2008 Quotes of the Year - Top Quotes of 2008

Quotes of the Week - December 31, 2008:
"The church must defend not only the earth, the water and the air as gifts of creation belonging to everyone, but it must also protect mankind against the destruction of itself. The tropical forests deserve our protection, but man as a creature deserves it no less. Failure to respect the union between a man and a woman amounts to the auto destruction of mankind." -- Pope Benedict XVI in a speech widely interpreted as attacking homosexuality.

"Harold was a political figure, a polemicist, and carried on fierce battles against American foreign policy and often British foreign policy, but in private he was the most incredibly loyal of friends and generous of human beings." -- Harold Pinter's biographer Michael Billington pays tribute to the playwright, who died during the week.

"When things go well, people call me Gordon. When they're bad, they call me Mr Brown. At the moment, they are calling me Gordon." -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"What is the world coming to?" -- Jeremy Paxman, shocked after contestants on British TV's University Challenge failed to answer questions about tiddlywinks.

"I want 10 children. I love kids." -- Tom Cruise, in interview with UK newspaper The Sun, December 2008.

"If you were alive, they would give you a loan. Actually, I think if you were dead, they would still give you a loan." -- US financial commentator Steven Knobel, on lax lending standards among some US banks before the economic crash.

"We have now declared war on the residents of Gaza. I reiterate that we will treat the population with silk gloves but will apply an iron fist to Hamas." -- Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert as the offensive in Gaza continued.

Quotes of the Week - December 23, 2008:
"I want to see hedge-fund managers tipped into cage fights with naked Gypsies; bank managers wrestle with lions in the O2 arena; failed regulators thrown to alligators in the Royal Docks; short sellers in pits of snakes; and distinguished City economists try their luck with sharks. They've had their heyday, their bonuses, their Porsches, their fine wines and oafish ostentation - they've had their fun. Now for ours. To the guillotine!" -- Matthew Parris writing in 'The Times' of London.

"We're not allowed to play Monopoly at home. It gets too vicious." -- Britain's Prince Andrew gives an insight into the royal Christmas.

"Zimbabwe is mine. I wil never, never surrender." -- Robert Mugabe.

Quotes of the Week - December 16, 2008:
"The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave." -- Patrick Fitzgerald, attorney in Chicago, as Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is accused of trying to auction Barack Obama's senate seat in return for favors.

"It's hard to tell where the floor will be." -- Peter Spencer, economics professor at University of York, as sterling slumps to record low against euro.

"While we're still the US sales leader, we acknowledge we have disappointed you." -- General Motors, in full-page ad in 'Automotive News'.

"I didn't just fall off the wagon. I let the wagon fall on me." -- Oprah Winfrey reveals she's put on 40lb since 2006.

"She provokes a crazy enthusiasm, an enthusiasm of lust, lustful thoughts, impure thoughts." -- Jorge Medina, Catholic Cardinal of Santiago, as Madonna plays her first concert in Chile.

Quotes of the Week - December 10, 2008:
"Mr president-elect, I'm proud to join you in what will be a difficult and exciting adventure." -- Hillary Clinton agrees to serve as Barack Obama's secretary of state.

"I believe we could lose General Motors by the end of this month." -- Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers union, as the troubled US car giant seeks a government bailout.

"In getting breast enlargements what we're doing is creating a totally impossible female shape and making it our ideal, I think that's a problem because human beings don't come naturally in that shape." -- English TV presenter Esther Rantzen.

"To ensure prosperity here at home and peace abroad, we all share the belief we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet." -- Barack Obama.

"I let bad people in because I was lonely and I really paid the consequences for that big time. I am very protective of myself. Sometimes it can get kind of lonely. It's bad. I'm sad." -- Britney Spears.

Quotes of the Week - December 2, 2008:
"I go to bed at, like, 9.30 every night and I don't go out or anything. I just feel like an old fart." -- Britney Spears discovers true meaning of being a parent.

"God and the devil: I got one on each shoulder." -- Brandon Flowers, frontman of The Killers.

