This Week They Said

This is not a time for soundbites. We've left them at home. I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders. Maybe we can't do it . . . I'm here to try.

- Tony Blair, as he arrived in Belfast just 48 hours before the deadline for agreement in the NI peace talks

I know that women find it hard to hold their tongues.

- Ian Paisley silencing a female reporter who dared to interrupt him during a press conference

No British prime minister puts an Irish prime minister under pressure.

- Foreign Minister, David Andrews, on the meeting between Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern

This is about negotiations, but the answer to that question is "No".

- Mr Andrews, asked if the Government was prepared to compromise on North-South bodies

We do have a plan. It's a plan for success.

- Tony Blair's official spokes- man when asked if the British government had made contingency arrangements for a talks breakdown

Sinn Fein has one advantage over other parties - we've brought a camp bed. We don't share it, of course.

- Gerry Adams

I'd like to go up there and smack them. What do they think they're playing at?

- A woman in Enniskillen sums up the mood on the talks

We can indeed put the genie back in the bottle. If we do not, there is a substantial risk that the 21st century will witness a nuclear holocaust.

- A former US secretary of defence, Robert McNamara, warning of inadvertent nuclear war between the US and Russia

While congress would have preferred if our demand for £5 an hour had been met, we accept that £4.40 per hour will help to create a level playing field where employers who are willing to pay fair wages can compete with those who have to be compelled to do so.

- The general secretary of the ICTU, Peter Cassells, on the new hourly minimum wage recommendation

Zip Me Up Before You Go Go.

- Irish Sun headline on the arrest of pop star George Michael in LA for allegedly committing a sex act in a men's public toilet

I am sure his fans will be right behind him.

- Boyzone's Ronan Keating on Michael's arrest

If I were just a private citizen, Joe Six-Pack, I would have mixed feelings about not getting a chance to disprove these allegations in court . . . But I don't have mixed feelings as President, because having the case dismissed and putting this behind us is plainly in the best interests of the country.

- President Clinton on the Paula Jones case dismissal

It may seem comical but the possible consequences of driving a double-decker bus through the city centre while drunk are unimaginable.

- Judge Gerard Haughton, to three young Dublin men who took the bus to collect a friend at Dublin Airport

I dreamt she came back. But she told me she had to go again. I used to hug her and rub her back, but I couldn't hug her in the dream.

- Josephine Pender, whose daughter, Fiona, disappeared more than 18 months ago

The Spice Girls aren't going to last forever. I can't be naive enough to think kids are going to want us around forever, because they get bored. It is getting boring now.

- Spice Girl Mel C

I want to thank the press corps for their kind remarks over the past three days. I appreciate it.

- Bertie Ahern on media sympathy after his mother's death