Verbatim

'I don't have any regrets.'

SCOTT ROEDER, accused killer of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, who was gunned down at his Wichita church in May

'Sometimes the dog does eat your homework.'

PHIL MALONE, director of the cyberlaw clinic at Harvard University, explaining that viruses can deposit illegal pornographic content on the computers of unwitting victims, causing innocent people to be branded as sexual deviants

'A made-up referendum might make people feel better for five minutes, but my job is to put together a plan that lasts five years.'

DAVID CAMERON, leader of Britain's Conservative Party, announcing that if he becomes Prime Minister after next summer's elections, he will not hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which was ratified Nov. 3 to bolster the European Union

'The entire market crashed. You can't blame that on two people.'

ARAM HONG, member of the jury that acquitted two former Bear Stearns hedge-fund managers on charges of securities fraud, the first verdict in a major criminal case stemming from the 2008 financial crisis

'This does not have to be a death sentence.'

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, 62-year-old Hall of Fame basketball player, announcing on Nov. 10 that he is undergoing treatment for leukemia, which was diagnosed last year

'I don't care what you write.'

GARY JACKSON, former president of private-security firm Xe Services, once known as Blackwater, responding to questions from the New York Times about a report that the company authorized the payment of about $1 million in bribes to Iraqi police to silence criticism after a 2007 massacre in Baghdad

'You can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it.'

CHA SA-SOON, a 68-year-old South Korean woman who passed her country's written driver's-license exam on her 950th try

BACK & FORTH

Sports

'He's not trying to be Michael Jackson.'

REBECCA POLIHRONIS, a friend of former Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa's, saying his lightened visage is the result of a normal skin-rejuvenation procedure. A recent photo of Sosa, who reportedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, showed the outfielder with what appeared to be a dramatically whiter face

'If Sammy Sosa hadn't also insisted that ... he had never used performance-enhancing drugs despite forearms as big as Popeye's, or if he hadn't failed [a] drug test, I would be more inclined to believe he is the victim of a bad batch of lotion.'

TONY NORMAN, a columnist for the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette

Middle East

'It's time for you to find another donkey.'

MAHMOUD ABBAS, Palestinian Authority President, after saying he would not seek re-election

'I turn to you as a colleague. Don't let go.'

SHIMON PERES, Israeli President, urging Abbas to rethink his decision to step down

LEXICON

Severance economy

n.--Laid-off workers who use exit packages to maintain the standard of living they enjoyed while still employed