BOB CORKER

I was embarrassed when I went and told my parents that I was thinking about running for public office.

I think all of us who have been in Afghanistan on the ground multiple times know that what we're doing there on the ground is just not sustainable.

I find it very difficult to see a scenario where financial regulation doesn't pass the Senate.

If it took multiple debt ceiling hikes, I'd rather achieve the savings.

I started working when I was 13, picking up trash, bagging ice.

My dad just imprinted in my mind from a very young age that you always do what you say you're gonna do when you say you're gonna do it.

I'm a lawmaker, but I really don't like laws.

I saved $8,000 and created a construction company when I was 25.

It is not really our country so much is the problem, it's sort of the parasitic relationship that Canada, and France, and other countries have towards us.

Not every problem is solvable, okay.

In business, you try to solve problems.

We need to make sure we have secure borders.

The debt ceiling at some point has to be raised. I don't think there's anybody that questions the fact that if we ended up getting in a situation where the U.S. government was sending out IOUs like the state of California did at one point, that ends up creating quite a brand problem for our country.

I want to see the economy rebound.

I believe we have been fleeced.

The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence, that he needs to demonstrate in order for him to be successful — and our nation and our world needs for him to be successful, whether you are Republican or Democrat. We're at a point where there needs to be radical changes at the White House — it has to happen," Corker told reporters following his luncheon address. He [President Trump] recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of our nation — what has made it great and what it is today. He's got to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that. Without those things happening, our nation is going to go through great peril .... Helping to inspire divisions because it generates support from your base is not a formula for causing our nation to advance and to overcome the many issues that we have to deal with right now.

Like me, most Americans hope that our justice system is independent and free of political interference. President Trump's pressuring of the Justice Department and FBI to pursue cases against his adversaries and calling for punishment before trials take place are totally inappropriate and not only undermine our justice system but erode the American people’s confidence in our institutions.

If your focus in life is on being productive, when things are not happening... one has to ask oneself, 'Is this worth a grown man's time?'

If the Senate can't perform its most basic responsibilities, I worry about how we're going to make the tough decisions and do the hard work that will be necessary to get our country on a path to fiscal solvency.

People read way too much into personalities and all that stuff.

My role is not so much to lobby but be a sounding board for people. That's a more effective place for me to be.

I have gone to great lengths, and in some cases beyond what is required by the reporting guidelines to ensure all of my filings are beyond reproach, by hiring an independent third-party accounting firm to review and audit all of my previous annual financial disclosures.

The attack on Americans in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 is a stark reminder that our nation must remain vigilant in protecting our citizens from the threat of Al-Qaeda and similar extremist terrorist entities around the world.

Republicans will own Congress.

You never know when the timing is going to hit in a such a way that you're going to make a difference.