The Best Quote of 2012 Is...

Mitt Romney's comments about 47% of the population being dependent on the government and "binders full of women" topped this year's best quotes, according to a Yale University librarian. "Debate remarks and gaffes actually seemed to play an important role in the ups and downs of the election campaign and may even have affected the ultimate outcome of the election," said Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, upon releasing his seventh annual list of the most notable quotations of the year.

Obama made the list, too, for his "you didn't build that" comment and his "horses and bayonets" debate line. The original Yale Book of Quotations was published in 2006, and Shapiro has updated it with an annual list of the top 10 quotes. Shapiro picks quotes that are famous, important, or revealing of the spirit of the times, not necessarily ones that are the most eloquent or admirable. Click for the full top 10, which includes "legitimate rape" and "Etch-a-Sketch." (More 47 percent stories.)