Insight: “The grand paradox of our society is this: we magnify man’s right but we minimize his capacities.” —Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970)

“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. A recovery is when Dr. Fauci loses his.” —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

“[Biden’s vaccine] mandate is yet another attack on frontline workers, first responders, small businesses, and the rights of the American people. Additionally, by taking months to draft this order and shifting the deadline to after the holidays for political gain, Biden has completely undermined any emergency justification for this unlawful overreach. While I am pro-vaccine, the Biden administration does not have the authority to force hardworking Americans to choose between being vaccinated and providing for their families.” —Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel

Friendly fire I: “[Terry] McAuliffe’s loss is a victory for all Americans. Why? Because it was a resounding rejection of efforts to divide us by race, the stripping of parental rights, and arrogant, deaf leaders. This benefits us all.” —Tulsi Gabbard

Friendly fire II: “Nobody elected [Biden] to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.” —Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger

Democrat buzzkill: “We don’t have the numbers that FDR had or that Lyndon Baines Johnson had in order to get some major, major legislation done.” —Senator Joe Manchin

For the record: “This is not a center-left or a left country. We are a center, if anything a center-right country. That’s being shown. And we ought to be able to recognize that.” —Joe Manchin

Flip-flop: “So, if it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of zero tolerance and family separation behind us, the President is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the U.S. government. … The President was — what he was reacting to was the dollar figure that was mentioned.” —Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

Dumb and dumber: “If you are worried about inflation, it’s important to understand why it’s happening: supply chain, labor, and healthcare complications. We can address these issues by investing in infrastructure, wages, healthcare & benefits. … Conservatives argue against raising wages by claiming it’ll raise prices. But that isn’t reliably supported [with] historic data. However, what we’re seeing now is perhaps an ex. of prices rising when wages/benefits are too low — not enough workers, hurts supply chain, prices hike.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

No sugarcoating it: “I’m very scientific about elections. … But it was not a good night.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding Election Day

Huh? “I’m about trying to get things done, and we’re going to pass both these bills through the House. That’s what I took from [Tuesday] night’s election, is that families across the country are hurting and they want us to help them, and that’s what we’re going to do with the Build Back Better agenda.” —Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

Race bait I: “It’s not the messaging, folks. This country simply loves white supremacy.” —Atlantic contributor Jemele Hill

Race bait II: “These Republicans are dangerous. … They’re dangerous to our national security, because stoking that kind of soft white nationalism eventually leads to the hardcore stuff. It leads to the January 6 stuff.” —MSNBC’s Joy Reid

Race bait III: “[Glenn Youngkin] ran a campaign that was a throwback to pre-Trump Republicanism: racial appeals to working-class white voters.” —Politico

And last…