"Money can be a burden. That's why I got stressed last year. I had a massive house that I couldn't control or clean." -- Carly Zucker, 24, girlfriend of Chelsea soccer player Joe Cole, on 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'

"He is like some sherry-crazed old dowager who has lost the family silver at roulette, and who now decides to double up by betting the house as well." -- London Mayor Boris Johnson on UK PM Gordon Brown.

Quotes of the Week - November 25, 2008:
"I can't go to my old barber shop now. I've gotta have my barber come to some undisclosed location to cut my hair." -- US President-elect on adjusting to his and his family's new reality and the "certain lonliness to the job" of president.

"Will I be able to have children?" -- Hitler's first question to the doctor who saved his life after a groin injury in the WWI Battle of the Somme. A recently discovered manuscript of a conversation between the doctor and Hitler's priest confirmed the rumor that Hitler lost a testicle in the fight.

"I and others were mistaken early on in saying that the subprime crisis would be contained." -- US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

"In my heart, I love women more than I love men. But I'm more careful when I'm being interviewed by a woman because from experiences, I know there is a little stiletto knife hidden behind the back." -- Actress Helen Mirren.

"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture and I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world." -- Barack Obama.

"I am not suicidal. Occasionally, like all of us, I get depressed and it was over a year ago and I had a little mini attack, well a big one ... I don't know quite why it happened but I find medication is not the answer to this." -- Courtney Love.

"There were very, very dark times with Mick and all the Stones." -- Jerry Hall, formerly Mrs Jagger, hints at revelations to come in her newly completed autobiography.

"I haven't been doing enough exercise. I have let things slide." -- Camilla, Dutchess of Cornwall, reveals she has let herself go since getting married to Princes Charles.

"Everyone over 50 should be issued every week with a wet fish in a plastic bag by the Post Office so that, whenever you see someone young and happy, you can hit them as hard as you can across the face." -- Richard Griffiths, the 61-year-old actor, joins the grumpy old men's club.

Quotes of the Week - November 17, 2008:
"It will never work with all those Huns, wops and dagos." -- Britain's Queen Mother on the EU, quoted by BBC man Edward Stourton in his book 'It's a PC World'.

"I've been sleeping like a baby: sleep two hours, wake up and cry, sleep two hours, wake up and cry." -- John McCain, asked how he was doing by Jay Leno on 'The Tonight Show', in first interview after his defeat in US presidential election.

"Our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me." -- Barack Obama, on choosing a dog for his children as they go into the White House.

"I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is." -- Sarah Palin, hoping God will show her the door to the White House in 2012.

Quotes of the Week - November 11, 2008:
"Change has come to America." -- Barack Obama, in victory speech in US presidential election, home state of Chicago, November 4, 2008.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." -- Barack Obama, in victory speech in US presidential election in home state of Chicago, November 4, 2008.

"To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn: I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President, too." -- US President-elect Barack Obama, in his victory speech.

"Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place." -- Nelson Mandela, former South African President, in letter to Barack Obama on being elected the 44th President of the United States.

"We have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation's reputation." -- John McCain on the significance of Obama's election for African-Americans, in his concession speech in Phoenix.

"Unbelievable! Obama's coming — make way!" -- Mwai Kibaki, Kenyan President, on Barack Obama's election win, which led Kibaki to declare a national holiday on the Thursday in honor of the President-elect.

"I was so, so, so excited, and then just sort of a calm came over me. It feels like it actually is kind of real, so it feels great." -- Oprah Winfrey, on her reaction to news that Barack Obama won the presidential race.

"I don't know if I will die of happiness." -- Sarah Obama, celebrating her grandson's victory in the US presidential election, from her home in the village of Kogelo, Kenya.

"If some people don't have a sense of humor, then it's their problem." -- Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, after being criticized for commenting that President-elect Barack Obama would work well with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev because Obama is "young, handsome and sun-tanned".

Quotes of the Week - November 4, 2008:
"I'm not going to talk about it too long, because it's hard to talk about." -- US presidential candidate Barack Obama on death of his grandmother Madelyn Duynham, who helped raise him during his itinerant childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia.

