It is their opportunity to influence events, it is an appointment that the Irish people have with history.
I consider today the end of this stage. We have worked long and hard to get to that.
- The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on high Northern turnout in the vote on the Belfast Agreement
I've never seen anything like it before. It's quite extraordinary
- UUP leader, David Trimble speaking about the turnout
They are not political turkeys. They will not vote for a Sinn Fein terrorist Christmas
- Robert McCartney on the people of Northern Ireland
I am not in politics. I am in security, the security of Northern Ireland. I have a house and it is not for sale
- Survivor of the Enniskillen bombing, Mr Jim Dixon, appealing for a No vote
The No vote won't be a question of nasty shits staying at home and wishing this thing ill. It will come from people full of anxieties, afraid of being made suckers of
- A unionist explains why some people will vote No
Whenever most people of my generation look at our parents' family photograph albums, we always see Sinatra. He's present in the way our fathers and uncles slicked their hair, in the cut of their best suits, in the angle at which they held their cigarettes
- Fintan O'Toole
They were all ready for the excitement of life ahead of them. They couldn't wait to finish school, and now they'll never get the chance
- A woman on the teenagers who drowned in Strandhill last weekend
I don't have no detailed policies at the moment. The key issues are transport, crime, investment and housing. It don't take Einstein to work that out
- Boxing manager and would-be mayor of London, Frank Maloney
We did not have time to get our act together. It was certainly not any kind of boycott - we would have loved to be there. Also there was the physical problem of driving down - given the condition of the roads in the Republic.
- The Rev Brian Kennaway explaining why the Orange Order did not attend a 1798 ceremony in Scullabogue, Co Wexford
I hate the bloody things and have to carry two around with me because I kept losing one
- Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, talking about the wigs she has been forced to wear after treatment for a brain tumour and which she hopes soon to ditch
A giggling jamboree dedicated to kissing, hugging, smooching, goosing, embracing, rib-tickling and tie-swopping
- Best-selling author Frederick Forsyth on the G8 summit in Birmingham
He was just aiming at people and "pow!" and aiming again and shooting again. One boy who tried to protect others was shot.
- A pupil at the Oregon school at which Kip Kinkle (15) went on a shooting rampage killing one person and injuring up to 23 others after killing his parents and sister
Funny, though, how the British newspapers never fought with each other to offer money to the innocents who lingered for more than 20 years in their own jails. Was it not in the public interest to hear about the unjust tribulation of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four?
- Media commentator Roy Greenslade on British papers defending payments to convicted killers as being in the public interest
He's gorgeous, really calm and chilled. And we have got matching tongue rings
- Spice Girl Mel B discussing her fiance Jimmy Gulzar