It is time to cut out the mountains of waste and inefficiency and duplication in the federal government.

Frankly, I was born with a silver spoon.

Donald Trump represents a threat both to the party and to the country. I believe he makes the world far more dangerous, I believe he puts America's economy in jeopardy. And his temperament is totally unsuited for the presidency.

Our economy is on the move and we are creating thousands of new jobs, but we need to keep our foot on the gas pedal.

Mike Dukakis, you know, he can't get a job mowing lawns.

I would love to be president. I just concluded I was not the best person to carry forward the Republican torch.

Three years ago, this week, a newly elected President Obama faced the American people and he said, look, if I can't turn this economy around in three years, I'll be looking at a one-term proposition, and we're here to collect! You know the results. It's been 35 months of unemployment above 8 percent.

I understand that in some industries, the input cost of energy is a major factor in whether an industry is going to locate in the United States or go elsewhere.

I love practical jokes and humor. That there's frankly no joke that I don't think is funny. I love practical jokes, but I don't like being scared.

The real people who suffer when business is leaving or not successful are the people in the middle class.

Keep America strong. Strong in our values, strong in our economy, and strong in our military might. We hope to never have to use our military strength, but the world counts on a strong America to keep the worst actors from doing the worst things.

If Bill Weld were at the top of the ticket, it would be very easy for me to vote for Bill Weld for president.

Perhaps religious conscience upsets the designs of those who feel that the highest wisdom and authority comes from government. But from the beginning, this nation trusted in God, not man. Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution.

Freedom. Freedom of religion. Freedom to speak their mind. Freedom to build a life. And yes, freedom to build a business. With their own hands. This is the essence of the American experience.

I am far from the first to conclude that Donald Trump lacks the temperament to be president.

John Kerry was always in front of the camera but not out doing the hard work.

I must admit I found it astonishing to watch the candidates below Donald Trump beat up each other and never lay a glove on the front-runner. I mean, when I was running, everybody went after the front-runner and pointed out my weaknesses and foibles, and that's part of the normal primary process.

Opportunity expands when there is excellence and choice in education, when taxes are lowered, when every citizen has affordable, portable health insurance and when constitutional freedoms are preserved.

My leadership will end the Obama era and begin a new era of American prosperity.

I believe that if America does not lead, others will - others who do not share our interests and our values - and the world will grow darker, for our friends and for us.

I've been on Letterman a couple of times. I've been on Leno more than a couple times, and now Letterman hates me because I've been on Leno more than him. They're very jealous of one another, as you know.

That makes no sense for someone to say if they were drafted by their country, that they'd say no.

A person like Donald Trump, who has said what he's said about Muslims, Mexicans, women, George Bush, John McCain - a person like that should not be the nominee of our party or be the president, and I will campaign for an alternative to Donald Trump until that avenue is no longer open.

Without Romneycare, I don't think we would have Obamacare.

Dependency is death to initiative, to risk-taking and opportunity. It's time to stop the spread of government dependency and fight it like the poison it is.

At a time when nobody thought we'd ever see a new steel mill built in America, we took a chance and built one in a corn field in Indiana. Today Steel Dynamics is one of the largest steel producers in the United States.

I know what it's like to start a business. I know how extra ordinarily difficult it is to build something from nothing. I know how government kills jobs and, yes, I know how it can help from time- to-time.

I believe in America. I believe in free enterprise.

A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us and we will win.

The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall', a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire.

We look to our pastors and priests and rabbis and counselors of all kinds to testify of the enduring principles upon which our society is built: honesty, charity, integrity and family.

Second, we will give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow. When it comes to the school your child will attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should have a chance.

Men and women of every faith and good people with none at all sincerely strive to do right and lead a purpose-driven life.

I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose, and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.

I feel very deeply about the need to respect and tolerate people of different social - or sexual orientation. But at the same time, I believe marriage should be preserved as an institution for one man and one woman.

My view is that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. That's the position I've had for some time, and I don't intend to make any adjustments at this point... Or ever, by the way.

In every stump speech I give, I speak about the fact that people who dream and achieve enormous success do not make us poorer - they make us better off.

The greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran. A nuclear North Korea is already troubling enough.

In the richest country in the history of the world, this Obama economy has crushed the middle class. Family income has fallen by $4,000, but health insurance premiums are higher, food prices are higher, utility bills are higher, and gasoline prices have doubled. Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before.

I've been looking at some video clips on YouTube of President Obama - then candidate Obama - going through Iowa making promises. The gap between his promises and his performance is the largest I've seen, well, since the Kardashian wedding and the promise of 'til death do we part.

Conservatism has had from its inception vigorously positive, intellectually rigorous agenda and thinking. That agenda should have in my three pillars: strengthen the economy, strengthen our security, and strengthen our families.

If I have a bad hair day, I just think, 'Well, it will be an OK hair day tomorrow. Just put your head down and go.'

Consulting offered me an opportunity to see a lot of different businesses in different regions of the world, to see how textiles were being affected by foreign competition, how technology was changing.

When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. I can still hear her saying in her beautiful voice, 'Why should women have any less say than men, about the great decisions facing our nation?'

Reforming the way the state works with businesses and providing incentives for employers will help preserve and create new jobs in Massachusetts.

I could have possibly beaten Senator McCain in the primary. Then I could have been the candidate who lost to Barack Obama.

I believe in my Mormon faith, and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers - I will be true to them and to my beliefs.

People from both political parties have long recognized that welfare without work creates negative incentives that lead to permanent poverty. It robs people of self-esteem.

Now not every policy Donald Trump has floated is bad. He wants to repeal and replace Obamacare. He wants to bring jobs home from China and Japan. But his prescriptions to do these things are flimsy at best.

If you believe the disappointments - if you believe the disappointments in the last few years are a detour and not our destiny, then I'm asking for your vote.