Mitt Romney

I love my dad. It's fair to say that I probably would not have thought of politics had I not seen my mom and dad involved in politics.

Culture, what you believe, what you value, how you live matters. Now, as fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debates from time to time, so it is today with the enduring institution of marriage. Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.

I'd rather see the tax for innovation reduced rather than expanded.

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.

The right way to reign in healthcare costs is not by applying more government and more controls and making it more like the post office, it's by making it more like a consumer-driven market.

To win the nomination, you speak to people who vote in Republican primaries. And they tend not to be millennials or minorities... When I win the nomination and show up at a black church, they say, 'Where have you been Mr. Romney?'

I like the 'Twilight' series. That was fun.

The American people I talk to don't spend every moment thinking, 'How can I tax my neighbor more than they're being taxed?' They say, 'How can I get a good job? How can my kids get good jobs? How can seniors have a confidence in their future when they know that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt?'

I have a Missouri Fox Trotter. So mine's like a quarter horse, but just a much better gait - it moves very fast.

The voters of the country decide who they want to support, and the delegates are elected to also make a determination of who would be in the best interest of the party and the country to be our nominee.

I'm very much engaged in the political battles. But I'm doing it as a supporter of Republicans... rather than as an active candidate.

Good Democrats love America. Good Republicans love America. We need a leader who understands not just the words of unity but the practice of building unity.

I would love to say to all Americans: 'Each candidate is going to produce a film of an hour and a half. You're going to watch one from each candidate, and then you're going to vote!'

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.

I lost my election because of my campaign, not because of what anyone else did.

I talk a great deal to prior Secretaries of State about policy issues.

On one of the most personal matters of our lives, our health care, President Obama would turn decision making over to government bureaucrats. He forced through Obama-care and I will repeal it.

We Americans have always felt a special kinship with the future.

My dad had been born in Mexico and his family had to leave during the Mexican revolution.

The invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy hand of government.

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.

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.

Millennials, minorities, women - until we can connect with those populations, we're going to have some difficulty electorally.

Fairness dictates that the highest income people should pay the greatest share of taxes, and they do.

The big story of 2013, a very distressing year, is that Americans continue not to be able to find the full-time jobs they need, and that's something which the president has to recognize as the first priority of his administration.

Pre-existing conditions for those previously insured must not lead to someone being unable to get insurance.

Today's misery is real unemployment, home foreclosures and bankruptcies. This is the Obama Misery Index and its at a record high. Its going to take more than new rhetoric to put Americans back to work - its going to take a new president.

Were it my choice, I would not vote for Russia to hold the Winter Olympics or the Summer Olympics. But it's not my choice.

Education is the investment our generation makes in the future.

Free enterprise cannot only make us better off financially, it can make us better people.

When it comes to the economy, my highest priority as President will be worrying about your job, not saving my own.

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

Ah, it's too hard to pick a favorite president. It really is. It's like picking your favorite from a box of chocolates - I love all of them.

Our nation is too different, too diverse to say that what works in Massachusetts is somehow going to be grabbed by the federal government, usurping the power of states and imposing a one-size-fits-all plan on the nation. That will not work.

One of the best things that can happen to any cause, to any people, is to have Bill Clinton as its advocate. That is how needy and neglected causes have become global initiatives.

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.

If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's President Obama? You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him.

While I was governor, 85 percent of the people on a form of welfare assistance in my state had no work requirement. I wanted to increase the work requirement.

I hope people understand that when you tax corporations that the concrete and the steel and the plastic don't pay. People pay. And so when you tax corporations, either the employees are going to pay or the shareholders are going to pay or the customers are going to pay. And so corporations are people.

My dad was phenomenal. Born in Mexico, lived poor, didn't graduate from college, and becomes head of a car company and then governor of a state. I can't imagine I would have ever thought about running for office had I not seen my dad do it.

By making bold cuts in spending and commonsense entitlement reforms, we will make our government simpler, smaller, and smarter.

Third, we will make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements. And when nations cheat in trade, there will be unmistakable consequences.

Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution. And whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.

I was born in the middle of the century in the middle of the country, a classic Baby Boomer.

Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.

There are a lot of folks who endorsed me that I would not want to see as president.

I am a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit.

I'm a policy guy, believe it or not. I love policy. I love solving tough problems.

When you run for president as I have, and you lose, it doesn't mean you stop caring. I care very deeply.

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.

I happen to love the patriotic songs of America.

If you want to get wages up in America for middle income Americans, there's only one way I know how to do that in real terms... by having more businesses want to hire more people.

