My mom was on welfare a little bit, and, you know, I lived with my grandparents, I lived with my aunt, whatever. I was a jerk. I had some issues. You know, I was lost.

Scott Brown, describing when he was 12 years old growing up in Wakefield and drifting into trouble.

He comes across as kind of a guy’s guy, but as I got to know him, my opinion changed quite a bit. When you first meet him, you don’t realize what a compassionate person he is.

Laurie Myers, president of Community VOICES, a group that advocates for tougher sexual predator laws.

I looked at the landscape and said, 'I'm the best person to try to fix this.'

Stephen Pagliuca

It was just a great place to work, with great people. Everybody really enjoyed it there. And then Bain Capital came in.

Charlie DeAngelis, who may vote for Pagliuca despite losing his job as a mechanical engineer for Dade International

He said: ‘You think it’s your job to make boots and my job to save the world, but you’re wrong. It’s our job to save the world, and I need you to get up from that desk and spend a half day with me doing service.

Jeff Swartz, chief executive of Timberland

My dad revered the Kennedys. I remember listening to those speeches, the idealism, the idea that people could determine their own destiny. . . . Alan fell in love with the idea of America as a kid.

Lance Khazei, the candidate's younger brother

David Sargent has literally given his whole professional career to this school. You can’t put a price tag on that.

-- John Nucci, director of external affairs at Suffolk University

Here you have an average university and you’re paying your chief executive more than the best institutions in the world. The fact that anyone would defend that is laughable.

-- Senator Mark Montigny, a Democrat from New Bedford and chairman of the Senate committee on bonding, capital expenditures, and state assets.

Let's face it, people in this business have pretty good-sized egos. Martha and I were on the same page.

Former US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan about the Big Dig settlements

She was one of those students who talked in paragraphs. Oftentimes, students can give very short answers, but she was one who could explicate what she was talking about.

Donald J. Pecor, who taught Coakley’s honors US history class at Drury High School

The way you solve a problem is to pick up a bat. Why don't you try solving your problem with words?

Tracey M. Brown, a owner of a dog Capuano threatened to kill in 1993

I would like you to find the father who would let a rottweiler rip his kid apart. Was I angry? Damn right I was.

Michael E. Capuano, then the mayor of Somerville

Fidelity’s greatest concern is for the well-being of its employees. Fidelity’s health and emergency preparedness experts believe it’s prudent to get the medication to employees as a precaution.

-- Fidelity Investments internal memo

The idea of employers stocking antivirals for the indiscriminate use of their employees runs counter to sound public health principles. That’s not how you’re going to keep your workforce healthy.

-- Dr. Lauren Smith, medical director of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

I feel like I have every bit as much right to run for the top job as he does. And I would hope people would respect that.

-- Treasurer Timothy Cahill

We intend to select a running mate, but it’s an internal process among the candidates, campaign staff, and consultants. Those are the only people who speak for the campaign, on this or any other issue.

-- Rob Gray, spokesman for Charlie Baker

To pretend that now the House has passed this bill is real progress -- it’s at the expense of women’s access to reproductive rights. ... I refuse to acknowledge that this is the best we can do.

Attorney General Martha Coakley

If she’s not going to vote for any bill that’s not perfect, she wouldn’t vote for any bill in history. She would have voted against Medicare, the civil rights bill. ... Realism is something you have to deal with in Washington.

US Representative Michael Capuano

Is this the best use of very, very limited stimulus money for transportation, a pedestrian bridge that basically goes between two parking lots?

-- Marc Draisen, director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council

The Kraft Group fully supports the state’s long-term economic growth initiatives and is proud to have already created thousands of jobs while privately investing nearly a billion dollars in the development of Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place.

Kraft Group spokesman Stacey James

I respect the Wampanoags, but this decision is ridiculous. We are going to have to get serious about alternative energy installations where they make sense, and every environmental and regulatory review has concluded that Cape Wind makes sense.

-- Governor Deval Patrick

It’s heartening. What this is about is where this is being placed. ... We are not against wind power.’’

-- Bettina Washington, tribal historic preservation officer for the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe

I have established both a new way of doing business -- one that is more transparent and forward-looking -- and a new way of thinking about our state's transportation needs.

