Jack Lynch was a gentleman. At one time he was the most popular politician in the country since O'Connell.
- Former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave, of Mr Lynch
He had to do that and I accepted what he had to do, and I had to do what I had to do.
- Charles Haughey, of his sacking from the Cabinet by Jack Lynch in 1970
Mr Cowen should be fired. Minister for Health and Children is an anomaly. He is an accountant. He has no empathy for kids or the area he is responsible for.
- Elizabeth Person Evans, co-ordinator of the CHILD group for children with leukaemia at the National Children's Hospital, Tallaght
There's no cure for Mad Cowen disease.
- Slogan on a nurse's placard
They tried to kill us, but we are still here, crying and suffering, but still alive.
The East Timorese leader, Xanana Gusmao, speaking outside the former governor's residence in Dili
I want the republican movement to tell me and my people, the unionist people, that the war is over. Let them match what the loyalist paramilitaries have said and tell us there won't be a first strike from them . . . You don't need to be a genius to work out the situation from there.
- The Progressive Unionist Party leader, Hugh Smyth
I can only assume that Mr Ahern's silence . . . is due to a bout of the same amnesia which so clearly affected his memory recently concerning matters under investigation by the numerous tribunals which have bedeviled his administration since he took office.
- David Wright, father of LVF leader Billy Wright, who has accused the Taoiseach of indifference about his son's murder in the Maze prison
They have not delivered the goods so far, and I would be saying to them now, you are there at our behest, with our mandate, and we want you at this stage to deliver, to reach an accommodation, to implement in full the Good Friday agreement because that is what we mandated you to do.
- The Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, addressing unionist and nationalist politicians
There are two schools of thought. One, that politicians are playing hardball and that at the final moment everything will collapse into place. Two, that Sinn Fein and the UUP have reached their bottom lines, and that they just can't deal. And that would be just too bad.
- A senior source, of the Mitchell review talks in London
I have yet to meet a single child who's told me that they want to be a satanist . . . because of the book.
- The author of the Harry Potter books, Joanne Rowling, defending her stories against criticism in America of their "dark and evil" content
Our people were never emancipated from the yoke of despotism. I shall not allow the people to be taken back to the era of sham democracy, but to a true one. And I promise you I will.
- Pakistan coup leader, Gen Perviz Musharraf
To try to fob it off as the Salvation Army or the Red Cross, involved in solely humanitarian actions, is simply untrue, and the Government knows it.
- John Gormley, Green Party, of PfP
We'll just have to sit back, regroup, and look forward to the Six Nations Championship.
- Ireland coach Warren Gatland, after his team's defeat by Argentina
The bottom line is money.
- Elizabeth Dole, Republican politician, on dropping out of the race for the US presidency