During a question-answer session with insurance industry professionals at the end of last week’s Global Insurance Symposium, Sen. Chuck Grassley had a few memorable lines, turning on the folksy Iowa charm as he does best.

On the political divide:

There’s not as much partisanship in Washington as you might think, because controversy makes news, Grassley said. “So you get a distorted view of it. Look at the legislation that got out of [the Judiciary Committee] in four years. Sixty-one bills got out of committee — they were all bipartisan bills — and 45 of them got through the Senate and 34 of them were signed by either a Republican or Democrat president.”  One of those bills, the biggest sentencing reform legislation in a generation, was approved by 87 senators, he noted.

On engaging in the legislative process:

“ … you’ve got a constitutional right to talk to those of us who are elected officials, and we’ve got a constitutional responsibility to consider your point of view. Now some of you might think we have a constitutional responsibility to do just exactly what you tell us to do. It doesn’t go quite that far.”

How to get along in Congress:

“I can’t think of a single senator I dislike, and if somebody dislikes me I don’t even want to know who it is. So it’s got to start with each senator working with other people. … How do you eat 10,000 marshmallows? One at a time. How do you get things done? Talking to one senator at a time.”

On the weather in Iowa:

“Be glad you’re [visiting Des Moines] now. Our winters aren’t that good. Don’t tell the chamber of commerce I said that.”