-- Outgoing Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr.

I think he could have taken credit for his accomplishments without falling into the self-serving trap of denigrating the record that preceded him.

-- Bernard Cohen, who was transportation secretary before Aloisi

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, more debilitating and difficult to deal with than not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from. Destination resort gaming offers hope to families that are struggling, plain and simple.

-- Massachusetts AFL-CIO president Bob Haynes

Why is this not being considered a consumer protection issue when slot machines are very carefully designed to addict people and then to swindle them for everything they have? … We’re talking here about potentially impacting negatively two out of three people in the state.

-- Evelyn T. Reilly, director of public policy for the Massachusetts Family Institute

Massachusetts, if one were to look at the state as a whole and look at how successful the lottery has been, you have a propensity among the residents to enjoy this form of entertainment.

-- Developer David H. Nunes

What is a particular concern is this is a short-term fix. It will be offset by long-term negative economic impacts to municipalities and to taxpayers.

-- Anti-casino activist Kathleen Conley Norbut

Law is a missing piece of the UMass curriculum. This would fill in that gap and provide an affordable public law school option for students.

Jean MacCormack, chancellor of UMass Dartmouth

I don't know how or why anyone would want to be taking on the cost and responsibility of the creation of a public law school when we're trying our hardest to make ends meet with the higher education systems and institutions that we currently have.

Richard Doherty, president and CEO of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts

Often these trips are less about America's role in the world and more about getting a nice perk on the taxpayers' dime

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common sense, a Washington budget watchdog group

If we learned anything from the [Bush] presidency, it is that political leaders must have foreign policy knowledge. That knowledge is enhanced by meeting with foreign dignitaries and the people of other nations.

US Representative Michael Capuano, who is running for the Senate

Steve Pagliuca is somebody who has been a lifelong investor and whose life's work has been in building and growing businesses and understanding the relationship between businesses and the financial markets. On that core issue, he's got a great set of experiences and a lot to offer.

Will Keyser, campaign spokesman for deep-pocketed but little-known US Senate candidate Stephen Pagliuca

You can't just spend money and get there; you have to have something to say. The big question is, can he connect with people?

Democratic strategist Robert M. Shrum, who has advised some winning and losing self-funding candidates

It doesn’t benefit the Police Department to engage in deportation and immigration enforcement. We’re done. I told them to come get the computers.

Framingham Police Chief Steven Carl

They should be putting more of an effort to go after them. They could be pulling them in every minute of the day.

Jim Rizoli, spokesman for a Framingham group called Concerned Citizens and Friends of Illegal Immigration Law Enforcement.

It’s great to live in a neighborhood with an active street life, but you don’t want to get to the point where the activity is so excessive, people don’t want to live there anymore.

Matt Conti, a neighborhood council member whose six-month-old website, northendwaterfront.com, keeps residents informed

Boston is crippled by our post-Puritan trappings, and we should be embracing life after midnight, not hobbling it.

A reader who commented on Conti's blog

The Massachusetts universal coverage plans provides the end consumer with little in the way of choice. The Health Conenctor board defines the Minimum Creditable Coverage requirements and fines you as if you have no insurance if your current plan doesn't meet it.

brufleth

The criminal processes and punishments provided in the ordinance ... contradict well-established goals of rehabilitating, not incarcerating, juvenile offenders.

Supreme Judicial Court Justice Robert J. Cordy

This whole ordinance was enacted to protect children, to keep them safe and keep them out of an environment where harm could come to them. This wasn't done to infringe upon anybody's rights.

Lowell Police Superintendent Kenneth E. Lavallee

This is not a decision I took lightly. I’ve poured a lot of sweat and blood into this place, which I love. But I think the time is right.

Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz

I think that some people will regrettably focus on the past year, but if you look over his whole time at Brandeis, it’s really an impressive record.

Jack Connors, vice chairman of the university trustees

We were given no notice. We don't see how ourselves, or any of the brides, will get their money back.

Margaret Leavitt, whose daughter's wedding was scheduled for this Saturday at the Georgetown Club

We were doing well until the economy crashed. ... It is a business that has run into severe financial crisis.

