I had the trade minister in China sit down as we were preparing for trade negotiations. He said, ‘Please don’t let people in the United States lose their confidence because when you lose your confidence, the rest of the world suffers’.

For those of us who have lived abroad and seen our nation in a highly competitive 21st century, and kind of see where this world is going – unless we are able to strengthen our core, we’re going to see the end of the American century. And that is totally unacceptable.

The reality, sitting ten thousand miles away, is that we remain the country that inspires. We remain that shining city on a hill.

People truly reaching across boundaries – be they religious or race, political or geographic. A state that is sincerely civil and respectful of each individual’s pathway toward life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be our goal.

Today, I’m a candidate for the office of president of the United States of America. My kids can’t believe I just said that.

Economic prosperity and quality education for our children are inexorably linked.

But economic recovery must be earned. And it will be earned by entrepreneurs and it will be earned by small businesses.

My sense is that we’re ready for another industrial revolution in this country. The great minds and innovators of Silicon Valley would come through China and say, The pipeline is full of ideas – there’s personalized medicine, biotechnology, new forms to power ourselves, clean energy, etc., etc.

It’s a tribal state, and it always will be. Whether we like it or not, whenever we withdraw from Afghanistan, whether it’s now or years from now, we’ll have an incendiary situation. Should we stay and play traffic cop? I don’t think that serves our strategic interests.

What is important is that you’re honest with the American people.

I was criticized at some level within the Republican Party by those who say government should not be in the economic development business at all. My response is that the only country I know that doesn’t have an economic development plan is Papa New Guinea.

My father, one of the great entrepreneurs and philanthropists of this state, taught me that capital – monetary or political – is to be used to benefit others. I intend to continue that tradition.

I can’t stomach the thought that we are passing down to the next generation a country that is less viable, less good, less competitive, less compassionate than the one we got.

We’re fighting an enemy that is far different than any we have got before. It’s a nontraditional kind of war, and I think we need to step back, recalibrate how we go about protecting our borders and protecting our people, and resetting our position in the world.

In our own state, we came up with, I think, what was a very novel approach to closing the gap on the uninsured. To harmonize medical records – which was a major step in getting costs out of the system.

I’m a very spiritual person, and proud of my Mormon roots.

I’m not sure it’s the stimulus money that will necessarily allow the economy to recover. It will help to fortify our budgets, frankly, to ensure that there isn’t as much backsliding in the areas of education and healthcare, for example.

I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides.

I had the trade minister in China sit down as we were preparing for trade negotiations. He said, ‘Please don’t let people in the United States lose their confidence because when you lose your confidence, the rest of the world suffers’.

I would vote to increase the debt limit if there was a corresponding level of cuts. And if there was some serious talk about a balanced budget amendment, which we as governors always had to deal with.

I respect the president. He and I have a difference of opinion on how to help the country we both love. But the question each of us wants the voters to answer is who will be the better president, not who is the better American.

I’m surprised that we’ve gotten to a point where we don’t put our country first and put our party first.

It’s taken a lot of presidents to get us where we are today, a lot of deployments, a lot of wars, a lot engagements. You add them all up.

Normal people don’t just wake up in the morning and say I think it’d be a good idea to run for president of the United States.

When America closes its doors, so does everybody else. We are the primary engine of growth in the world and we are the only beacon of free trade left, and open markets.

The rest of the world cares about how we conduct our affairs because they then take that lead. We’re the only leader in the world today. Some are wishing us well, others think that we’re down and are not going to get back up again, but they are all watching with great interest to see how we conduct our business over the next couple of years.

This is the marketplace of political ideas. This is how America operates. It’s a free market. It’s free-wheeling. From the outside, it looks unpredictable. There’s a circus-like free market.

I don’t think you need to run down someone’s reputation in order to run for the office of president.

We have lost that which has made us great over the generations, and that is the sense of individual and personal responsibility that we can come up, we can pursue our dreams and our aspirations and we won’t be blocked by government regulation, by the inability to get a loan as a small business to make our dreams come true.

This is a time when the United States should be standing tall. There is no other leader in the world today. We shouldn’t be approaching conflicts as a team sport. We either get in an we lead and we do a good job, or you don’t get in at all.

I love music, I love all kinds of music, particularly jazz. Jazz is an extension of America. There’s no other country in the world that could have produced jazz.

If we can’t find cuts in the defense budget, we’re not looking carefully enough.

That’s what governors do, they wrestle with the issues, they find solutions and they move the agenda forward. At the appropriate time we’ll talk about all of these issues, while remembering that our party is a big tent party. We lose when we try to become exclusive to one particular set of issues.

And the trajectory that our debt is taking now beyond $14 trillion is going to have an impact on our currency. It goes south, and our currency’s going to have an impact on our standard of living and affect every family in this country, and over time, our international competitiveness.

You can be stern and forthright, and that’s my management style, but when you lose it totally, that’s a sign of weakness.

I’m not competing in Iowa for a reason.

Politics is a lot of serendipity. You’re in the right place and the right time and you’ve got the right message, and it either connects for you or, or it doesn’t.

If you can’t define a winning exit strategy for the American people, where we somehow come out ahead, then we’re wasting our money, and we’re wasting our strategic resources.