Verbatim

"I'm just gonna go on this little vacation, and I'll be back before you know it."

PRIVATE FIRST CLASS THOMAS TUCKER, U.S. soldier, on his deployment to Iraq, in a recent telephone message to his parents. The bodies of Tucker and Private First Class Kristian Menchaca, who had been ambushed and kidnapped by insurgents, were found last week

"I don't like it."

GENERAL GEORGE CASEY, commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, on setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, saying it would "send a terrible signal to a government of national unity in Iraq that's trying to get its legs underneath it"

"A launch of a missile would be a provocation and a dangerous action which would have to have some consequences."

PETER RODMAN, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, warning North Korea of the consequences of test-firing its Taepodong-2 long-range missile. The U.S. conceded that the missile-defense system it has under development has "limited operational capability" to protect against such a missile attack

"Of course not. I remind them: I am the law!"

ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. Attorney General, on whether his three sons illegally download music files off the Internet

"Stand as one with the mujahedin until the invading forces are expelled and Afghanistan is liberated."

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, Osama bin Laden's deputy, in a video posted online, calling on Afghans to fight foreign forces in the country, which is suffering some of its worst violence since the Taliban's ouster in 2001

"It's going to be hand-to-hand combat--blood, sweat and tears trying to fight the fire."

MATT SHOBERT, fire-district chief in Sedona, Ariz., as 700 firefighters struggled to extinguish a 3,260-acre wildfire that threatened nearly 500 homes in the area

"There's another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C. It's the devil."

JOHN JACOB, Republican congressional candidate in Utah, blaming Satan for setbacks in his campaign

"Well, I had a stupid income for what I do."

ANGELINA JOLIE, actress, on why she gives one-third of her earnings to charity

For more daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes

Sources: Eugene Register-Guard; Dept. of Defense; AP; Washington Post; New York Times; AP; Salt Lake Tribune; CNN