"We have to do something about his skinny legs. He has to do squats." -- California governor and former muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger says he'd like to get Barack Obama into a gym.

"I'm still speechless." -- Lewis Hamilton, Formula One's youngest-ever champion, after clinching title by overtaking Timo Glock on final turn of last lap of Brazilian Grand Prix.

"There is nothing decent about Russell Brand - he's a despicable rat." -- Georgina Baillie, granddaughter of actor Andrew Sachs, who received lewd phone calls about Georgina from British comedy pair Brand and Jonathan Ross, which were broadcast on BBC radio. Sachs, now 78, was famous for his role as incompetent Spanish waiter in classic comedy series 'Fawlty Towers'. The prank attracted over 30,000 viewer complaints to the BBC.

Quotes of the Week - Oct 27, 2008:
"We are in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsumani. Central banks and governments are being required to take unprecedented measures. Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity are in a state of shocked disbelief." -- Former US Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, on global financial meltdown.

"Not since the first world war has our banking system been so close to collapse. The long march to boredom and stability starts tonight." -- Mervyn King, governor of Bank of England, saying people face a long journey through recession.

"Oh, if only people knew how frugal we are." -- US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin responds to news that $150,000 of Republican money was spent on her wardrobe for the campaign trail.

Quotes of the Week - Oct 21, 2008:
"I strongly believe that at this point in America's history, we need a president that will not just continue basically the policies we have been following in recent years. I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change." -- Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for US president.

"I ain't got time to die." -- Ann Nixon Cooper, 106, of Atlanta, Georgia, on living through the years when African-Americans and women couldn't vote to now, a time where Barack Obama is running for president.

"I'm warning you with peace and love, I have too much to do. So no more fan mail." -- Former Beatle Ringo Starr says he's signed his last autograph.

Quotes of the Week - Oct 12, 2008:
"I was trying to give Tina Fey more material. Job security for Saturday Night Live." -- US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, joking about her gaffes during interviews and media appearances.

"Your company is now bankrupt, our economy is now in a state of crisis, but you get to keep $480 million. I have a very basic question for you: Is this fair?" -- Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, questioning Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld over the bank's collapse.

"Nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture." -- Pope Benedict XVI, criticizing modern life and greed at a meeting of bishops in Rome on Oct. 5.

"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America. Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this." -- Sarah Palin, accusing Barack Obama of associating with Bill Ayers, a founder of radical Weather Underground, which was involved in several bombings in early 1970s.

"The financial crisis is nothing compared with the environmental crisis." -- Jean-Christophe Vie, of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, on a new report that 25% of the world's mammals face extinction.

"We can solve this crisis — and we will." -- US President George Bush, American people to have confidence in the economy during a "deeply unsettling period".

Quotes of the Week - Oct 6, 2008:
"The reality is we're in an urgent situation and the consequences will get bigger each day we do not act." -- US President George Bush, on efforts to resurrect the $700 billion financial rescue package.

"Sixty-seven percent of the Republican Conference decided to put political ideology ahead of the best interest of our great nation." -- U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, after the House voted against the $700-billion bailout package aimed at stabilizing financial markets.

"I go three, maybe four times a year to get tested for sexually transmitted infections and most of the time I don't even need to." -- Kelly Osborne.

"He'll be up there with Churchill." -- Cherie Blair on how history will judge her husband and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Quotes of the Week - Sept 30, 2008:
"If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down." -- US president George Bush as political wrangling threatens to sink $700 billion Wall Street bailout package.

"Our entire economy is in danger." -- US president George Bush in TV appeal for support for plan to avert financial meltdown.

"Don't blow it up." -- US treasury secretary Henry Paulson on bended knee, to Democratic Party House speaker Nancy Pelosi, pleading for her to back $700bn Wall Street bailout.

"My name is not Gordon." -- Michael Douglas, refers to his 1987 character in movie Wall Street after reporter asked him about current financial crisis.

