The new year is for new beginnings, and I’d like to start by smoothing over any hard feelings I may have inadvertently caused with public officials in the previous year.

So instead of the usual frivolity, I offer Hawaii’s leaders helpful quotations from some of our greatest minds to inspire them to big things in 2012:

For Gov. Neil Abercrombie: "I’m the commander, see. I don’t need to explain — I do not need to explain — why I say things." — George W. Bush

For Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz: "If you think your boss is stupid, remember: You wouldn’t have a job if he was smarter." — Albert Grant

For U.S. Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka: "As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two." — Sir Norman Wisdom

For U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono: "I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty. But I am too busy thinking about myself." — Edith Sitwell

For former U.S. Rep. Ed Case: "In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times." — Winston Churchill

For former Gov. Linda Lingle: "I happen to feel that the degree of a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic." — Lisa Alther

For House Speaker Calvin Say: "I have my friends. Someone spoke to me only yesterday." — Eeyore

For Senate President Shan Tsutsui: "I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." — Bill Cosby

For Mayor Peter Carlisle: "Politicians are wonderful people as long as they stay away from things they don’t understand, such as working for a living." — P.J. O’Rourke

For former Mayor Mufi Hannemann: "Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others." — Groucho Marx

For Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard: "I’m tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, OK." — Madonna

For Councilman Tom Berg: "A man’s got to believe in something. I believe I’ll have another drink." — W.C. Fields

For Don Horner, chairman of First Hawaiian Bank and the Board of Education and finance chairman of the Honolulu transit authority: "Any organization is like a septic tank. The really big chunks rise to the top." — John Imhoff

For schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi: "There ain’t no answer. There ain’t gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer." — Gertrude Stein

For University of Hawaii football coach Norm Chow: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." — Joe Theismann

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.