Think back three months and you had a regime in Afghanistan that was one of the most brutal and repressive anywhere . . . That regime is effectively now disintegrated.
- The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair
We are talking about war and we have to respond accordingly.
- The Israeli Labour Minister, Shlomo Benizri, after Islamic fundamentalists killed 25 in bomb attacks
Those who rise up against us to kill us are responsible for their own destruction.
- Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister
Israel has a right to defend itself.
- Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman
The Zionist enemy will pay a high price for . . . bombing the Palestinian Authority . . . and we swear there will be revenge.
- Hamas statement following the Israeli strikes
We do not agree with the Israeli description of the Palestinian Authority as an entity that supports terrorism.
- The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen
We suffered much more from terrorism than most of our European partners and we fought it in all of its forms. For a long time, Irish terrorism forced us to equip ourselves with a complete repressive arsenal.
- The British Ambassador to Paris, Sir John Holmes, on the opinion page of Le Figaro of December 1st-2nd
I hope we will not have to dispatch her on a long honeymoon.
- Ruair∅ Quinn, Labour Party leader, on the newly married Tβnaiste, Mary Harney
If he [Gerry Adams, Sinn FΘin] grows to old age, he will probably see a united Ireland.
- The Former Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Mandelson
Miss Hurley and I were not in an exclusive relationship when she became pregnant. It's her choice to be a single mother.
- Steve Bing, film producer, named by Liz Hurley as the father of her unborn child
He is really just my baby brother.
- Sir Paul McCartney on George Harrison, who died last week
Guitars everywhere are weeping, but especially in Liverpool.
- Jean Catharell, president of the Liverpool Beatlescene international fan club, of Harrison
He wanted to talk about the Colorado-Texas football game. Unfortunately, I guess I wasn't really that interested.
- University of Colorado professor Carl Wieman, who recently won the Nobel Prize for helping discover a new form of matter, on his inability to strike up a conversation with President Bush during a White House reception
We want to give him a big hug. I also want to give him maybe a little kick in the butt for not telling me about what he was up to and for not getting my permission.
- Frank Lindh, father of John Philip Walker Lindh, the US national found among captured Taliban troops
For 30 years terrorists have not been challenged by families of the victims and they don't like it now that it's finally happening.
- Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, died in the Omagh bomb, after he confronted protesters from the political wing of the "Real IRA", demonstrating over prisoners' rights
Voodoo economics.
- Jim Mitchell, the Fine Gael spokesman on finance, on Charlie McCreevy's Budget