* “What is coming out of the presidential palace today, or what President Karzai says today, I don’t know. It changes constantly.”–Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
* “No (Al) Qaeda threat has ever remained exclusively local. They have always eventually crossed borders and become regional in operations and attacks and certainly in fund-raising and recruiting.”–Bruce Hoffman, director of security studies at Georgetown University.
* “Indifference is not an option for Germany.”–Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s new defense minister.
* “I think the way we have to think about this year is we have a divided government. The Republican Congress is not going to rubber-stamp the president’s agenda. The president is not going to sign the Republican Congress’ agenda.”–White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer.
* “Most people think income inequality is fine–in fact, it’s proper–when one person works harder than another. (President) Obama’s argument isn’t just that the economy has left incomes unequal. It’s that the economy is failing to honor work.”–William Saletan, Slate.
* “(I) found her smart, idealistic, pragmatic, tough-minded, indefatigable, funny, a very valuable colleague, and a superb representative of the United States all over the world.”–Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Hillary Clinton in his book Duty.
* “Cities are taking measurable action to reduce emissions, emerging as leaders in the battle against climate change.”–Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, recent appointee as United Nations special envoy for cities and climate change.
* “Whether they know it or not, (Pete) Seeger’s legacy still rings in the songs that young people sing around the world on behalf of peace and justice and overcoming.”–Steve Paul, Kansas City Star.
* “They’re a combination of competition, travelogue, politics, cultural panorama and personal drama.”–Sportscaster Bob Costas on what makes the Olympics special.
* “Atlanta, we are ready for the snow.”–Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, hours before metropolitan Atlanta was in weather-caused gridlock.
* “If we’re to maintain our hold as the gateway to the Americas and the financial center for Latin America, we can’t just rest on our laurels.”–Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
* “Make no mistake: This is not about compassionate medical marijuana. This is about the Coloradofication of Florida, where the end game is a pot shop on every street corner.”–Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel.
* “If we didn’t bring out the cattle prod, they would still be dithering. You have to look at the whole Rick Scott, the governor who has had the worst impact on protecting Florida’s waters of any governor in Florida history.”–Environmental attorney David Guest.
* “Transportation is a vital element to the free enterprise system being successful in this community.”–Bob Rohrlack, CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
* “We call the flights from Miami the Vatican flights, because God only knows when you’ll arrive.”–Tampa-visiting José Ramon Cabañas, the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., on Miami’s reputation–as opposed to TIA’s–for air service to Cuba.
* “The (Hillsborough) county Democratic Party is restructuring and has not focused on recruiting as much as it needs to, especially young candidates.”–Susan MacManus, USF political science professor.
* “I have no plans to retire.”–MaryEllen Elia, 65, Hillsborough County Schools superintendent.
* “This is big. This is bodacious. This is exciting. This will be a game-changer.”–Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn on the proposed West River Master Plan.
* “Too often we hear that ‘nice guys’ lack the necessary edge to achieve at the highest levels. Tony Dungy puts this myth to rest.”–Rich McKay, Atlanta Falcons president and former Bucs general manager.
* “It’s a sad reality that in too many of our classrooms, teachers spend just as much time trying to keep control as they do teaching.”–Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch on the classroom-fight video at Gibbs High School.
* “Spring training still allows for that connection back to the days of when the players didn’t make that much more than the rest of us and were approachable.”–Graham Knight, editor of SpringTrainingConnection.com.