Quotes of the Week - Sept 23, 2008:
"They are like looters after a hurricane." -- Andrew Cuomo, New York's attorney general, on short-selling of stock by traders who have made a fortune by driving down the price of bank shares.

"I love art and this proves I'm not alone." -- British artist Damien Hirst after selling 54 pieces of his work for $127m.

"I have signed this agreement because my belief in Zimbabwe and its peoples runs deeper than the scars I bear from the struggle ... and because my hope for the future is greater than the grief for the needless suffering of the past years. We deserve a better life; a life without fear, hunger, poverty and oppression." -- Morgan Tsvangirai, the incoming Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

Quotes of the Week - Sept 16, 2008:

"You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig." -- US presidential candidate Barack Obama in what sounded like an attack on Republican vice-president nominee Sarah Palin.

"I thought I'd host an end of the world party, but the media might take it seriously." -- Stephen Hawking, reassuring that world was not due to end with the launch of the Large Hadron Collider.

"I'm going to try to win an eighth Tour de France." -- Lance Armstrong announcing he is coming out of retirement.

"I suggest we flaunt our defiance of the UN with a series of vast barbecues: carnivorous festivals of chops and saausages and burgers and chitterlings." -- London mayor Boris Johnson rejects UN calls to give up meat to save the planet.

Quotes of the Week - Sept 9, 2008:

"I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing. I don't want kids. I'm a f**in' redneck." -- Levi Johnston, boyfriend of Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter.

"What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick." -- US vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin at Republican convention.

"I want to give a shout-out to all my Saudi Arabian brothers and sisters. If you could all please send me some oil for my jet, I would really appreciate it." -- Sean "P Diddy" Combs in YouTube video.

"My dress was worth every penny. I was proud to tell everyone at the wedding how much it cost." -- English bride Heather Saint, 20, who bought her wedding dress for 5p on eBay.

Quotes of the Week - Sept 2, 2008:

"It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it." -- US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama at his party's Denver convention.

"No way. No how. No McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be president." -- Hillary Clinton backs Obama at convention.

"In international relations, you cannot have one rule for some and another rule for others." -- Russian president Dmitri Medvedev on recognizing independence of Georgia's breakaway regions, saying the West set a precedent by treating Kosovo the same way.

"I wanted to show myself as I am. I couldn't care less about the camera." -- Designer Valentino Garavani, in a new warts-and-all portrait documentary of half century in fashion.

Quotes of the Week - August 25, 2008:

"I'll have my staff get back to you on that." -- US Republican presidential candidate John McCain on being asked how many houses he owns (the answer is seven).

"I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes." -- Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf in his resignation speech.

"If they knew the plane was faulty, why did they let it fly?" -- A relative of one of the 153 passengers killed in the Spanair crash at Madrid airport.

"I feel now at 53 I have grown into a deeper understanding of what a human life is." -- John Lennon's killer Mark Chapman seeks parole. His request was denied.

Quotes of the Week - August 19, 2008:

"Eat, sleep and swim. That's all I can do." -- Olympic champion Michael Phelps explains the secret of his success, a lot of eggs in a 12,000 calories a day diet.

"The world just got a little less funny." -- George Clooney's reaction to the death of his friend, comedian Bernie Mac, 50.

"This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, where Russia can invade its neighbor, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it. Things have changed." -- Condoleezza Rice on military clashes between Russia and Georgia.

"They are steeped in sin and, if eaten long enough for in quantity, will almost certainly kill you." -- Actress Emma Thompson on the scourge of potato crisps.

Quotes of the Week - August 11, 2008:

"That wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which means I'm running for President. So thanks for the endorsement white-haired dude, and I want America to know I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton lampoons a John McCain US presidential campaign video using her image.

"I respected him, and he respected me." -- Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, tells a military court he never suspected bin Laden was involved in terrorism until after the 9/11 attacks.

"These new bras represent pioneering work." -- Rudiger Carstens, a spokeswoman for the German federal police, which has just introduced the 'bulletproof bra'.

"I read the script and it's not bad. The message is I'm a dangerous lunatic, and that I'm possessed by monkeys." -- Singer Iggy Pop on a forthcoming Hollywood movie based on his life.

