Too often the brightest stars are comets. But they flame out the fastest because they consume themselves on their own energy. I think there are some lessons to be learned there in life and in politics. How quickly and how brightly we burn.

U.S. Trade Rep. and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, on Rick Perry's presidential bid

Mr. Speaker, ‘nigger’ is offensive. It’s offensive. And I think that I’m expressing the moral outrage of all Americans.

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., introducing an unsuccessful resolution to condemn Gov. Rick Perry for the racially charged name of a hunting camp rented by the Perry family, as reported by Politico

President Obama appears to be the only person left with any confidence in Attorney General Holder. It is difficult to believe that after memos were sent to his office, ATF officials briefed Congress on Fast and Furious and it was reported in the media, Mr. Holder still didn’t have knowledge of it, as he claims, for several months.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in a statement on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his alleged knowledge of the infamous gun-running scandal known as "Fast and Furious"

It takes a lot of leadership in the Legislature to solve a problem of inequity without being forced to by the courts, because almost every district is richer than some other district.

State Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, on school finance lawsuits

He’s a middle-of-the-road guy, and even though it doesn’t make the conservatives 100 percent happy, he’s capable of making them 75 percent happy, and he’s capable of getting 51 percent against President Obama — which is a lot better than making the conservatives happy and getting 47 percent of the vote.

John Catsimatidis, a major New York donor, on Mitt Romney, quoted in Politico