Verbatim

Monday, May. 08, 2006
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"Happy now?"
SILVIO BERLUSCONI, outgoing Prime Minister of Italy, to the left-wing paper L'Unita after resigning and paving the way for Romano Prodi, the center-left leader, to form a new government. Berlusconi held out for three weeks after Italy's election before conceding defeat

"America, you lost!"
ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI, al-Qaeda conspirator, after a federal jury recommended a sentence of life in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks

"Mr. Moussaoui, you came here to be a martyr and die in a big bang of glory. But to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, instead, you will die with a whimper."
LEONIE BRINKEMA, U.S. federal judge, sentencing Moussaoui to life in a super-maximum security prison

"There is a fine line between a healthy love of country—which is 'patriotism'—and narrow-minded 'nationalism' that breeds hatred."
TARO ASO, Japan's Foreign Minister, in a speech in the U.S. urging Asian governments to keep rising nationalist sentiments in check

"This is a half-past-six country which has no guts."
MAHATHIR MOHAMAD, Malaysia's former Prime Minister, warning that the government's decision to scrap a new bridge with Singapore, which was one of his pet projects, shows Malaysia is unwilling to stand up for itself. Singapore had opposed the bridge

"Nightlife can mean anything. We can provide you a very valuable experience that will hit your soul and your mind, and send you home sober."
PRINCE SULTAN BIN SALMAN BIN ABDUL AZIZ, head of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Commission for Tourism, announcing that the government would begin issuing nonreligious foreign-tourist visas for the country, where alcohol is illegal and nightclubs are scarce

"Dog meat tastes like rabbit. Like dried baby goat. Or perhaps—I know!—like veal."
PRINCE HENRIK of DENMARK, husband of Queen Margrethe II, describing one of his favorite foods to Danish magazine Ud & Se