John Kasich quotes:

There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts.

Affirmative action has a negative effect on our society when it means counting us like so many beans and dividing us into separate piles.

When Governor Romney was out here, I told him, I said, 'we are following the formula of streamlining regulations, being job creating friendly, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, and, you know, using common sense. And if you get to be president, we are going to do more of that.'

I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world.

I don't understand this thing about [Bashar] Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go.

If we intend to provide a better life, and a better world, for future generations, we can't ignore the quality of the environment we leave them.

For the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies.

I'm going to love my daughters; I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me.

When I left Washington, we actually had a balanced budget and we paid down the most amount of the national debt in modern history and cut taxes and created jobs. And I was the chief architect of that plan in '97.

Ohio's doing what it can do, but I wish they'd get their act together in Washington.

I mean, the fact of the matter is, Ohio 's coming back because we set a clear path, we cut taxes, we balanced our budget, we got credit upgrades when the whole rest of the world, including America, was being downgraded.

I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs.

We've unveiled the most comprehensive reform budget people have seen in a generation.

Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose.

A great power has to have the discipline not only to go when necessary but to know when not to go. Getting involved in ethnic, religious civil wars is a recipe for disaster.

Mitt Romney has a history of being a great job creator. Secondly, he was a great governor. He went from billions of dollars in the hole when he became governor to billions of dollars in surplus when he left. And he went from the loss of tens of thousands jobs when he became governor to the creation of 40,000 new jobs when he left office.

It's not trickle down economics. The problem that the president has is that he's rudderless on the economy. I mean, he doesn't quite know what to do. It's a wake-up on Monday and try to figure it out. It takes time to turn a supertanker, so you need to know where you need to go.

When we give a subsidy, the benefits to the public ought to exceed the benefits to the company. When it doesn't, that's our definition of corporate welfare.

The reason we have such a reform budget is because we've been thinking about these things for a long time.

Mitt Romney has a history of being a great job creator. Secondly, he was a great governor. He went from billions of dollars in the hole when he became governor to billions of dollars in surplus when he left. And he went from the loss of tens of thousands jobs when he became governor to the creation of 40,000 new jobs when he left office."

I want people to hear what I think about these foundational American values of personal responsibility, resilience, family and faith, there are things that people can learn from somebody who leads a state like Ohio which is, frankly, a microcosm of the country.

Let's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom having trouble, you know, making ends meet.

We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided.

Their lot in life, their station, became a part of their personalities and helped to for my worldview.

There is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost.

I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio.

My elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind.

Coalition [against ISIS] need the tools. And the tools involve encryption where we cannot hear what they're even planning. And when we see red flags, a father, a mother, a neighbor who says we have got a problem here, then we have to give law enforcement the ability to listen so they can disrupt these terrorist attacks before they occur.

We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy.

We need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have.

I said that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War.

We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of ISIS and we have to be the leader.

I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

Let's start off with my father being a mailman.

In faith, I'm a believer in the do's - you know, love your neighbor, love your enemy. I don't spend a lot of time thinking on the don'ts 'cause I can't get the do's right.

We put up a kind of spiritual firewall and make a conscious effort to shut out the headlines, because our (Bible) discussions are meant to be timeless.

He (the Bible study leader) is blessed with a light touch and a firm hand.

Formative commendation to the author as an altar boy: "You're the only one we've got to anticipates what's coming.

If one of my daughters happened to be [gay], of course I would love them and I would accept them.That's what we're taught when we have strong faith.

Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country.

But, at the end of the day, we need to represent the taxpayers who have made enormous sacrifices. Many have lost their jobs. Many of them have seen their companies - they don't have a pension - they have seen their companies cut the match for their 401(k). They have seen their health care benefits be shredded.

This is not about Republican or Democrat. It is about our children, it's about our families, it is about our country, and frankly, ladies and gentlemen, it is about the world. We've got to leave here and march, and make sure Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are president and vice president of the United States.

I'm a believer in bipartisanship.

You know where entrepreneurship in my opinion has to go? Into the inner city.

I think he should let me run Ohio. He should let us, the legislature, the members there, we should be running Ohio. The states are the laboratories out here, and I think the president needs to mind to the problems that he has in Washington.

I think we can have some tax reform, but that doesn't mean tax increases. We ought to make the, the rates flatter. We ought to get rid of a bunch of those loopholes.

And what we're doing in Ohio is we're moving from a basic manufacturing economy to one that's diversified, including energy and health care and agriculture and IT.

And, frankly, what happens out of Washington is, it creates a wind in my face, uncertainty over Obamacare, uncertainty over their tax policy, uncertainty over the regulatory policy.

I want to tell you ladies and gentlemen, the actions that we took were not always easy. The actions that we took were not always popular. But when you get yourself in public office, you must lead, you must do what's necessary.

And you know what? At the end of the day, it gets down to Obama and Romney. And what it's going to get down to is this. Obama is going to say, 'I inherited a mess and I'm making it better.' And Romney is going to say, 'you haven't made it good enough. And I can do far better than you have done.'

Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal.

Frankly, we are republicans and they're democrats but before all of that, we're Americans. And I believe we need to unify in so many ways to rebuild our country, to strengthen our country, to rebuild our defense, and for America to secure it's place it world; for us, for our children, and for the next generation.

I'm concerned about the fact there seems to be a war on the poor - that if you're poor, somehow you're shiftless and lazy.

Leaders have to lead.

A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems.

I worry about America. For the first time in my lifetime, I'm worried about us, i'm worried about how our values to some degree have been eroded, of personal responsibility and compassion and teamwork. I worry about it, I worry about the fact that we're so divided.

If you go into a room of 100-plus people, and you want to be the prince of darkness, you can be it. But I don't operate in the dark, I operate in the light.

Leadership is more important than people's political career at times.

You cannot build a little guy up by tearing a big guy down -- Abraham Lincoln said it.

Everybody should have a chance to rise. That's our philosophy in Ohio and that's my philosophy for America.

I mean, it would be very easy to make an inflammatory statement on what we ought to do on cyber. I don't think that that's productive. But to allow the Russian activity to go unresponded to is not acceptable.

Guess what? I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay.

I'm not sure I want to sound like a candidate. I just want to sound like an American who's trying to make this country a heck of a lot stronger, not a (typical) politician ... but somebody that's going to go in, do the job, not pay attention to all the special interest groups, change the status quo, shift power out of Washington and get America on the track again with strength in our military as well.

Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up.

When it comes to the cyberwarfare piece, we're going to have to deal with it.

A friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something."

I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them.

Frankly, we should publicly increase them [ anti-Russian sanctions ].

Every time I go to Washington, I break out in a cold sweat. So I try not to spend too much time there.

We've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong.

We [americans] need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house.

I would only go to Syria to destroy ISIS. I would not use U.S. troops to depose Assad. But I would support the rebels there. It's okay to support those people who share your view. But for the United States to be embroiled in a civil war in Syria against [Bashr] Assad I think is a big mistake.

The foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam [Hussein] had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars.

I've always been underestimated. It's happened throughout my entire career.

People have accused me at times of having too big of a heart.But I have to also to say I must keep the people of my state safe. So we take a pause [in taking refugees].

And, look, think about it, there were 16 people in the race, including a number of governors, and there's only one left. And I think that at the end we have to make sure that we have somebody that can go to that town, change that system, grow employment, change the whole way in which it works and ship power money and influence back to the states. So I'm optimistic about it.

These are serious matters, and we can never let up on these sanctions [against Russia].

I'm not a big guy that believes that you gain energy from demonizing other people. I think you gain energy from giving people hope.

Sometimes people just don't understand the way that I work in politics.

I don't make promises, by and large, that I can't keep.

It's a very serious matter. And what should we do about it? We should reinforce NATO. We need to be prepared to take solid actions to make it clear that we will not tolerate any intervention, and Russian intervention.

And no one ever expect me to get in the race. They didn't think I would get on the debate stage. I did. They didn't think I'd do well in New Hampshire. I finished second. And so we went to South Carolina. In a short period of time later, two weeks ago people in South Carolina had no clue who I was.

Well, it's not all Americans. But I understand those polls. But as a result of that, that's not going to change my position. I mean I don't think it is even practical and I don't think it's right. I mean just because somebody happens to be of the Muslim faith, doesn't make them a terrorist or make them a threat to America. And we've had relations with people all over the world of the Muslim faith.

I think that's coming to an end. And, you know, when we ... we can't beg them [russians] to get along with us. And I think there was some of that going on, which has now ended.

My father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States.I do believe in miracles.I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement.A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind.

Politics can not only be drudgery and Captain Queeg with the balls in his hands.

God created astrologers to make pollsters look accurate.

I think to a degree this happens when they [russians] spot a softness in us, which I think for a while they did.

I've heard a lot of nasty rhetoric about the president. We're going to kick your rear end out of the White House and stuff. That's just not the way I behave.

Let me tell you what is interesting about the administration. We had Central American miners that were placed in Ohio, and we never knew a thing about it. We didn't know where they were. And, in fact, we know now that some of them, there is a case going on where some of them may have been human-trafficked.

We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great when we join together.

I've been frankly very surprised at the intensity of our differences [with Russia]. I mean, between what appears to be hacking of our political system to the aggressive use of nukes on the borders, to these atrocities in Syria and their warnings. I've been very, very surprised at the intensity of all this.

God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me.

I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this.

(God) wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead.

Nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends.

America is a miracle country.

I think if there's anything that's important today, it's credibility with the voter, because the voter is tired of being sold a bill of goods.

If the [Republican] party wants to have an ideological debate, it's never going to win anything in a major way.

You know, since the 6th century, Sunni and Shia have been fighting.

We will strengthen our country when we come together.

I don't look at polls, I pay no attention to them. I pay attention to the public, and the sense of where the public is on certain things, but you have to lead.

The Republican Party cannot be anti-trade, anti-immigrant, not out there practicing the politics of people, you know, the issues surrounding drug addiction and mental illness and the cost of prescription drugs and healthcare and student debt and all of these things are very personal to people now.

If the B2 is invisible, just announce you've built 100 of them and don't build them.

I don't want to comment on media outlets, but I will tell you that if the Republican Party does not evolve, the Republican Party is going to die.

The republican party is my vehicle, not my master.

I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism.

My job is to try to figure out how to fix things, and I'm going to fix things as best as I can. I'm going to get a team together to fix things. And I can't sit around and worrying what the heck the chairman of the Republican Party thinks about what I'm doing.

We've just let too many things happen. And now, try to turn around and fix it. Getting involved in a [Syria] civil war directly was never something I thought made sense.

People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them.

[Donald] Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there.

Everybody who was involved in that culture [Wells Fargo] should be held accountable.

Business has to have capital.I think Wall Street is a necessary ingredient of the global economy, you've just got to keep people realizing that helping clients is the most important thing, not helping yourself.

In this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to - keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known.

When I listen to candidates spend all their time attacking Barack Obama, I'm glad they're not driving this bus because they'd be looking through the rear-view mirror. I look through the windshield at the road ahead.

America needs somebody to restore the strength of this great land of ours.

Somebody tells me no, they`re not going to keep telling me no, because I`m going to bother them to the point where it`s a lot easier for them to say yes than keep saying no.

Everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is - is threatening their very families.

The Pentagon needs precious resources to build the strength of America, and we can't say, 'this is really important to this community, and it's really not vital to the national security, but we ought to do it anyway.' So, I think we have to have a discipline on this

To put all of your eggs in one basket is silly.