Verbatim

'It would be nice to have a woman President. I think half the Senate should be women, half of Parliament, half the ruling mullahs. But that will never happen, darling!'

MERYL STREEP, Oscar-winning actress, on her views on government

'No harm, no foul.'

LEE BACA, Los Angeles County sheriff, on discovering--and deciding not to punish any participants in--a competition he has since ended among police officers to book the most people and impound as many cars as possible

'A majority--a vast majority--have voted for me, and therefore that result is the result.'

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, President of Pakistan, on winning 98% of the parliamentary votes in a re-election bid that many boycotted to protest his candidacy while serving as army chief

'If things haven't changed by our next visit, we may have to announce a revolution.'

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, former Soviet leader, on the slow recovery efforts in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward

'The eradication process over the past five years has not worked. This year it was a farce.'

ANTONIO MARIA COSTA, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, on Afghanistan's record opium harvest after President Hamid Karzai's repeated opposition to spraying pesticide on his country's poppy fields

'We just don't want him misused. He can be a universal person, but respect the image.'

ALEIDA GUEVARA MARCH, daughter of communist icon Che Guevara, on asking companies to stop capitalizing on her father's image--which has been plastered on key chains, vodka and underwear--40 years after his death

For daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes

Sources: Times of London; New York Times; AP (2); New York Times (2)