We are tantalisingly close to being in a different world in Northern Ireland.
Dr John Reid, Northern Secretary, speaking before the IRA withdrew its offer to decommission its weapons
I believe the IRA proposal was a very genuine one, but more important than that it was endorsed by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. For the unionists to reject the IICD's determination and for the government to do what it did [suspension] is hardly the stuff of peace-making.
Mr Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein president
Taken together with the arrests of three senior IRA men in Colombia . . . it indicates to us that the IRA is wedded to the theology of revolutionary terrorism.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, anti-Belfast Agreement unionist
They were not there on Sinn Fein business. Whatever they were there for, it is not our responsibility. It has nothing to do with us.
Sinn Fein Party statement on the men's arrest in Colombia
Far from marking a break, it will provide a platform for the full implementation of the agreement.
Dr Reid, on the suspension of the North's institutions
For ordinary folk, many people will be dismayed and worried . . . Many Protestants will say with regret or with no regret, "We told you so. We don't expect the IRA to really decommission."
Dr James Mehaffey, Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe
The whole thing is nonsense on stilts. If they bring charges, well, in the famous words of somebody else, then I'm a banana.
Christine Hamilton, who is jointly accused with her husband, Neil, a former Tory minister, of the sexual assault of a young woman
Very little surprises me, I have to say.
Mary Archer, academic and wife of Lord Archer, the disgraced politician and author
We must learn from history so that such things aren't repeated, not in Germany and not anywhere in the world.
Gerhard Schroder, German Chancellor, on the 40th anniversary of the Berlin Wall
I have made the decision with great care. I pray it is the right one.
President Bush, announcing that he will allow federal funding for stem-cell research
I think: "Where do I sit? At the front? In the middle? At the back?" and when I see someone who looks like an Arab, I get off.
Ms Na'ama Binyamin (16), on assessing the risk from suicide bombers while travelling by bus in Israel
The Middle East is crossing a dangerous line.
Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, after the Palestinian suicide bombing last week that killed 15 people and sparked the Israeli takeover of Orient House, the symbolic Palestinian government centre in east Jerusalem
Adrian will go home now. But a part of his soul and my heart will stay here in Dublin. I am very confident that gardai will find the killers of my son, and God will help them.
Ms Mariana Moraru, mother of murdered Romanian Mr Adrian Bestea
I don't talk about my private life. I have a right to keep things to myself.
Actress Penelope Cruz, pressed about whether Tom Cruise was her boyfriend
I will cry for my wife today again, and by the look of the rate the RUC and the Garda Siochana are going, I will be crying for many, many years.
Mr Laurence Rush, after he interrupted a joint RUC-Garda press conference on the third anniversary of the Omagh bomb. Mr Rush's wife died in the blast
There are parts of the world where Jesus Christ is not so well known.
Pele, Brazilian soccer legend, responding to a reporter's suggestion that he rivals Jesus in international fame
Generally speaking, a sober and temperate person tends to be more reliable and socially more effective.
Father Micheal MacGreil SJ, chairman of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association
I want three kids while Michael said he'd have two, so I'll have to negotiate for the third child. But I definitely want more. I'd have as many as I could possibly have.
Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones