Verbatim: Aug. 21, 2006

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"I did have a little thing of Neosporin that they didn't catch." DEBBIE COX, U.S. airline passenger, on the new ban on carry-on liquids

"Please give him this message, sir: Those who refuse to accept an invitation will not have a good ending or fate." MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, Iranian President, in an interview with Mike Wallace, on George W. Bush's failure to answer an 18-page letter he sent in May criticizing U.S. foreign policy

"He's very, very short, but he's comfortable in his own skin." MIKE WALLACE, after the interview, on Ahmadinejad's physicality

"How do you channel surf with the mujahedin?" JILL CARROLL, U.S. journalist and former hostage in Iraq, describing how strange it was during her 82-day abduction this year to watch Oprah and Tom and Jerry with her captors, four of whom were arrested last week

"It will stain me forever." GUNTER GRASS, Nobel-prizewinning German author who for decades has criticized his compatriots unwilling to deal with their Nazi past, on his first-time admission last week that he had served in Hitler's élite Waffen SS

"There was no umpire. The DOJ respects the rule of law." BRIAN ROEHRKASSE, Justice Department spokesman, on the department's softball team--with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pitching all seven innings--beating the U.S. Attorneys' team, 8-4

"I'll take a break from the jeweled-trophy-wife look." ELLEN BARKIN, actress, on auctioning her jewelry after reportedly getting a $20 million divorce settlement from billionaire Ron Perelman

For more daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes

Sources: N.Y. Times; Reuters; CBS News; Christian Science Monitor; Daily Telegraph; Washington Post (2)