The UUP's leap is to agree to an executive before decommissioning and without a guarantee that there would be decommissioning. Sinn Fein's leap is to risk loss of office and the continuation of the executive if the IRA does nothing.
- UUP Assembly member Dr Esmond Birnie's compromise proposal on decommissioning
The whole process is under great stress . . . There is no credible alternative to the Good Friday agreement. If it is not implemented, I think the people in Northern Ireland face a highly uncertain future.
- Senator George Mitchell
I think the Prime Minister is going to feel very embarrassed if this collapses, all the terrorist prisoners are free and there will be a big bang in the centre of London.
- UUP deputy leader, John Taylor
The British Labour Party is an organisation where your best friend will plunge a knife in your back and then call the police to tell them that you are carrying a concealed weapon.
- William Hague, Conservative Party leader
I don't think about the money . . . The money is a nice thing, but the title is more important.
- Greg Rusedski, of his £840,000 win in the Compaq Grand Slam Cup
Never trust the Germans.
- John Major's description of Margaret Thatcher's approach to European issues
All the seats are gone. Everything is gone. It's probably knee-deep in ash. It's just a shell.
- Tony Thompson, British Transport Police, of the 48-seat first-class carriage in the Paddington crash
I am absolutely appalled by what is a truly dreadful tragedy . . . All our thoughts are with those who have died and been injured and their families and friends.
- Tony Blair, of the Paddington disaster
There is a danger when a profession is seen as a vocation that those entering it are not interested in achieving a just and equitable wage . . . That is not fair and I think our nurses have every right to rebel against that attitude.
- The Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, Dr Edward Darling
If there is even a hint that the perpetrators are going to get away with it, quite literally scot or tax-free, then I cannot imagine how our members will be able to maintain even the minimum level of trust which would be necessary to sustain social partnership beyond the lifetime of the current agreement.
- SIPTU president, Jimmy Somers, of the Ansbacher accounts scandal
It was dirty tricks.
- Sean Barrett, Fine Gael, of the John Bruton "leak"
Could I just say generally - I know that Deputy Barrett does not really mean the things he is saying - I do not believe in blackening anybody.
- The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern
There are so many expectations I must meet, but there is only one promise that I can make: April Fowler will suffer a painful defeat.
- Laila Ali, 21-year-old daughter of Muhammad Ali, before last night's fight in New York
This is a government which reckons that ageing spies, who betrayed our country to Soviet communism, should escape prosecution - yet obsessively pursues the frail 83-year-old Pinochet, who stopped the communists taking Chile.
- Baroness Thatcher, of the Pinochet extradition case
The world has not learned from its history.
- Yossi Beilin, Israeli Cabinet minister, on the extreme-right Freedom party's election results in Austria