Verbatim: Aug. 13, 2007

'I get a lot more credit for, you know, being the puppeteer than I am. I express my opinion. Honestly, I'm not the decision maker.' ELIZABETH EDWARDS, wife of former Senator John Edwards, responding to speculation that she is a controlling force behind her husband's presidential-campaign decisions

'The responsibility for this utter defeat rests with me.'

SHINZO ABE, Prime Minister of Japan, who refused to resign after his Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in the upper house for the first time since 1955

'We are no longer going to be part of the security forces; we are going to be part of the community.'

NICHOLAS PARKER, lieutenant general in the British army, on its withdrawal from Northern Ireland after a 38-year mission

'It's not as if you smoke a joint and you're going to go crazy.'

RICHARD RAWSON, director of UCLA's Integrated Substance Abuse Program, urging a measured response to a new study that links habitual marijuana use with psychosis

'I wanted to dance in the classical ballet, but my mom told me fat girls could not dance.'

MAILIN DAZA, prima ballerina for Danza Voluminosa, an obese dance group that has become a cultural phenomenon in Cuba

'We should acknowledge the debt the world owes to the United States for its leadership in this fight against international terrorism.'

GORDON BROWN, British Prime Minister, who had warm words for the U.S. involvement in Iraq before meeting with President George W. Bush at Camp David

Sources: Washington Post; AP; Times of London; Los Angeles Times; New York Times; AP