* “It is futile to be bitter.”–Nelson Mandela.
* “It’s nothing more than the minority’s attempt to dominate the majority. We will not allow it.”–Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the government’s crackdown on protestors.
* “I’ve never been an extremist. I support moderation.”–Iranian President-elect Hasan Rowhani.
* “Our desire is to have credible negotiations with the North Koreans, but those talks must involve North Korea living up to its obligations to the world.”–National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
* “Climate change has quite frankly slipped to the backburner of policy priorities. But the problem is not going away–quite the opposite.”–Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency.
* “They were both idealists, but they have both become practical idealists. Time in government does that to you.”–Edward C. Luck, dean of the School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, on the nomination of Samantha Power as American ambassador to the United Nations and the appointment of Susan E. Rice as national security adviser.
* “Traditional conservatism recognizes the balance of principles–in this case, security and privacy–rather than elevating a single ideal into an absolute.”–Michael Gerson, Washington Post.
* “That’s the most optimistic thing that is happening–the radicalization of the Internet-educated youth, people who are receiving their values from the Internet. This is the political education of apolitical technical people. It is extraordinary.”–WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
* “I responded in what I thought was the most truthful–or least untruthful–manner, by saying ‘no.'”–Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, explaining why he told Congress that the National Security Agency does not intentionally collect data on millions of Americans.
* “Immigrants created far more businesses than native-born Americans over the last 20 years. Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population. Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.”–Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
* “I urge President Obama to remove Eric Holder from his position as attorney general.”–U. S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland.
* “I haven’t had a near-death experience. I’ve had a death experience.”–Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson on return to Congress after reapportionment.
* “Edward Snowden is not a whistleblower. What Edward Snowden did amounts to an act of treason. And the Department of Justice should bring charges against him for deliberately taking classified information and leaking it in such a way that our enemies can use it against us.”–Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
* “Florida has the largest population of Holocaust survivors and relatives on the entire planet with the exception of the state of Israel.”–Florida CFO Jeff Atwater.
* “We’re test crazy. We are over-testing our kids.”–Author Alan Sitomer, keynote speaker at the Teacher Leadership Institute at USF St. Petersburg.
* “The state has been ridiculously gerrymandered. Recovering from that will take several election cycles, but this governor’s race will be a significant step forward.”–Tampa’s Alan Clendenin, vice chairman of the Democratic state party.
* “Selling Tampa Bay to entrepreneurs is only part of the equation. We must do a better job of selling the region to venture capitalists. When you have a great idea, you have to have funding to move forward.”–Moez Limayem, dean of the USF College of Business.
* “The objective is to give the ones we’re funding now two years to learn how to operate more business-like and be able to measure what they do in outcomes.”–Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill on putting nonprofits on notice that grants will be tied to performance.
* “It’s less reliable than it used to be. It’s something we’re paying attention to.”–Tampa CFO Sonya Little on the loss of taxable (landline) phone services.