Insight: “All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.” —English philosopher William Kingdon Clifford (1845-1879)

Upright: “Today the moral horror of slavery is so widely condemned that it is hard to realize that there were thousands of years when slavery was practiced around the world by people of virtually every race. Even the leading moral and religious thinkers in different societies accepted slavery as just a fact of life. … What was special about America was not that it had slavery, which existed all over the world, but that Americans were among the very few peoples who began to question the morality of holding human beings in bondage. That was not yet a majority view among Americans in the 18th century, but it was not even a serious minority view in non-Western societies at that time.” —Thomas Sowell

Gun rights: “The discussion over the debate to own a gun is just ridiculous. As Americans we have the right to bear arms and as humans the right to protect ourselves. I’m sure that the man who shot my husband did not have a gun permit. Criminals will always have guns. The rest of us legally obtain our gun permits. If you don’t want to carry, please don’t. Then, shut the f— up about it.” —former CNN anchor Lynne Russell, whose husband killed an armed assailant last week

Cognitive dissonance: “We are in a different place as a result of the Snowden disclosures. His actions spurred a necessary debate… I certainly think there could be a basis for a resolution that everybody could ultimately be satisfied with. I think the possibility exists [that he’ll return to the U.S.]” —Eric Holder

Village Idiots: “You’ll recall that the piece of legislation that was blocked by Republicans in the House of Representatives actually included the biggest-ever increase in border security.” —Josh Earnest, blaming Republicans for the murder of a San Francisco woman by a five-time-deported illegal immigrant

And last… “Solution to Supreme Court is make it like jury duty. Grab people off the street to rule based on plain meaning of language in Constitution. The Constitution is a frick'n six page document. Doesn’t require years as a judge to understand anymore than rules to Monopoly.” —Frank Fleming