Verbatim

"We are better prepared. We are safer."

JOHN NEGROPONTE, director of national intelligence, responding to critics who cited a leaked National Intelligence Estimate as proof that the Iraq war has worsened the terrorist threat and criticized the Bush Administration for not releasing it. The NIE--portions of which were declassified last week--calls the war a jihadist "cause celebre"

"I hope she's the candidate because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't."

JERRY FALWELL, evangelist and right-wing activist, on a possible Clinton run for President. He later said his remarks were "totally tongue-in-cheek"

"Fighting terror is rather like fighting crime, not like fighting another army."

SHIMON PERES, Israeli Vice Premier, on lessons learned from the war with Hizballah. In a speech to a London think tank, he argued that Israel must re-evaluate its tactics, saying that sustained economic growth may work where "neither force nor diplomacy can"

"Do you know what it's like to have grandchildren calling you and say, 'Grandpa, you're still alive?'"

PAUL VANCE, co-writer of the song Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, after an obituary printed for Paul Van Valkenburgh--who had claimed he wrote the hit under the name Paul Vance--led the real Paul Vance's friends and family to think he died

"Don't tell anyone up here, but I've lost a few little things already, like my lip gloss."

ANOUSHEH ANSARI, entrepreneur who paid $20 million for a visit to the International Space Station, blogging from space about the difficulty of keeping track of her things in zero-gravity conditions

Sources: AP; Los Angeles Times; Jerusalem Post; AP; Anousheh Ansari Space Blog

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