* “Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.”–Alphonso X, King of Spain (1252-84)
* “The Mayflower, when she sailed from Plymouth, must have been entirely filled with lawyers.”–John Maynard Keynes.
* “If I could choose one American to whom I would entrust the nation’s fate in a crisis, it would be George Shultz.”–Henry Kissinger, on the former secretary of state, who earned respect for bipartisanship while working to ease Cold War and Middle East tensions. Shultz, who recently died at 100, also served as labor secretary and treasury secretary.
* “The middle ground, that fertile valley of real politics and reform, seems to be rapidly shrinking.”–Matt Purple, the American Conservative.
* “These newly fastidious Republicans—they opened the tent long ago to the villains, liars and conspiracists when they welcomed the ringmaster. … If they want to cleanse the Republican Party of the poisons that are rapidly killing it, they can vote to hold the man who first infected it with QAnon, ‘election fraud,’ and much more, accountable.”–Mona Charen, The Bulwark.
* “Don’t blame ‘both sides’ for ruining the elegant, strategic, productive political competition we’d like to see. One party is trying to move the chess pieces. The other side is trying to eat them.”–Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.
* “The party is (Trump’s). It doesn’t belong to anybody else.”–Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
* “Football—and sports in general—is the one place where the differences among Americans, red and blue, urban and rural, MAGA and #Resistance, give way to a kind of unity.”–Kate Cohen, author of “A Walk Down the Aisle: Notes on a Modern Wedding.”
* “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.”–President Harry S. Truman.
* “It is certainly a defensible posture that in periods of economic distress Democrats are more concerned about jobs than Republicans.”–Michael Strain, economist at the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank.
* “I like a world in which someone can be sued when he posts threatening language. If someone libels you, you can sue him. Post about buying zip ties and invading the Capitol, and the FBI knocks on your door. This would put an immediate damper on today’s worst offenders.”–Andy Kessler, Wall Street Journal.
* “Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.”–National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman.
* “Surprisingly, we were little affected by the pandemic. … Believe it or not, we actually picked up a couple of months because there was very little traffic on the streets, and that helped in terms of our timeline … We’re pretty much opening exactly as the economy is going to be taking off again. … And we’re so fortunate to have (had) the Super Bowl to broadcast to the world what they’re missing by not doing business here.”–Jeff Vinik, on the status of Water Street Tampa.
* “Tampa is proud of its strong military ties and the many opportunities for government contracts, especially with the Department of Defense.”–Mayor Jane Castor, referencing data showing that Hillsborough County ranked third in the state both in contracts awarded (about $2.1 billion spent) and gross pay for all military personnel in the area (about $858 million).
* “Clean, classy, elegant.”–Criteria for hiring dancers at Thee Dollhouse, according to the strip club’s ownership partner Warren Colazzo.
* “(Bruce Arians) is such a unique guy, and we have such a unique, strong bond. We get along well. We even argue well.”–Bucs General Manager Jason Licht.