Starting with him
"Mr Howard said Australians needed to 'throw out those things that are not working' ..." — Sydney Morning Herald May 24.
Depends what you're negotiating
"You don't lose your principles just because you negotiate with the government." — Democrat Senator Andrew Bartlett.
He should know
"Honestly, that's more cruel than murder." — Suharto, Indonesia's former dictator, denying a Time magazine story that he and his family have amassed a fortune of $15 billion. Suharto came to power by organising the killing of more than a million people.
Perish the thought
"Mr Godkin was talking nonsense if he's claiming the issue of compensation was a major factor in relocating road cycling." — A spokesperson for SOCOG, replying to Australian Cycling Federation president Ray Godkin, who said that Olympic cycle racing had been moved from the eastern suburbs because Rupert Murdoch's Fox Studios might claim $5-6 million compensation for disruption of its production.
A job for the queen
"It has been a terrible mistake to allow NATO's case to be presented by Jamie Shea, who sounds like the manager of a lower-division soccer club." — The Telegraph, London.
New script for Mastercard commercial
"Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon — $25 million; Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter — $45 million; Boeing B-52 Stratofortress — $74 million; Brand new B-2 Stealth Bomber — $2.1 billion; A decent map of downtown Belgrade — priceless." — Circulating on the internet.
Reasonable
"We have to raise a bit of money, but we are in a reasonable position." — Eric Roozendaal, NSW ALP secretary, on the state party's financial position. In the last four years, it will have received $3.2 million from public funding, $2.7 million from corporations and $232,750 from unions.