* “I think it’s great to have the U.S. president part of the club and very willing to cooperate.”–French President Emmanuel Macron.
* “America would be well served if the European Union got its act together and defined a coherent China strategy.”–Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the U.S.
* “Either they (China) allow, in a responsible way, investigators in to do the real work of figuring out where this (coronavirus) came from or they will face isolation in the international community.”–U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
* “(Vietnam) is a one-party state, political dissent is not tolerated. We can go there freely, spend money freely … We give aid to them, cooperate with Vietnam in many areas, raise human rights with them. We don’t have a similar relationship with Cuba?–Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
* “This is a day of profound weight and profound power, a day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take.”–President Joe Biden, who signed legislation establishing a new federal holiday (Juneteenth/June 19th) commemorating the end of slavery.
* “What Juneteenth and other Emancipation days commemorate is both the promise of freedom and its delay.”–Kevin Young, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
* “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.”–President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* “I think it’s highly unlikely.”–Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on whether he would allow a confirmation vote on a new Supreme Court justice during the remainder of Joe Biden’s presidential term if Republicans retook the Senate.
* “In Republican-controlled states across the nation, the campaign for a 21st-century Jim Crow is well underway.”–Robert J. Walker, author of “12 Characteristics of an Effective Teacher.”
* “A fair share of using our roads and bridges.”–What Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine wants electric cars to pay.
* “I miss nuance, which has been incinerated by today’s hot takes. There aren’t as many clicks in cooling tempers and complicating people’s understanding of situations as there are in stoking their rage.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.
* “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”–Mae West.
* “We have to think about … options for building more modest homes, smaller homes, things to meet people at different points in their lifestyle.”–Anne Ray, housing data clearing-house manager at the University of Florida.
* “Florida businesses are trying to fill vacancies and are actually having a difficult time hiring.”–Dane Eagle, head of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
* “Violent crime numbers are up, and you can see it’s affecting just small pockets of our city.”–Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan. All 21 of the city’s homicides by gunfire in the first half of 2021 were in East Tampa.
* I remain the only elected official in North America who has ever been able to strike a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.
* “I’m just very, very pleased that we are moving in that direction.”–Hillsborough County Commission Chair Pat Kemp, on a new proposal to expand the Cross Bay Ferry to year-round service.
* “It’s outside validation that we’re building wealth and success in our community. The more we sell, the more money there is to build the next Tech Data, the next Sykes.”–Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson, on the announcement that Sykes Enterprises, one of the largest public companies in the Tampa Bay area, is being sold to the Miami-based Sitel Group in a deal worth $2.2 billion.