Hummingbird Weekly Quote. 2024 Edition.

Editor’s Note:  Hummingbird is pleased to continue our collection of eminently quotable people and their thoughts. Each week a new one will be added. The quote might be ripped out of today’s headlines, or possibly sage words from writers we have known over time. Regardless, the purpose is to engage and entertain you--to present something you might agree or disagree with; maybe laugh (or cry) about.  

July 1, 2024
”Biden should call former Presidents Clinton and Obama to the White House and decide on five Democratic stars to address their convention in August. ‘You know what the ratings for that would be? The whole world would watch and people would go, “Oh, God, they have real talent!”’ Carville said the president should give a July 4 speech announcing he will let the next generation of Democratic leaders bloom. The 79-year-old strategist dryly noted that you can’t win a contest against aging. Maureen Dowd, Opinion Writer, NYT, recounting her conversation with James Carville, Democratic Strategist

June 24, 2024
“When there are mistakes, that’s usually how the goal chances occur. Going into Game 7, I can’t really expect what kind of game it’s going to be. I just know that our players are going to be excited for it, loving the challenge. They’ve been enjoying this, the whole process.” Kris Knoblauch, Edmonton Coach 

June 17, 2024
"There is no seatbelt for parents to click, no helmet to snap in place, no assurance that trusted experts have investigated and ensured that these platforms are safe for our kids. There are just parents and their children, trying to figure it out on their own, pitted against some of the best product engineers and most well-resourced companies in the world...

The moral test of any society is how well it protects its children. Students like Tina and mothers like Lori do not want to be told that change takes time, that the issue is too complicated or that the status quo is too hard to alter. We have the expertise, resources and tools to make social media safe for our kids. Now is the time to summon the will to act. Our children’s well-being is at stake." Vivek H. Murthy, MD, US Surgeon General

June 10, 2024
“No one believed in this horse. Those last two races are throw-outs. I told Luis 'you run your race, nobody’s going to beat you.'” Danny Gargan, Trainer, Dornoch, 2024 Belmont Stakes Winner

June 3, 2024
“Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won her nation’s elections on Sunday in a landslide victory that brought a double milestone: She became the first woman, and the first Jewish person, to be elected president of Mexico.

“Early results indicated that Ms. Sheinbaum, 61, prevailed in what the authorities called the largest election in Mexico’s history, with the highest number of voters taking part and the most seats up for grabs.

“It was a landmark vote that saw not one, but two, women vying to lead one of the hemisphere’s biggest nations. And it will put a Jewish leader at the helm of one of the world’s largest predominantly Catholic countries.” NYT: Natalie Kitroeff, Simon Romero and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

May 27, 2024
“The legacy of brave men and women who have fought and died for their country is the freedom we enjoy as Americans.” Lucian Adams

May 21, 2024
“At the end of the day, it comes down to the youth and the community being outspoken. So I encourage everyone to vote, and use your voice regardless of who you vote for. There’s no point in complaining (about) the political climate of the world if you don’t exercise your right to vote. I feel like sometimes in my generation, people think their vote doesn’t count. We should just all just use our voices and use the power that we have.” Coco Gauff, U.S. Open Champion, Florida Constituent

May 13, 2024
“They haven’t learned to drive yet, but they are excellent travelers.” Shell Lewis, dog owner from Illinois re: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

May 6, 2024
“We also do not want to deprive thousands of students and their families and friends of a graduation celebration. Many of them are the first in their families to earn a university degree. We owe it to all of our graduates and their loved ones to honor their achievement.” Nemat Shafik, PhD, President Columbia University

April 29, 2024
“The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas. They have to decide and they have to decide quickly. I'm hopeful that they will make the right decision.” Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State

April 22, 2024
“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” Golda Meir, Former Israeli Prime Minister

April 15, 2024
“Retail sales aren’t increasing just because prices are going up. Americans are actually buying more stuff. This is one of the strongest retail sales reports we’ve seen in the past couple of years.” Ted Rossman, Senior Industry Analyst, Bankrate.

