Verbatim

‘The government’s compelling interests in wartime justify restrictions on the scope of individual liberty.’ JOHN YOO, Bush Administration Deputy Assistant Attorney General, in a secret 2001 memo recently made public that sought to defend greatly increased presidential powers

‘We do not spare killers.’ SHEIKH HASINA, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, rescinding the amnesty she had offered to border guards who killed more than 73 officers during a two-day mutiny

‘I think they were not to be found.’ ROBERT BLEAKLEY, father of William Bleakley, after the Coast Guard ended a three-day search for his son and two NFL players, Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, whose boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico

‘It would be legitimizing a Zimbabwe-type arrangement.’ ASHRAF GHANI AHMADZAI, presidential contender in Afghanistan, accusing President Hamid Karzai of trying to “wrong-foot” his opponents by moving up the vote

‘This tribunal does not have the right to try me.’ RADOVAN KARADZIC, former Bosnian Serb leader, refusing to enter a plea before a U.N. tribunal at the Hague for his alleged involvement in the massacre at Srebrenica

‘This market will only stop falling when people run out of stock to sell.’ DOREEN MOGAVERO, president of New York City brokerage Mogavero Lee & Co., after the Dow fell to its lowest point in over a decade

‘We’re all about finding ways of raising discretionary revenue.’ MICHAEL O’LEARY, chief executive of the European budget airline Ryanair, on toying with the idea of charging passengers to use airplane restrooms

Back & Forth:

Art

‘It’s obviously blackmail, but I accept that.’ PIERRE BERGE, Yves Saint Laurent’s partner, on his offer to return two antique bronze statues, looted from China’s Summer Palace in 1860, if Beijing grants Tibet its freedom

‘I want to stress that I will not pay for this bid.’ CAI MINGCHAO, the winning bidder on the $36 million statues and a member of China’s Lost Cultural Relics Foundation, saying he sabotaged the auction out of a sense of patriotic duty

Taxes

‘U2 might publicly support development aid to Africa, but it is taking advantage of the same tax-avoidance schemes that multinational companies use to deprive developing countries of important revenue.’ HANS ZOMER, director of Dochas, an association of Irish development groups, blasting U2 for relocating assets overseas after Ireland ended a tax-free deal for artists

‘Ireland will have to find other ways of being competitive.’ BONO, criticizing the law change and noting the group’s actions were legal

Iran

‘We asked others, and they said, “There’s no detention for that.” So that’s kind of an excuse.’ REZA SABERI, father of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was reportedly arrested in Tehran for buying a bottle of wine and was last heard from on Feb. 10

‘She should not have illegally sought to gather information and news in Iran.’ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman HASSAN GHASHGHAVI, saying the former BBC reporter’s press accreditation had been revoked since 2006

For daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes

Sources: Reuters; CNN; AP; Reuters; BBC; Wall Street Journal; AP