Verbatim

"Being lectured by the President on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country."
JOHN KERRY, U.S. democratic presidential candidate, assailing George W. Bush's record on the economy during last week's debate

"I'm close to Bush, so I'd like him to do well."
JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI, Prime Minister of Japan, commenting on the American election. Koizumi's opponents criticized him for "interfering" in U.S. affairs

"When Chen Shui-bian says he wants to ease tensions, it is false. When he says he wants independence, it is true."
ZHANG MINGQING, spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, rebuffing the Taiwan President's call for peace talks

"I miss China, but I have to be rational about this. I don't think I'm welcome there."
HA JIN, exiled Chinese writer, on the possibility of returning to his homeland after nearly 20 years abroad. Jin's novels have been heavily criticized by the Chinese government

"If the Arabs will not leave willingly, we will make them leave by force."
JAMAL ADNAN, a Fallujah taxi driver, on the foreign insurgents in Iraq who have made his hometown a battleground in their fight against U.S. troops

"The camp is like an old-fashioned college campus—without the freedom, of course."
MARTHA STEWART, former CEO of Martha Stewart Omnimedia, in a posting on her website about life at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp, where she is serving five months on a conspiracy conviction

"In some ways I'm a bigger nobody than I was before, because ... people hate me now."
MARK DAVID CHAPMAN, John Lennon's killer, at a parole hearing