April 8, 2024
“Today, in one of the greatest one-day migrations in history, humans flocked by the millions to a swath of North America that was briefly cast in a shadow of darkness and wonder. They crowded into airplanes, buses and trains, braved traffic jams, and slept in overpriced hotels, in tents and in their cars. For a cosmic moment, they were connected across the millennia with every other person who has ever experienced an eclipse, witnessing the light die and then be reborn as a dazzling ring.” Dennis Overbye, NYT

April 1, 2024
“Easter reminds us of the power of hope and renewal, sacrifice and resurrection, but mainly love and grace toward one another. 

It’s a time to pray for one another, to cherish the blessings and the possibilities that we have as Americans.” Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President, United States of America

March 25, 2024
“‘Forced civility.’ Frank Bryan, a retired University of Vermont professor who wrote a book about town meetings, coined that term to describe the way people dealing with disagreements in person are compelled to recognize each other’s common humanity in a way that larger-scale political interactions do not allow.” By Nick Perry and Lisa Rathke, Associated Press

March 18, 2024
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana, 1905

March 11, 2024
“I’m a very proud Irish man standing here tonight. We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb and for better or for worse we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I’d really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.” Cillian Murphy, Best Actor, Oscars 2024

March 4, 2024
“Pistol taught me how to dribble. Caitlin taught me to dream.” Hand-made sign made for Clark's last regular season game by Two 14 Year Old Georgia Caitlin Clark fans that flew to Iowa for the game.

February 26, 2024
“We have terrific medical students, but this will open it up for many other students whose economic status is such that they wouldn’t even think about going to medical school. That’s what makes me very happy about this gift. I have the opportunity not just to help Phil, but to help Montefiore and Einstein in a transformative way — and I’m just so proud and so humbled — both — that I could do it.” Dr. Ruth Gottesman, former professor at Einstein, upon making a donation of $1 billion to Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the largest made to any medical school in the United States. (“The donation is notable not only for its staggering size, but also because it is going to a medical institution in the Bronx, the city’s poorest borough.” NYT) 

February 19, 2024
“I know it feels impossible to do any more, but we have to — to come together in one strong fist and strike with it at this maddened regime, at Putin, at his friends and his bandits in uniform, at these thieves and killers who have crippled our country.” Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

February 12, 2024
”The coach is a big, jolly genius. The quarterback had one shaky outburst but doesn't get in trouble off the field, is greatly respected by almost everyone who comes in contact with him, and is the biggest cheerleader on the team. The tight end (you know which one) may have been a jerk earlier in his career but isn't now. His girlfriend (you know the one) seems like one of the most laid-back superstars we've ever seen. So do all of her friends. There's likeability all over this Super Bowl. There's so much of it, it overrides how bad the NFL is. I mean, the NFL is really hated, and Usher and Kansas City are so likeable they make even the corporate monstrosity that is the NFL likeable. That is quite the feat.” Mike Freeman, USA Today

February 5, 2024
“But the culture wars that divide us so deeply elsewhere seemed, perhaps fleetingly, far away Sunday night. The song, during Chapman and Combs’s five-minute performance, felt incredibly spacious — larger than the limitations of genre, welcoming and expansive enough to hold every single person it had ever touched, regardless of the markers of identity that so often divide us. It was a rare reminder of music’s unique ability to obliterate external differences.” Lindsay Zoladz, NYT

January 29, 2024
“What you get is everybody’s best shot. So every week, you’re gonna get the best shot. There are no games off for that stuff. Not in the NFL anyway, but they’re no games off. There’s no light opponent. You’ve got to bring it every week. So, again, to be in this position, that tells you a little bit something about the mental makeup of this football team.” Andy Reid, Head Coach, Kansas City Chiefs

January 22, 2024
“America doesn’t do coronations. We believe in choices. We believe in democracy, and we believe in freedom.” Nikki Haley, former Governor of South Carolina, Republican Candidate for President 2024

January 15, 2024
“The time is always right to do what is right.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,Oberlin College, October 22, 1964

January 8, 2024
“This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented in our stories told by ourselves in our own words with tremendous allies and tremendous trust from within from each other.” Lily Gladstone, Winner, 2024 Globe Award Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama, Killers of the Flower Moon

Hummingbird Weekly Quote. 2023 Edition.
Hummingbird Weekly Quote. 2022 Edition.