Quotes of the Week - August 4, 2008:
"I took him aside and said: 'I posed in the nude.' He said: 'Oh, I like this one. Can I have a print?'" -- Carla Bruni-Sarkozy recalls the moment she told her husband French President Nicolas Sarkozy full details of her modeling career.

"[It] is now unimaginable to many people that this court could acquit me. I believe that this fact seriously jeopardises the trial itself." -- On trial at UN war crimes tribunal, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic says he is victim of media witchhunt.

"Sugar is responsible for a lot of deaths. Arguably more than crack cocaine." -- Guy Ritchie, who is married to Madonna.

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead." -- John McCain launched an advertisement asking this question about Barack Obama's suitability for US presidency.

"Green protesters are our best passengers. They're always flying off to their demonstrations." -- Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary on why he believes critics of budget airlines are hypocrites.

Quotes of the Week - July 29, 2008:
"Wall Street got drunk and now it's got a hangover. And the question is how long will it sober up and not try to do those fancy financial instruments?" -- US president George Bush ponders America's financial services meltdown.

"Thank God my brother is alive and healthy. He has lost weight but he is normal and reasonable. He knows whether or not he is guilty." -- Luka Karadzic, brother of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, arrested for war crimes.

"Too often [the Church] is weighted down and burdened with the sins and failings of her children; too often she appears disfigured and discouraged." -- Pope Benedict XVI.

Quotes of the Week - July 22, 2008:
"What is the difference between God and Bono? God doesn't wander down Grafton Street thinking he's Bono." -- Irish music promoter and TV personality Louis Walsh.

"Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises." -- Pope Benedict XVI on the perils of materialism.

"May the cheaters get caught. May they go away." -- Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, after stage winner Riccardo Ricco tests positive for blood-booster EPO.

"I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years." -- Al Gore challenges the US to commit to meeting all its electricity needs with renewable sources by 2018.

Quotes of the Week - July 15, 2008:
"You are my lord, you're my darling, you're my orgy, my charming prince." -- Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's tribute to husband, Nicholas Sarkozy, president of France.

"Barack, he's talking down to black people. I want to cut his nuts off." -- Jesse Jackson, US Democrat and civil rights activist, about his party's presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"Many things that happened in the jungle we have to leave in the jungle." -- Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, refuses to discuss certain details about her six years of captivity in jungles of Colombia.

"Europe is a family of 27 nations, we can't leave anyone behind." -- Nicolas Sarkozy, French President, urging European Parliament to speed negotiations over Lisbon Treaty.

Quotes of the Week - July 8, 2008:
"If I see something sagging, bagging and dragging, I'm going to nip it, tuck it and suck it." -- Dolly Parton reveals her anti-aging procedure.

"I get there, I put on clothes, I leave it on the hanger and I go home." -- Gisele Bundchen on the arduous life of a supermodel.

Quotes of the Week - July 1, 2008:
"What is so special is that you spend 27 years in prison, you come out and you do the thing that everyone thought was impossible to do, become president of the nation and change the way people feel about Africa." -- Oprah Winfrey to Nelson Mandela on his 90th birthday.

"We have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe." -- Nelson Mandela speaks out against Robert Mugabe.

"I won't lie to you and say that I always enjoy the campaigning, but when the days get a little long and I get a little frustrated, I remind myself that I have a ringside seat on American history." -- Cindy McCain, wife of US presidential candidate John McCain.

"Sixty-six pence per person in the country - less than the price of two pints of milk or a download to an iPod." -- Buckingham Palace spokesman explains the cost of the Queen to British nation.

Quotes of the Week - June 24, 2008:
"We are not going to give up our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint fight with a gun?" -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe hints he will cling to power, whatever the outcome of the election for president.

"To come out with this kind of hugely expensive and over-the-top burger and to have 80 million people going to bed hungry every night is just to shoot yourself in the foot." -- David Tuciker of War on Want, the anti-poverty group, as Burger King launches a $200 burger, consisting of Japanese-style Wagyu, Italian truffles and Spanish cured ham.

