The IRA would have problems with sections of the Mitchell Principles. But then the IRA is not a participant in these talks.
- A spokesperson for the IRA leadership in an interview in An Phoblacht/Republican News
It's a nightmare for loyalism and a nightmare for the whole loyalist community. It elevates within unionism those who were already distrusting and disbelieving.
- The PUP leader, David Ervine, on the IRA announcement
Is he old enough to be served an alco-pop? His great populist triumph was to turn up with his girlfriend at the Notting Hill Carnival airing his mincing, lightweight voice.
- Veteran Labour peer Lord [Denis] Healey on the Tory leader William Hague
He leaves two unwritten books and a circle of detached acquaintances.
- Jeffrey Bernard's last words on himself in the obituary he wrote for the Daily Telegraph
Mother Teresa had a life so resplendent before the eyes of all that I don't think it will be too long a process.
- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's authority on doctrine, on the "speeding up" of her journey to sainthood
Calcutta has little reason to be grateful. It was Mother Teresa who owed a tremendous debt to Calcutta. No other city in the world would offer up its poor and dying to be stepping stones in a relentless ascent to sainthood.
- Editorial in The Telegraph, Calcutta
Whatever comes out of the woodwork from now on, a line is in the sand. From this day on, D-day, I am going to the peace process, the United Nations and to Europe and no further.
- The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ray Burke, after his defence in the Dail against the charge of improperly accepting a £30,000 cash donation from a builder in 1989
On behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls . . . can sing openly as you planned.
- Earl Spencer in his Westminster Abbey tribute to his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales
The coffin seemed so small . . . I can hardly believe it contained that tall, strong beautiful girl. I can't believe it.
- A woman mourner at Diana's funeral
Leave me alone. Leave me alone.
- Last reported comments of Princess Diana while still conscious after her car crash in Paris as paparazzi allegedly took pictures of her
Our lovely, beautiful President. She's looking gorgeous today.
- Taxi driver Johnny Walker, welcoming Mary Robinson at the start of the Dublin taxi drivers' outing for handicapped children
I can think of no greater personal honour than to become President of Ireland as an agreed candidate.
- The SDLP leader, John Hume, declining the Presidency
I feel this pity for non-novelists whenever I come across them. How are you going to live in a denuded world when you are just living in it, no longer giving it some shape? Deep energies and corrosive emotions are involved in writing.
- Author Martin Amis
Feelings? Maybe I'm not articulate enough to express my feelings. If you get a picture of me with a smile on my face that will tell you. That should say enough.
- Ireland soccer manager, Mick McCarthy, on his team's victory over Lithuania