* “The question now is, are words followed by actions? We will be watching carefully.”–President Barack Obama, at a news conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
* “Under international law, this incident is absolutely subject to prosecution. They have to know that we will pursue the trial of Al-Saud for the crime they have committed against the hajj pilgrims through international courts and organizations.”–Iranian State Prosecutor Ebrahim Raisi, in vowing to take legal action against Saudi Arabia for the hajj stampede that killed more than 700 people, including 136 Iranians.
* “The South China Sea is no more China’s than the Gulf of Mexico is Mexico’s.”–Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command.
* “We still need to do more and we understand that.”–Secretary of State John Kerry, in announcing that the Obama administration will increase the number of refugees the U.S. is willing to accept in 2017 to 100,000.
* “If you are different than me, why don’t we talk? Why do we always throw rocks at that which separates us?”–Pope Francis.
* “A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms.”–Pope Francis.
* “God bless America.”–Pope Francis.
* “We are now in a new gilded age similar to the first Gilded Age, when the nation’s antitrust laws were enacted. As then, those with great power and resources are making the “free market” function on their behalf. Big Tech–along with the drug, insurance, agriculture and financial giants–dominates both our economy and our politics.”–Robert B. Reich, former secretary of labor and current professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
* “You can observe a lot by watching.”–Yogi Berra.
* “I don’t want my members to go through this, and I certainly don’t want the institution to go through this.”–House Speaker John Boehner, in announcing his resignation as a way of averting another government shutdown.
* “If Boehner had stayed through December, you’d feel better about this. Now you’ve really emboldened the right. They feel at least they have a head on the mantle.”–Tom Davis, retired House member from Virginia.
* “The resignation of the speaker is a stark indication of the disarray of the House Republicans.”–House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
* “He’s overly ambitious, too young, and I have better hair than he does, right?”–Donald Trump’s reference to Marco Rubio.
* “He’s not well-informed on the issues. He really never talks about issues and can’t have more than a 10-second sound bite on any key issue.”–Marco Rubio’s reference to Donald Trump.
* “I oppose it. I don’t think it is in the best interest of what we need to do on climate change.”–Hillary Clinton, on the Keystone XL pipeline.
* “Our message is one of hope and aspiration. It isn’t one of division and get in line and we’ll take care of you with free stuff.”–Jeb Bush.
* “This is a contest, and it’s fair game for people to raise whatever they choose to raise. …You know, they’re not giving this job away.”–Hillary Clinton.
* “The cable TV chatter is obsessed with early polling and that has the lowest correlation of nominating success of almost any indicator you can find. This campaign is built for a long nominating process. Few others are.”–Bush senior campaign strategist David Kochel.
* “If Jeb doesn’t get an early win, all the money in the world isn’t going to change the direction of the race.”–Democratic strategist Steve Schale.
* “We will either renegotiate it or we will break it.”–Donald Trump, on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
* “Florida is the only state where Lufthansa has service in three markets. We’ve been very successful all over Florida, and see great potential in Tampa.”–Karl Ulrich Garnadt, CEO of Lufthansa, which recently inaugurated non-stop service between TIA and Frankfurt, Germany.
* “If a vote was taken today, the votes aren’t there for this thing to pass.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham, on the county’s transportation referendum.
* “We’re all looking at things that should have been looked at a long time ago.”–Hillsborough County School District Superintendent Jeff Eakins on a pattern of overspending that has been eroding the district’s reserves.
* “As we dug into it, we realized that it had a common factor. It was the Howard Frankland Bridge.”–Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward, on the reasoning behind TPD’s coordination with the St. Petersburg Police Department and the Pinellas Sheriff’s Office in pooling resources to catch car-theft suspects.
* “We can’t wait forever for St. Petersburg to decide what to do with the Rays.”–Clearwater Mayor George Creketos.
* “He rose above what is a very partisan town, and hopefully people were paying attention. He lives his life the way we all should and most of us don’t.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who attended a White House reception for Pope Francis.