SILVIO BERLUSCONI, Italian Prime Minister, describing himself as a martyr for his nation. He has also compared himself to Churchill and Napoleon in recent weeks while seeking re-election
"Take that hammer and knock yourself on the head."
SADDAM HUSSEIN, former President of Iraq, addressing Raouf Abdel-Rahman, the gavel-wielding chief judge in his trial. Hussein, who has made frequent court outbursts, also announced that he was on a hunger strike
"Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare."
TOM DAVIS, U.S. Congressman, whose House Select Committee released a report last week criticizing the government's response to the hurricane that devastated New Orleans on Aug. 29 last year
"At the turning point in our history from a totalitarian to a constitutional system, depriving the public of freedom of speech will bring disaster."
OPEN LETTER to the Chinese government, signed by a dozen former Communist Party officials and scholars, criticizing the recent increase in media censorship and newspaper closures
"The bottom line is that there is no U.S.-Israeli plan, project, plot, conspiracy to destabilize or undermine a future Palestinian government."
SEAN MCCORMACK, U.S. State Department spokesman, denying reports that the U.S. and Israel plan to isolate the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority or force new elections
"Being in Washington is more fictional than being in Hollywood."
GEORGE LUCAS, Star Wars creator, speaking at a White House ceremony in which his company, Industrial Light & Magic was awarded the U.S. National Medal of Technology
"I'm hoping Sasha Cohen dates gold medalists."
SHAUN WHITE, American snowboarder, after winning the men's half-pipe competition at the Torino Olympics, referring to the popular U.S. figure skater