Verbatim

"Al-Qaeda maintains a hidden but active presence in the United States, waiting to strike again." JOHN ASHCROFT, Attorney General, testifying at a congressional hearing on homeland security

"Sometimes things aren't exactly black and white when it comes to accounting procedures." GEORGE W. BUSH, defending his tenure on Harken's board while the company was forced to restate its earnings

"It was Donovan today. It was Rodney King yesterday. It's untold people in the graveyard that cannot speak out...and it's time to stop." TALIBAH SHAKIR, cousin of Donovan Jackson, the black teen videotaped being hit in the face by a white policeman in Inglewood, Calif.

"Do I wish I could have done more? Yes, but I do not know that I could have done it." BILL CLINTON, at the 14th International AIDS Conference, when asked about his actions as President to combat the disease

"His speech was a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable, and nobody agreed with that more than I did." CANDICE BERGEN, actress, finally speaking of former Vice President Dan Quayle's criticism of her show Murphy Brown for celebrating single motherhood

Sources: The Straits Times, New York Times, AP, New York Times, AP