Verbatim

'He deserves my silence.' GEORGE W. BUSH, refusing to criticize President Barack Obama during his first public speech since leaving office

'Even trash has become worthless.' TIAN WENGUI, a Beijing resident who recycles garbage for cash, on the global economic downturn

'The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions, and when it uses those words, they have the force of law.' MARK DANNER, a U.S. journalism professor who published leaked copies of an International Committee of the Red Cross report that described "torture" at secret CIA prisons

'Go ask the gringo Fourth Fleet for help to defend your port.' HUGO CHAVEZ, Venezuelan President, referring to the U.S. naval group while taunting a governor and political rival; Chávez ordered his navy to seize seaports in Venezuelan states with major oil-exporting installations

'It's now really just a word--hollow and evoking only memories.' PRINCE WILLIAM, on what the word Mummy means to him since the death of his mother Princess Diana in 1997

'Doctors do not have a license to pump innocent and often vulnerable people full of dangerous chemicals.' JERRY BROWN, California attorney general, on filing charges against two doctors and the lawyer turned beau of Anna Nicole Smith for giving the model illegal prescriptions before her 2007 death from a drug overdose

'It was junk.' RUSSELL JESSOP, one of 439 kids seized from a polygamists' compound in Utah last April, describing TV and other modern trappings that he encountered during his time in custody

Back & Forth:

Media

'O.K., Meghan, do you think that anyone would be talking to you if you weren't kind of cute and you weren't the daughter of John McCain?' Conservative talk-show host LAURA INGRAHAM, calling Meghan McCain a "plus-sized model" who uses news website the Daily Beast as her "dating LiveJournal"

'Kiss my fat ass.' MEGHAN MCCAIN, responding on The View to Ingraham's comments about her weight. Ingraham later fired back, "Can I say 'Lighten up,' or is that offensive too?"

Security

'I'm not interested in militarizing the border.' PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, on a request by Texas Governor Rick Perry to send 1,000 National Guard troops to police the Texas-Mexico border in the face of rising drug violence. Obama said he would consider such a move only as a "last resort"

'Washington has been an abject failure at defending our border.' RICK PERRY, saying the Lone Star State will simply have to "take care of itself." Obama later agreed to send 37 federal agents to the region

LEXICON

Recession beard n.-- Facial hair worn as a badge of sorts by recently unemployed Americans

USAGE: "Nate Stahura from Rochester, N.Y., won the 'recession beard' competition with a shaggy five-month-old effort that he grew after being laid off as a banker." --New York Times, March 16, 2009

Sources: CBS News; New York Times; Washington Post; New York Times; BBC; Los Angeles Times; PEOPLE

For daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes