Verbatim

"We're stuck. The room is filling with smoke. I'm scared." PETER ALDERMAN in an e-mail to his mother before he died, sent on his BlackBerry at 9:25 a.m. from the north tower of the World Trade Center, quoted in a newly released 9/11 transcript

"He's a sissy is what I'm saying. He's a scaredy-cat." RICHIE ROSS, political strategist for Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, on why Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't yet agreed to participate in a debate of recall candidates

"It's like trying to get a clock ticking again after taking out some of its parts." AHMAD MUKHTAR, administrative secretary in the Iraqi Governing Council, on the U.S.'s decision to bar former Baath Party members from office in Iraq

"NASA had conflicting goals of cost, schedule and safety, and unfortunately, safety lost out." MAJOR GENERAL JOHN BARRY, Columbia Accident Investigation Board member, on the loss of the shuttle

"He looked upon Father Geoghan as a prize." JOHN J. CONTE, district attorney in Worcester, Mass., on Joseph L. Druce, who is accused of killing convicted child molester and former priest John Geoghan

"The first thing I saw was a car that was flying like a rocket." AJAY JADHAV, a security guard at a local monument in Bombay, India, site of two terrorist bombings that injured 175 and killed 52

"These are matters that do not need to be discussed in public in ways that embarrass or humiliate the government or the defense, and particularly the court." KENNETH HOYT, U.S. district judge, on why he closed several hearings on Enron executives to the media

"Is this chicken what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna, but it says 'chicken by the sea.'" JESSICA SIMPSON, pop singer, to her husband Nick Lachey on MTV's reality show Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica

Sources: Washington Post; Contra Costa Times; L.A. Times; National Public Radio; New York Times; TIME; Houston Chronicle; ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY