"The American dream is in peril so long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor of debt. Break its hold and we will begin to set our economy free. Jobs will come home. Confidence will come back." - House Speaker John Boehner, re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks.

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"I was never so excited to see my children and, certainly, to see my children get off the bus. There was a shared joy." - Nick Phelps, a father of two students at Sandy Hook Elementary School, after they returned home from their first day back at class since the mass shooting.

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"Here we have a piece of Mars that I can hold in my hands. That's really exciting." - Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics, on 2-billioin-year-old meteorite discovered in the Sahara desert.