* “The United States of America and Europe face common challenges. We are allies. But such an alliance can only be built on trust. That’s why I repeat again: Spying among friends, that cannot be.”–German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
* “The look-back is, would more testing have helped? You bet. On the other hand, we will get this site up and running.”–HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the launch of HealthCare.gov.
* “Hope and change are great, compassionate conservatism is all well and good. But you know what? There is also something to be said for just getting the job done. Competence is the new sexy.”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.
* “The GOP-led House has become a small-minded, parochial place where collaboration is considered treason, where science is considered a matter of opinion, where immigration is considered a threat, where every solution is a suboptimal compromise enacted at midnight and where every day we see proof of the theory that America is a country that was ‘designed by geniuses so that it could be run by idiots.'”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
* “Sen. Ted Cruz … conveyed not the libertarian element in Republican philosophy that advocates for smaller government and less intrusion into the personal lives of citizens, but a new, virulent strain of empty nihilism: ‘Blow it up if we can’t get what we want.'”–John G. Taft, author of “Stewardship: Lessons Learned From the Lost Culture of Wall Street.”
* “I would say that in the end he did more harm. I think it was not his objective. I think his objective was a laudable one.”–Rick Santorum, former senator (R-Pa.) and Republican presidential candidate, assessing Sen. Ted Cruz’s role in the partial government shutdown.
* “It was kind of like when you go through your drawers and your pants pockets and you collect the dimes–you can’t do that again.”–Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., on why the sequestration must end.
* “There will be less opinion, less yelling and fewer celebrity sightings.”–Ehab Al Shihabi, acting chief executive of Al Jazeera America, a new cable channel created specifically for consumers in the U.S.
* “Everyone is trying to position themselves for the new style of information technology. The fittest will survive.”–Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard.
* “While Finland admits only the best and brightest to its teacher preparation programs, colleges of education in the United States consistently accept students who, based on the Graduate Record Exam, rank among the lowest applicants for postgraduate study at the nation’s universities.”–David R. Colburn, director of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida.
* “Florida has some of the world’s highest solar power potential, yet solar represents less than 1 percent of Duke Energy’s electricity production here. That’s shameful and inadequate.”–Julia Hathaway, Florida representative for the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.
* “The grass roots are going to be excited about the election no matter who our nominee is. Rick Scott is our greatest unifying feature.”–Mitch Caesar, Democratic chairman of Broward County.
* “I have said I have no plans to run for governor and I have no intention of running for governor, but I will say … the state’s going into a ditch. The state’s going in the wrong direction.”–Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
* “If we get rid of Rick Scott and we elect a Democrat as governor, that Democrat is going to be right on the bandwagon for whoever our (presidential) nominee is–named Hillary Clinton.”–Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman.
* “This is exciting as we see downtown destinations expanding with a greater base of tourism.”–Donna Chen, Tampa Downtown Partnership’s director of marketing and communications, on news that Tampa will gain a fifth cruise line (AIDA Cruises) next year.
* “I haven’t lost a game in 3 1/2 years. … I would like to give coaching one more try.”–Jon Gruden, ESPN Monday Night Football analyst and former head coach of the Buccaneers.
* “When I quit coaching here, the thing I missed the most was not football. It was the booster dinners.”–Former FSU football coach Bobby Bowden.