Dr. Peter Wojtkun, managing partner of the country club

The process of setting senior executives’ compensation at quasis is a very flawed process, with some resulting features which are completely inappropriate.

Stephen Crosby, dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and chairman of the special panel that reviewed the pay.

Our bonus plan does not provide automatic bonuses on an annual basis. Only when the fund exceeds its investment objectives do we even talk about bonuses. If the commission were assembling information this fiscal year, there would be no bonus information for Michael Travaglini.

Michael Travaglini, executive director of the state’s Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, whose $45,000 bonus boosted his pay to $367,000.

The fact that they think this is going to move like a knife through a stick of butter - that this is going to be a ‘shazamm’ bill that goes through - well, it’s not. We're going to slow it down.

-- Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei

I feel quite optimistic that we have the votes on the Senate side. People have thought about the significance of it and people have started moving in a position in support of it.

-- State Senator Robert O' Leary, a Barnstable Democrat

It’s obvious from the acknowledgments already made that there was a violation of the proper procedures. So the best way to remedy this is to see if they can be retrieved, and that’s going to answer a lot of the questions.

-- Secretary of State William F. Galvin

That’s how Michael [Kineavy] is. He’s hugely organized and very diligent. He cleans his desk every night with Windex.

-- Dot Joyce, spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino

This is no time for the people of Massachusetts to not be represented fully in Washington. We need to be in the strongest position possible. Big decisions are being made now, not in five months. And important votes are coming now, not in five months.

Democratic US Senator John F. Kerry

If Kerry Healey were governor today, would you be here advocating as strong as you are now?

Republican State Representative Paul Frost of Auburn

Legalize us before you count us. … Politics is about power and money, and by not giving your information, you’ll be taking away money and power from the politicians.

Fausto da Rocha, a Brazilian immigrant leader in Boston

It’s always disappointing to hear that any individual or organization would suggest to someone not to participate in the census when there’s so much at stake. We hope that people will participate in the census so we’ll have our fair share in Boston and throughout the state.

Kathleen Ludgate, regional director for the census in Boston.

When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books. ... We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.

-- James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing Academy, proponent of the bookless library

There are modes of learning and thinking that at the moment are only available from actual books. There is a kind of deep-dive, meditative reading that’s almost impossible to do on a screen. Without books, students are more likely to do the grazing or quick reading that screens enable, rather than be by themselves with the author’s ideas.

-- William Powers, author of a paper published at Harvard called “Hamlet’s Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal”

The letters reflect the cordiality and mutual respect that ought to characterize relationships within the Catholic community, even when there are serious differences.

-- Rev. Thomas P. Rausch, a professor of Catholic theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles

It's not an endorsement of someone's politics, but a kindness to someone who wrote the Holy Father a heartfelt letter. When someone knows they're nearing death, and they're writing, this really is a time when you're praying for someone's eternal life. What's happened on earth has happened -- that chapter is written -- and this is the next chapter, and we need to pray.

-- Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

No one likes new taxes, but as I see it, these local-option tax increases will help us diversify our revenue stream, which is crucial in times when state aid is being so dramatically reduced.

-- Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, announcing increases in hotel and meals taxes

We had no arguments in favor of raising the taxes. The rationale is that the town has very few restaurants -- four, to be exact -- and the additional taxes wouldn’t have gotten us very far. The selectmen decided the businesses were already in tough enough shape that they didn’t want to add to the burden.

-- Hopedale Town Administrator Eugene Phillips

He's the greatest guy I ever met. He's just the greatest American. He did more for the United States than all the presidents put together

Singer Tony Bennett

We revere him. We all have our stories. The number of times I asked him for help when I was governor, it was never a question. If it was the best thing for the Commonwealth, he was for it

Former Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts

When his brand of liberalism fell out of favor -- and some Democrats fell all over themselves to escape the 'liberal' label -- he continued to wear it proudly. That took courage.

John Sasso, Democratic political consultant who worked on Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign

We have lost a great American hero.

US Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts

You leave the house at 5:40 [a.m.], and you’re still hitting traffic? The last year for me, commuting between Andover and Boston, is the worst it’s ever been, much worse than the Big Dig construction years.

