teachers the tools they need to improve student achievement without overburdening them with mandatory, prescriptive testing requirements. … There’s got to be some common sense put back in this process.”–Pasco County school superintendent Kurt Browning.
* “The Church of Scientology has not told me that it is opposed to the aquarium being in downtown. We are trying to develop downtown for everybody, not just for the Church of Scientology.”–Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos.