Like most of my generation, I was bombed by better men than the IRA when I was still in short trousers. - Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative cabinet minister badly injured by the IRA's 1984 Brighton bomb
When I was prime minister I was not always popular. - Baroness Thatcher
It hurts me to say it, but I think it has to be said . . . I can only come to one conclusion, that he stood down for self-interest, rather than party interest. - The Alliance Party deputy leader, Seamus Close, on the resignation of party leader Lord Alderdice
It's brilliant. I never slept all night. It was like waiting for somebody belonging to you to die. - Garvaghy Road resident, Donna O'Hara, on the publication of the Parades Commission ruling that it would not permit the Orange Order to march on the road
Don't bully me, Ken, you're not in your UDR uniform now. - Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, after Ken Maginnis (UUP), a former UDR major, accused McGuinness of having been an IRA member
Revenge is a horrible word . . . I felt it was an injustice . . . I never blamed Maradona. Not one of us did. The officials were the problem. - England soccer coach Glenn Hoddle, on the infamous helping-hand incident in the 1986 World Cup
The sector occupied by the Japanese and Korean fans at the end of the game is actually cleaner than when they went in. - FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper
This Gaultier-saronged, Posh Spiced, Cooled Britannia, look-at-me, what-a-lad, loadsamoney, sex-and-shopping, fame-schooled, daytimeTV, over-coiffed twerp did not, of course, mean any harm. - Daily Telegraph editorial passes judgment on David Beckham's kick at an Argentinian opponent which led to him being sent off
Thank God I didn't. - Dutch coach Guus Hiddinks on his aborted plan to substitute Edgar Davids, who scored the last-minute goal in the 2-1 victory over Yugoslavia
I am not an expert on soccer, but I think the Brazilians are always hard to beat. - Bill Clinton shows that he does know something about soccer
It was inevitable. Tom literally died of a broken heart. He had nothing to live for. He wanted to be with her and now he is. - Family friend Maureen Cozens, on the death of Tom Cookson, three weeks after that of his wife, Dame Catherine Cookson
It's very unfashionable to say this, but rape actually isn't the worst thing that can happen to a woman if you are safe, alive and unmarked after the event. - Writer and feminist Fay Weldon
We and the American people believe that the use of force in Tiananmen square was wrong. - President Clinton openly argues with his Chinese counter- part Jiang Zemin in an unedited television press con- ference on Chinese TV
Had resolute measures not been taken, we could not have enjoyed the stability we enjoy today. - Mr Jiang
Albert Reynolds would make a great ambassador to the United States. - Billy Timmins (FG), in the Dail
I do not want to cause a revolution in the Department of Foreign Affairs. That might well happen if I proposed Mr Reynolds. I could find myself being ducked in the pond in St Stephen's Green. - The Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews
You must never, absolutely never, ever, lick your knife. - Lyndy James, an English- woman who teaches Americans table manners