-- Jay McQuaide of Andover, corporate communications manager

While I’m not in any way minimizing the traffic impacts, the result of all this construction is going to be a much better state highway system.

-- Luisa Paiewonsky, commissioner of the Massachusetts Highway Department

The turning point for me was when I was able to see it less as an issue of censorship because we are not suppressing original material. We are just not reprinting what was available elsewhere. . . . At that point, it became a security issue and not a censorship issue.

-- Yale University Press director John Donatich

The metaphor I use is the monster in the woods: You can’t see it at night but you know it’s there, and if you provoke the monster, it’s your responsibility.

-- Brandeis University political scientist Jytte Klausen, author of “The Cartoons that Shook the World"

Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone to forgive. However, Mr. al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power.

-- Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill

Megrahi showed no compassion to the innocent passengers and Scottish villagers he murdered; he should not receive our compassion now. Justice is ill-served by his early release.

-- US Senator John F. Kerry

I thought this would be a nice way to engage people without being confrontational. When someone walks by, we would just say, ‘Is there anything in life we can pray for?’ If the person says, no. that’s it. If the person says, ‘Yeah, my grandmother is really sick,’ then we can open a conversation.

-- Rev. Ed de la Cour, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pocasset

Churches should reach out to people on their own property. I found the public venue of this disturbing and distracting. What happens when another group comes in and another and another?

-- The Rev. Deborah Warner, rector of the Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole

All things being equal, if a terrorist decides, 'OK, we're going to do something like what took place in Mumbai,' well, where would you go? If you have a choice of a metropolitan city, would I go to New York, with 40,000 police officers, would I go to Los Angeles, with 8,000, or would I go to Boston, with 3,500 ... and I know there's no assault rifles in the Boston Police Department?

The sad truth is the battle and Grabauskas' resignation isn't about safety on the MBTA or fare increases. It's about a deep and serious communication divide between the State's 2 top transportation managers who couldn't get over their dislike for eachother. This is what happens when stink of Mass. poltics taints managerial decisions leading to distrust and terminations.

Commenter Debra13

In terms of accessibility, Boston is behind the eight ball. It has not done itself proud. It’s been like getting blood from a stone.

-- Bob Hachey, president of Bay State Council of the Blind.

We really rely on people who use these signals to let us know if they aren’t working. If we know about them, we’ll get them fixed.

-- Jim Gillooly, deputy commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department

Why can't Boston do what it wants with its taxis? It's for the environment.

-- US District Judge William G. Young's 10-year-old grandson, as quoted in the judge's ruling

The answer, Cam, is that the Congress of the United States, pursuing national goals it considers important, has forbidden Boston from taking this initiative on behalf of its citizens.

-- Young's answer to his grandson in the ruling

As we always like to point out: There are no coincidences in Obama world.

Michelle Malkin, a conservative columnist on a question asked by Julia Hall, 11, at a town hall Tuesday in Portsmouth, N.H.

A 100 percent flat denial, completely.

Manning Hall, responding to accusations that her daughter was used as a plant by the Obama administration.

[The ordinance] certainly gives us a little more power to say, 'Look, there's no reason for you to have weapons on you, period. If you do, there will be swift and severe consequences.'

-- Lynn school safety and emergency planning officer Robert Ferrari

Virtually any object, such as a shoe, could be used to attack another person. If the ordinance doesn't clearly delineate specific weapons they have in mind, it has the potential to be overly broad.

-- Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts

I'm not going to get into a tit for tat with a discredited former manager. This is not about Dan Grabauskas, try as he might to make it so.

-- Governor Deval Patrick

Sometimes you're judged by who your enemies are. If that's Deval Patrick and [Transportation Secretary] Jim Aloisi, then I'll take my friends.

-- Former MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas

She was always an example to others, as she dedicated herself to the social Gospel, the Gospel of Life. Her commitment to this Gospel was evidenced in her remarkable work with Special Olympics.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley

Eunice was in many ways the heart and soul of the Kennedy family.

Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian at Rice University

It's like losing a member of the community. Like losing a friend.

-- Debra Grunin, one of the founders of a Facebook page for Freddy the Turkey

We've gotten a lot of angry calls. People wanted us to relocate him, tranquilize him, give him a college education and free medical care. But he had become a menace.

