Verbatim

'It's fair to say that our hearts sank when the result was finally ratified.' CHERIE BLAIR, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, writing in her new memoir about the couple's reaction to the 2000 election of George W. Bush as President

'It is the property of the Spanish navy, government and people, and we want it all back.' TEODORO DE LESTE CONTRERAS, an admiral with the Spanish Culture Ministry, on a $500 million treasure discovered aboard a sunken 19th century Spanish warship by a U.S.-based marine-exploration company

'He's stopped using curse words in public.' NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota Senator, accusing comedian Al Franken, Coleman's likely Democratic opponent, of softening his demeanor ahead of the general-election campaign

'We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq. If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq.' PATRICK F. KENNEDY, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Management, on the decision to renew Blackwater's contract to protect American diplomats despite inquiries into the firm's conduct

'I think what's true is that we're recession-resistant.' CHRISTIE HEFNER, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, conceding that pornography is not recession-proof; the company lost $3.1 million in the first quarter of 2008

'Mr. President, it does not require a foreign country to commit terrorist acts on American soil.' WILLIE JESSOP, an elder of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, in a letter to President Bush about the raid on the church's Texas compound last month, saying the separation of the polygamist sect's children from their parents is a "terrorist act"

MORE OF THE BEST QUOTES AT TIME.COM For more daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes

Sources: Times of London; AP (2); New York Times (2); CNN