Verbatim

"This organization is today collapsing on its clay feet, helpless to protect the weak and the poor."
MAHATHIR MOHAMAD,
Malaysian Prime Minister, in a speech at the United Nations in New York City

"I still like a Bud."
JACQUES CHIRAC,
French President, who once worked at an Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, Missouri, on his fondness for the U.S. despite recent strains in French-American relations over the war in Iraq

"We refuse to continue harming innocent civilians."
27 ISRAELI AIR FORCE RESERVE PILOTS,
in a signed petition to their superiors, saying they would not take part in "illegal and immoral" air strikes in Palestinian areas

"Bill and I debated whether we should attend a ceremony in Tiananmen Square, where Chinese authorities had used tanks to forcibly suppress pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989."
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON,
New York Senator and former First Lady, in a passage from her memoir Living History that was expunged—along with several others—from the Chinese edition

"We don't want Iraq to become a breeding ground for terrorism."
PAUL BREMER,
head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq

"I'm convinced that one day freedom will come to the people of the North and light up that oppressed land with hope and with promise."
DONALD RUMSFELD,
U.S. Secretary of Defense, on North Korea

"Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries."
SILVIO BERLUSCONI,
Italian Prime Minister, on why American businessmen should invest in his country

"It's the quickest way to get relaxed."
YU CHENG-HSIEN,
Interior Minister of Taiwan, on massage. Taiwanese Premier Yu Shyi-kun has ordered an investigation into allegations that the minister received sexual massages paid for by businessmen