-- Easton Police Sergeant James McAvoy

They end up giving no quarter because they get no quarter. I think the general lack of respect and enforcement aggravates the situation.

-- Jeff Bradford, a frequent cyclist

We have aggressive road conditions. The bikers are bad, the pedestrians are bad, and so are the drivers.

-- Nicole Freedman, Boston's director of bicycle programs

We don’t want to do monitoring that we don’t think needs to be done.

-- Michael J. Hornbrook, chief operating officer for the water authority

How the ocean interacts with things we are putting in it like effluent must be understood. To do that, we need ongoing sampling.

-- Charles “Stormy’’ Mayo, senior scientist at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies

Universities should not be in the business of locking words down. We're in the business of enlightening the world. To lock down common English phrases seems to be antithetical to the spirit of what universities are supposed to be about.

-- Harvard computer science professor Harry Lewis

You need to reserve something in case you intend to use it. We’re strategically protecting it for use at some point down the line.

-- Rick Calixto, director of the Harvard Trademark Program

The news blindsided me. Based on the way I have lived my life, I was surprised to learn I tested positive.

-- David Ortiz's statement

He was a hero to a lot of us, and now it feels diluted somehow. It just doesn't feel good.

-- Chris Healy of Norwich, Vt.

I'm a no-new-taxes candidate. ... Yeah, read my lips. No new taxes.

-- Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker

That's a message that is stuck in the past, that is stuck in rhetoric.

-- Democratic Governor Deval Patrick

We have certainly lost confidence in the general manager's ability to take ownership of the failings of an agency he has led for five years.

-- Letter written by three MBTA board members to Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr.

I think people see this for what it is, which is just more obvious politics from the Patrick administration and his appointees.

-- MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas

This is an individual who has admitted to egregious peer-to-peer use, and instead of accepting responsibility for his actions and settling in a reasonable manner, he’s chosen to wage a protracted legal battle.

-- Cara Duckworth, recording industry spokeswoman

Cyberspace is a space for sharing. ... From the first burst of Napster into the lives of the born-digital generation the recording industry’s physical hold on its catalog of copyrighted music was gone. The music was and continues to be out in cyberspace in format sharable for free by anyone with a net connection. That was and is the effect of technological progress, not Joel Tenenbaum’s fault.

-- Harvard professor Charles Nesson's blog

Looking for a roommate, it's a bit of a blow to the ego. But it all boils down to: you gotta do what you gotta do.

-- John Murphy, 51, of Milton

I probably should have said no right away, but I thought about it.

-- Gayle White, 43, of Boylston, on a prospective roommate who disclosed that he was a nudist

I don't think he should have made any comments at all in the first place. If he hadn't said anything at all, then he wouldn't had to have had this meeting. … Being the president, he should have taken the high road and stayed out of it.

-- Michelle Freeman, 28, Jamaica Plain

I think this will be good effort to defuse the situation. Any effort to reach out to the individuals is a good idea.

-- Shemetra Owens, 42, Roxbury

Our point was not to be a pioneer. The focus was on safety. In high doses, these caffeine drinks are not good for kids, and if we can provide parents with an incentive not to give them, well, we will.

-- Dudley-Charlton School Superintendent Sean Gilrein

Energy drinks are safe. But like any other food or beverage, they need to be consumed sensibly.

-- Tracey Halliday, spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association

I don't think it was the president's place to interfere. He's creating a racial divide, and I think it's totally inappropriate.

-- Joan Van Dorn, Cambridge resident

What the president said was right on. When you're dealing with a sensitive racial situation, you have to know how to deal with it professionally. One would hope Cambridge would be better at this than other places, but there's no evidence that it is.

-- Daniel Klubock, Cambridge human rights commission member

“I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."

President Obama

"I think he is way off base wading into a local issue before knowing all the facts."

Sergeant James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department

In this climate, it doesn’t make any sense. The transportation system has enough design documents sitting on shelves collecting dust.

-- Senator Steven A. Baddour, co-chair of the Transportation Committee

Obviously, we want to see this project built, but it can’t get there without design and engineering.

-- Noah Chesnin, program assistant with the Conservation Law Foundation