I'm not going to apologize when a major business or a small business says, ‘We are going to relocate from California to Texas.’ I didn't hear anyone from the Giants apologizing for winning the World Series.

Gov. Rick Perry, quoted in the Los Angeles Times during a recruiting trip

When you've been there a long time, you lose the ability to lead to inspire, to motivate and to sell.

Jerry Patterson, asked at TribLive why he would run against David Dewhurst for lieutenant governor

I like to run a tight meeting. I like to keep use focused. I don't mind banging the gavel. The press actually gets bored at our meetings now, which is wonderful.

Barbara Cargill, during Senate hearings to confirm her appointment as chairman of the State Board of Education

I'm using this word not in the negative connotation, but it's when you feel like a hustler. You feel like you are hustling your dollars, and you don’t have the confidence that the money is going to be there.

Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, on struggling to make a living while serving in the Legislature

One of the best things about not being in the Senate anymore is not having to sit in that room and either stand up and clap every 15 seconds, or sit on your hands for the whole thing. I just wish so much we would have a moratorium on standing, and let everybody listen.

Former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, on CNN’s State of the Union

He just enjoys making noise and having people look at him, and I think he’s got some talents at making that happen.

Democratic political consultant Matt Angle on Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman of Friendswood, who invited Ted Nugent to the State of the Union address

God has a funny way of reminding us we’re human.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, after reaching for a water bottle during his response to President Obama's State of the Union speech