Insight: “Every actual state is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Observations: “Never having been required to sacrifice for anything and told we should always expect more and better of everything, we feel our right of entitlement has been unfairly stolen from us. Not knowing what sacrifice looks like we are unable to react to it in a positive way, a way that is more likely to lift us from our current circumstances, or at least sustain us in them. Those previous generations would shake their heads at how we are reacting to current economic challenges.” —Cal Thomas

Irony: “One reason that we didn’t want hospitals to get overrun by COVID-19 patients is that we’d crowd out everyone else needing care, but we’ve ended up crowding out many people needing care as a deliberate choice — even where COVID-19 surges haven’t happened and probably never will.” —Rich Lowry

Upright: “Many policies that would be unthinkable in regular times have become commonplace in recent weeks, and we do not want to unduly interfere with the important efforts of state and local officials to protect the public. But the Constitution is not suspended in times of crisis.” —Attorney General William Barr

For the record: “The Democrats don’t wanna come back. I think they should be back here but … they’re enjoying their vacation. … You look at Nancy Pelosi eating ice cream on late-night television. Yeah, I think … they’re having a good time. … I think they should all come back and we should work on this together.” —Donald Trump

Braying jenny: “Every form of healthcare should continue to be available, including reproductive healthcare for every woman in this country. And then it needs to be part of a much larger system that eventually — and quickly, I hope — gets us to universal healthcare. … This would be a terrible crisis to waste, as the old saying goes.” —Hillary Clinton

Demo-gogues: “I wish this were us doing this and my supporting your reelection for president of the United States. You won the majority of the vote.” —Joe Biden

Dezinformatsiya: “China always stands against disinformation campaign. We are victim rather than producer of disinformation. Peddling disinformation and recrimination are by no means prescription for international anti-pandemic cooperation and should be rejected by all.” —Chinese Foreign Ministry, which subsequently bloviated: “When did the first infection occur in the US? Is the US government hiding something? Why they opt to blame others? American people and the international community need an answer from the US government.”

And last… “Two months ago, de Blasio was encouraging New Yorkers to go to the movies. A month ago, he was threatening to close churches permanently. Last night, he said he was going to start rounding up the Jews. The moral of the story is that de Blasio is an evil, incompetent goon.” —Matt Walsh