Insight: “The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures.” —Luc de Clapiers (1715-1747)

Observations: “I’ve noticed a phenomenon among Gen Z. Many of them don’t want to get their drivers licenses at 16. Independence isn’t exciting. Many don’t date or talk to people they like beyond Snapchat. Communication in general is anxiety-inducing. It’s like they’re emotionally stunted. Why?” —Allie Beth Stuckey

For the record: “I realized pretty quickly that if you look up ‘stupid stuff’ in the dictionary, there’s a picture of this [infrastructure] bill. They told us it was a real infrastructure bill. It’s not. Only 23% of the bill is real infrastructure. The rest is Green New Deal and welfare. They told us the bill was paid for. It isn’t. We’re gonna have to borrow maybe up to $400 billion to pay for it. They told us there were no tax increases. There are. My state’s gonna have to pay $1.3 billion in new taxes on our petrochemical industry. … They told us that it’s not going to add to inflation, but it will.” —Senator John Kennedy

Belly laugh of the week: “[Governor Andrew Cuomo has] done a hell of a job. … That’s why [his resignation is] so sad.” —Joe Biden

No big deal… “Hopefully, [child masking] will be a temporary thing, temporary enough that it doesn’t have any lasting negative impact on them.” —Dr. Anthony Fauci

Authoritarianism I: “I know people must like to have their individual freedom and not be told to do something, but I think we’re in such a serious situation now that, under certain circumstances, mandates should be done.” —Dr. Anthony Fauci

Authoritarianism II: “As a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers, not opposing them, on vaccine mandates and all their vaccine policies.” —American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, who added, “It weighs really heavily on me that kids under 12 can’t get vaccinated.”

Non compos mentis: “The viral load in Florida is so high right now, there are only really two places on the planet where it’s higher. One is Louisiana, and the other is Botswana. It’s so high in Florida that I think that if Florida were another country, we would have to consider banning travel from Florida to the United States.” —CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner

Grand delusions: “CNN management said back in May that Chris [Cuomo] crossed the line by [abetting his brother, Andrew] and he apologized to colleagues for it. Some critics said he should have been suspended or even fired. But I’m going to level with you. Telling a well-off host to hang out by the pool for a couple of weeks is not a real punishment. … Scolding a host in public, saying what they did was ‘inappropriate,’ that is an actual punishment.” —CNN’s Brian Stelter

And last… “[The] federal government ought to get the living daylights out of our life and stop telling us how to lead our lives.” —Senator Rick Scott