I think people should have the common courtesy and judgment - the good judgment - not to be - not to offend other peoples' faiths.

I believe that people of faith by and large have a great interest in the institution of family and that a family is a great place to learn leadership skills. I'm sure I benefited by having a mom and mad, both of whom were actively involved in the community and in various enterprises.

This is the America that I love. This is a great people. We can do anything. We can achieve anything. We've got a government that has gotten in the way of the American people. We're going to change that in November.

So, for instance, let me make this clear: You know I signed a statement. I will not raise taxes on anybody. I don't want to raise taxes on the American people.

It seems that the first victim of an Obama campaign is the truth. It seems that the first victim of an Obama campaign is the truth.

Republicans prefer straight talk to politically correct talk!

The President of the United States has long been the leader of the free world. The president and, yes, the nominees of the country's great parties help define America to billions of people. All of them bear the responsibility of being an example for our children and grandchildren.

I'm a pretty analytical guy, all right?

When I was elected governor of my state, I had a legislature 87 percent Democrat. It was not lost on me that to get anything done, I couldn't be attacking them. I had to find ways to reach out to them.

During the Reagan years, government shut down eight different times under a Democrat Congress. The president and Congress worked together and got things straightened out. Under the Carter years, again a Democrat Congress, the government shut down five times.

When President Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon, the question wasn't whether we'd get there, it was only when we'd get there.

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

We expect candor and transparency from the president, from the administration.

There's no question I'm going to do everything within the normal political bounds to make sure we don't nominate Donald Trump.

What's at the heart of my faith is a belief that there's a creator. That we're all children of the same God. And that, fundamentally, the relationship you have with your spouse is important and eternal.

President Barack Obama has stood watch over the greatest job loss in modern American history. And that, my friends, is one inconvenient truth that will haunt this President throughout history.

America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home.

I've met people of great faith. I sat in the home of Billy Graham and in the residence of Cardinal Dolan and prayed with these men of God.

Humanity is not common in its views.

The right course is for the Palestinians and the Israelis to sit down at the table together. The Palestinians need to recognize that the course to the two-state solution is not through the United Nations or through the United States or through anyone else, but through a face to face series of negotiations with the Israelis.

I think that the effort to continue to look for some law to somehow make violence go away is missing the point.

You know, out-of-touch liberals like Barack Obama say they want a strong economy, but in everything they do, they show they don't like business very much. But the economy, of course, is simply the product of all the businesses of the nation added together. So it's a bit like saying you like an omelet, but you don't like eggs.

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.

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

An earthquake strikes Haiti, and care packages from America are among the first to arrive - and not far behind are former Presidents Clinton and Bush.

Through pro-growth policies, by abolishing Obamacare and eliminating other Obama-imposed impediments to economic growth, we will get our economy back on track.

Now, let me be clear. The path I lay out is not one paved with ever increasing government checks and cradle to grave assurance that government will always be the solution. If this election is a bidding war for who can promise the most goodies and the most benefits, I'm not your president. You have that president today.

The decision to withdraw our missile defense sites from Poland put us in greater jeopardy, in my view.

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise... is to help you and your family.

Religious freedom opens a door for Americans that is closed to too many others around the world. But whether we walk through that door, and what we do with our lives after we do, is up to us.

I have a PC. My sons have a Mac and swear by it, but I have a couple PC's.

I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following.

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

When it comes to pinning blame pin the tail on the donkeys.

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.

A white male Mormon millionaire was not gonna beat Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts, but someone deserved to go out there and give him a real run for his money.

Leadership - leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.

Our plans protect freedom and opportunity, and our blueprint is the Constitution of the United States.

Happiness, for me, is a function of the number of people I love, and I think joy and happiness is directly related to how many people are in our lives and how deeply we are bonded with those people.

Washington has to become an ally of business, not the opposition of business.

Donald Trump just happens to be one of those who endorsed me I do not want to see as president of the United States.

We're going to have to rely on the world of Islam, major Islamic nations, to take the lead in helping promote a very different view of Islam - peace and understanding, as opposed to the radicalization going on. The Saudis and UAE and Qatar and others are going to have to take a leading role in changing hearts and minds in the world of Islam.

On our watch, the conversation with a would-be suicide bomber will not begin with the words, 'You have the right to remain silent.'

I stand ready to lead us down a different path where we're lifted up by our desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success.

I don't know any nation on Earth that succeeded in creating a strong middle class with rising wages based on building a stronger and bigger government.

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

I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter - small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so, and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then.

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