Great Throughts Treasury

"A successful economic development strategy must focus on improving the skills of the area's workforce, reducing the cost of doing business and making available the resources business needs to compete and thrive in today's global economy."

"Do you have the testicular virility to make a decision like that, knowing what's coming your way and then stick to it, which is what I did, and knowing all of this that we're dealing with now is what we have to deal with? I say I do."

"Dec. 9 to my family, to us, to me, is what Pearl Harbor Day was to the United States. ? Jan. 22, 2009 about the day of his arrest."

"Biofuels are the future of energy in this nation and around the world."

"Each proposed B-2 stealth bomber costs three times more than it would if every part of the plane were made from solid gold. The cost is $2.3 billion each."

"Hey, let me ask you a question? Do you think I get up every single day wasting my time doing that? I get up trying to get health care done for people, education funding, create jobs--the stuff that people care about, doing things for people."

"Health care is not a privilege. It's a right. It's a right as fundamental as civil rights. It's a right as fundamental as giving every child a chance to get a public education."

"For the same reason we don't allow kids to buy pornography, for the same reason we don't allow kids to buy cigarettes, for the same reason we don't allow kids to buy alcohol, we shouldn't allow them to go to stores and buy video games."

"By the way, I should say, if anyone wants to tape my conversations, go right ahead, feel free to do it. I appreciate anybody who wants to tape me openly."

"Ask any woman and she'll tell you: health care for women is more expensive than it is for men. In fact, during their reproductive years, women spend 68% more on health care than men do."

"I don?t believe there?s any cloud that hangs over me. I think there?s nothing but sunshine hanging over me. ? Dec. 8, 2008, one day before his arrest on corruption charges."

"I have confidence that they do things right. They don't break the law or make any promises or deals or quid pro quos. Those are obvious and I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to figure out you shouldn't do those things."

"I know each fund has its supporters, and that some will not want to see the surplus go to schools. But, in tough times, you have to set priorities. And our priority is education."

"I love the people of Illinois more today than I did before. And if it's a case of unrequited love at this point, I'll just have to work extra hard to get them to love me again."

"I should say if anybody wants to tape my conversations, go right ahead, feel free to do it. I appreciate anybody who wants to tape me openly and notoriously, and those who feel like they want to sneakily, and wear taping devices, I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate."

"I think the most important thing is [to] restore a sense of idealism and end the cynicism in state government. Bring to the job a desire to really make things happen and help people and give confidence back to the public."

"I?m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up. ? in an interview with Esquire magazine for its February 2010 issue."

"I will continue to get up every single day to work as hard as I possibly can for the people, starting tomorrow, where I hope to meet with the legislative leaders so that we can balance the budget in a way that's fair and helps people, and to pass a capital construction program that will stimulate our economy and create more than 500,000 jobs."

"I?ve got this thing and it?s f?ing golden, and, uh, uh, I?m just not giving it up for f?-in? nothing. I?m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there."

"I will fight, I will fight, I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong."

"I?m Icarus, who flew too close to the sun. And I crashed to the ground."

"I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up."

"I'm happy to make an appointment, talk to you guys about that. But I feel real good about all the different things that we do because we follow the rules and we do things right and at the end of the day, as they say in the Bible, the truth shall set you free. The truth is what it is. And the truth is we do things right."

"I'm going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain. You hear what I?m saying. And if I don?t get what I want and I'm not satisfied with it, then I'll just take the Senate seat myself."

"If you don't take enough math classes or science classes or writing intensive classes, you're not going to be prepared to compete in college or the workplace -- no matter what your diploma says."

"I'll do anything, legal and ethical and honest."

"I'm not worried about anything. What I'm a little concerned about is the lack of integrity and the sensationalism of some of the reporters who exaggerate and with hysterical sensationalism overstate and are dishonest about how they report some of the things."

"It's absurd, ludicrous, ridiculous, outlandish, OK? Accusations by scoundrels, OK?"

"I've got this thing and it's fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for fuckin' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there."

"I'm simply going to say, whatever letter of the alphabet you want to put on something, what's described there does not describe how I operate or how I do things, and all I'm going to say about a court case that I'm not involved in is that there's not anything for me to say."

"Let me ask you one question: Are you with me? Or am I. By. My. Self!"

"Kids today are technologically sophisticated. In many families, they are far ahead of their parents"

"One of the greatest challenges in collecting child support is that deadbeat dads move from job to job and state to state. it's hard to keep track of them."

"Let's put aside the politics and trust the people. Let's embrace the unique opportunity we all have; take the heat and make the hard and difficult decisions, knowing that we're doing it to make things better for the people of Illinois."

"Parents don't need government to raise their kids. That's their job. But government can help them protect their children from influences they may not want their kids exposed to"

"Our children's health and well-being are dependent on our commitment to promoting food access and good eating habits at home, at school and in the community."

"Part of protecting our homeland means being less dependent on foreign countries for our energy."

"The Ryan administration ended their days in office by using the power at their discretion to put friends and associates in high-paying jobs, he said. I intend to use every power I have and my discretion as governor to eliminate unqualified, unnecessary and overpaid individuals wherever I find them in state government."

"This kind of examination isn't a bad thing if you're confident that your systems are working and that you know that you try to do things honestly, ethically and responsibly."

"Unless I get something real good for [Senate Candidate 1], shit, I'll just fuck myself, you know what I'm saying."

"Today I am signing a bill into law that finally gives Illinois revolutionary ethics reform. We are not just tinkering at the edges, tweaking here and tightening there. Today we are re-establishing the primacy of principle over politics, and in Illinois that constitutes real change."

"We have to seize this moment and enact meaningful ethics reform. After all we've been through, we cannot expect the people just instinctively to trust their government. We can't just pay lip service to the need for ethics reform and expect them to go along."

"We will meet our challenges head on and we will do it by rejecting the politics of mediocrity and corruption. You voted for change; I intend to deliver it... I will govern as a reformer."

"We do everything right."

"We have to be sure [students] understand that racial, national, ethnic, and religious hatred can lead to horrible tragedies."

"We won't tolerate wrongdoing and that we will work to ferret out wrongdoing and work with those who are on the same side of trying to make sure that people do their work, they do it well, and that we're responsible to the taxpayers."

"Whatever happened to a sense of idealism and embracing an idea that will help people and, in this case, children?"