Verbatim: Jun. 12, 2006

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"In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence--a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" POPE BENEDICT XVI, at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz during a visit to Poland, the birthplace of his predecessor, John Paul II

"He is the Forrest Gump of the military. He ended up in the spotlight through no fault of his own." FREDERICK WRIGHT, father of Lance Corporal Andrew Wright, 21, a Marine who his parents say was ordered, along with a fellow serviceman, to photograph the corpses of unarmed Iraqi civilians allegedly killed by members of their unit in Haditha, Iraq

"I guess we should all be grateful the bricks are coming through the mail, not the window." DAN PFEIFFER, a spokesman for Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, on the bricks being sent to Capitol Hill offices by advocates of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border

"He does show the advantage of being boring--nobody yells at him." BARNEY FRANK, Democratic Congressman of Massachusetts, on his Republican colleague Dennis Hastert, who last week became the longest-serving G.O.P. Speaker of the House

"This is the Big Easy, and sometimes we lay back a little too much. Get off your duffs." RAY NAGIN, mayor of New Orleans, after being sworn in for a second term, prodding residents to work harder to rebuild their Katrina-ravaged city rather than wait for outside help. Nagin's swearing-in came on the first day of the 2006 hurricane season

"It's like visiting the house of a friend. The first time you stay in the living room. But next time, after you become better friends, you go into the kitchen and the basement." CAI WU, Chinese government spokesman, encouraging foreign visitors to venture beyond Beijing, Shanghai and China's coast

"If they want to hear that I'm dead, I'm sorry, folks, I'm not." ELIZABETH TAYLOR, actress, on CNN's Larry King Live, refuting rumors that she is seriously ill

For more daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes Sources: Washington Post; AP; New York Times; Chicago Tribune; Reuters; Los Angeles Times; CNN