The week in words
Something is going to have to be done about this - in the same way that we had to act and do something to protect taxpayers' money and time with regard to Army deafness.
- Minister of State for Integration Conor Lenihan blames cases taken by a "voracious group of barristers" for the "grief and difficulty" surrounding the asylum process.
They said this day would never come.
- Barack Obama, who is seeking the Democratic party nomination for US president, defeats his closest rivals in the crucial Iowa primary.
I assure all political parties that the elections will be fair, free and transparent.
- Qazi Mohammad Farooq, Pakistan's chief election commissioner, says that elections scheduled for next week are to be postponed until mid-February. The country is in turmoil since opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last week.
Today's filet mignon tastes richer than it did yesterday.
- Paris resident Pierre Morgon tucks into a steak after France widens a prohibition on smoking in public to bars and restaurants.
I'm sure there were more than 15 but I couldn't count the ones who were ashes.
- Kenya TV reporter Tony Biwott as over 50 people are feared burned to death in a church in the town of Eldoret. Violence has swept Kenya following a disputed outcome in the general election.
My mother always said democracy is the best revenge.
- Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, 19-year-old son of Benazir Bhutto, agrees to take symbolic leadership of his mother's party.
It's been a black eye for our town, a stigma.
- Scott Walker, the mayor of Reeves, Louisiana. The town will be allowed to change its telephone prefix from 666. Residents say that the number, associated with the Devil, has harmed Reeves' reputation.
I have no illusions about the Farc, but it looks like they are a peasant army fighting for a decent living.
- Movie-maker Oliver Stone joins a mission led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to secure the release of hostages kidnapped by Colombia's Farc guerillas.
There is no difference between him and Idi Amin and other military dictators who have seized power through the barrel of the gun.
- Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga says President Mwai Kibaki has rigged his re-election.
We didn't realise we would get all this attention. I love it here. It is a shame.
- Lesley Elbilia, one of the last guests to check out of Dublin's Burlington Hotel, which closed this week having been sold to developers.
He keeps telling me that it just wasn't his time.
- Rosario Moreno, whose husband Alcides, a window-cleaner, fell 47 storeys from the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper and survived.
If they tell us that two is three, we have to nod and say that two is three.
- A citizen of Rangoon, Burma, describes life under the ruling military junta. The country marks 60 years of independence this week.
I want to make this clear. I support their cause. These are very talented, very creative people who work extremely hard. I believe what they're asking for is fair.
- Talkshow host Conan O'Brien returns to the airwaves despite the ongoing writers' strike which has crippled the US television industry.
At this moment I would recommend against tourism in the area.
- Carmen Fernandez, director of Chile's National Emergency Office, following the violent eruption of a volcano in the country's picturesque south, which has forced thousands to flee their homes.