This is my first year here, and I'm not sure what is normal. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't usually devolve into discussion of a person's sexual history.

Freshman state Rep. Stuart Spitzer, R-Kaufman, on the budget floor debate that erupted over his amendment to move money from HIV prevention programs to abstinence education

I sincerely have enjoyed this process. When you’re a CPA by background, you’re sort of like a hog in a mud puddle.

House chief budget writer John Otto, expressing sheer delight to his House colleagues at managing the 17-plus-hour floor debate on the state budget

It made me not want to breathe.

Texas Tech researcher Greg Mayer on his discovery of the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria downwind of Panhandle and South Plains feedlots

I can't tell you how many times I would be in the Oval Office with President Reagan, and he would say, 'Jim, I'd rather get 80 percent of what I want than go over the cliff with my flag flying.'

Former presidential adviser and Cabinet secretary James Baker to Texas Monthly, refuting the image that has developed of Ronald Reagan as "a hard-line conservative ideologue."