IT will be hard to beat the quotation from Brendan O hÉithir's The Begrudger's Guide To Irish Politics: Dev had to tell Donal Ó'Buachalla, the Governor General and old friend, that his job was being wiped. "A Dhonaill, I have to tell you that you're abolished."
Silence on the line as the news is absorbed.
"And I'd like to tell you, a Éamoinn, that you're another!"
But Aubrey Dillon-Malone in his latest paperback, Soundbites, A Dictionary of Irish Political Quotations, tries to match the exchange. "I researched what was said in the Dail during the 40s, 50s and 60s. A lot of it was wellintentioned but dull. Where were the John Kellys, the Michael McDowells, the Brian Cowens and the Pat Rabbittes? They may have been there - but they weren't heard!" Some examples of what he has found:
"You get the big things right, small things trip you up." - Albert Reynolds, November 1994. "My husband said that if I became a politician, it would be grounds for annulment." - Liz O'Donnell.
"Beneath that gauche and artless exterior lies a steely politician." - Jim Kemmy on Bertie Ahern.
"Women don't vote for women; most of them vote for me." - Bertie Ahern, Killarney, 1990.
"I decided I didn't want to be out at 1 a.m. distributing leaflets any more." - Michael Keating on why he retired from politics in 1989.
"Dick Spring had the media wind at his back. I used to call Morning Ireland `Good Morning Dick'. If there was a change in the weather they rang him." - Eamonn Gilmore, 1992.
"Cheque book politics and the abuse of monopoly power are on the way out because the PDs are in Government." - Des O'Malley, 1991.
"Democracy is a precious flower and I love her." - Ruairi Quinn, 1997. "I am not Santa Claus." - Charles Haughey, 1991.
"I have information that the Government is planning to have me certified by psychiatrists." - Ian Paisley, 1969.
The potential for witticisms in the new Dail is a bit of an unknown quantity. Of DillonMalone's stars, the late John Kelly is long gone and Michael McDowell, having lost his Dail seat, refused to take the Seanad. Cowen and Rabbitte are still with us, but because they have swapped benches, from Opposition to Government, we will be better entertained by the former than the latter. But there are newcomers, so Quidnunc lives in hope.