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 in protest over his continued dual role as President and army chief

‘We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it.’
CRAIG VENTER, U.S. genetic researcher, on news that his team was preparing to announce the creation of the world’s first synthetic chromosome, a stepping stone to creating artificial life

‘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 this year after President Hamid Karzai’s repeated opposition to spraying herbicide on the poppy fields in his country

‘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