Insight: “Character assassination is at once easier and surer than physical assault; and it involves far less risk for the assassin. It leaves him free to commit the same deed over and over again, and may, indeed, win him the honors of a hero in the country of his victims.” —Alan Barth (1906-1979)

Demo-gogues: “I actually think that honesty is not overrated. I think it is absolutely necessary, because the trust you have with the American people is currency that can get depleted and is hard to build back up.” —Barack Obama

Setting a low bar: “I feel as if I’m a better president than I’ve ever been.” —Barack Obama

Upright: “Hillary Clinton can harp all she wants to about the Republicans’ ‘darkness,’ but her evidence of our darkness is that we are pointing out the darkness of the Democrats’ policies and record. Pointing out darkness is not darkness. It is our patriotic duty to contrast that darkness with the luminous potential of a strong, prosperous and free America — an America that Democrats have forsaken.” —David Limbaugh

Good questions: “If the Russians had the DNC emails, did they also have Hillary’s secretary of state emails from her private server? And if [the Russians] released them to WikiLeaks, that could really be the end of her candidacy.” —former Clinton operative Dick Morris

Divide and conquer: “It might ma[ke] no difference, but for [Kentucky] and [West Virginia] can we get someone to ask his belief[?] Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several [percentage] points difference. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.” —DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall in a May email that was leaked

And last… “Seems like Democratic convention will go completely smoothly so long as no one mentions Hillary Clinton’s name from the podium.” —Rich Lowry