"This could revolutionize transport." -- Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe unveils a green scheme under which the city is to provide electric cars that drivers can pick up and drop off wherever they like.

Quotes of the Week - June 17, 2008:
"I think that, in retrospect, I could have used a different rhetoric. Phrases such as 'bring them on' or 'dead of alive' indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace." -- US President George W Bush regrets being so hawkish over Iraq.

"The nation will live to regret what the court has done today." -- US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia after the court rules foreign terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay can challenge their detention in US courts.

"He didn't like the nose." -- Courtroom sketch artist Janet Hamlin on the response of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, after he saw a sketch of himself.

Quotes of the Week - June 10, 2008:
"Kids, drink responsibly or you'll end up looking like this, not pretty." -- Pop star Lily Allen, in her MySpace blog, after she was carried out of the British Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year Awards by a security guard after getting totally drunk.

"I backed off wrongly, sideways like a crab." -- British TV chat show host Michael Parkinson, after being knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

"You know who I am, right? I'm researching a part - I'm doing this for a part. I've been clean for a long time. Today was the first time I was relapsing, but you guys saved me. Can you let me go?" -- Tatum O'Neill to police officers who arrested her for allegedly buying crack cocaine from a street dealer.

"One of the founding fathers of rock and roll has left the building he helped construct." -- Announcement of the death of Bo Diddley, by his management agency.

Quotes of the Week - June 3, 2008:
"In some ways the Web is the most important book in the world." -- Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, on the company's e-reader, The Kindle.

"This may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind." -- Bill Clinton, husband of US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, on the eve of what political pundits anticipate to be her withdrawal from the Democratic campaign.

"The so-called international misers theory is totally unfounded." -- China's commerce minister Chen Deming, refuting Chinese netizens' claim that multinational corporations such as Nokia and McDonald's donated little to help Sichuan earthquake victims. According to Chinese Internet portal Sina.com, corporations have donated or pledged more than $1 billion.

Quotes of the Week - May 27, 2008:
"Those 20 envelopes won't shake up German democracy." -- Spokesman for Deutsche Post after stamps depicting Nazi leader Rudolf Hess are accidentally issued.

"It was painful, and it was a big struggle, and I didn't understand it." -- Madonna reflects on the media uproar over her adoption of a Malawi infant.

"I'm at the fish counter and a man, with his 13-year-old daughter, is talking to me about sex. Nice to be recognized but, frankly, all I wanted was some clams." -- Kim Cattrall, the randy one from Sex and the City.

"There's always someone younger and prettier." -- Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 35, faces Hollywood reality.

Quotes of the Week - May 20, 2008:
"I wish for the recovery of my daughter Kerstin, the love of my children, the protection of my family and for people with heart and compassion." -- Elisabeth Fritzl, the Austrian woman kept as a sex slave by her father for 24 years thanks people for their support in a handwritten message on a notice board in the square of her home town.

"No foreigners allowed." -- Burmese police officer stopping aid workers from entering cyclone-stricken communities in the Irrawaddy Delta.

"My wife wouldn't let me retire. She kicks me out of the door at 7am every morning. She's quite a formidable person." -- Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson after his team won the Premier League title.

"I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal." -- US President George W Bush explaining why he quite the game in 2003.

Quotes of the Week - May 13, 2008:
"We have lit the torch on top of the world." -- Climber on Chinese mountaineering team that took Olympic flame to top Mount Everest.

"I am not a monster. I could have killed them all, and no one would have known." -- Josef Fritzl, 73, the Austrian man who fathered seven children with daughter he imprisoned in a cellar for 24 years.

"Every US President has to have a war." -- Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet President, claiming the US military buildup risks leading to a new cold war with Russia.

"We will not just bring our supplies to an airport, dump it and take off." -- Anthony Banbury, UN World Food Program Regional Director, on why relief agencies were having trouble getting food aid to cyclone survivors in Burma.

Quotes of the Week - May 5, 2008:
"I am so sorry. I had no idea." -- Elizabeth Fritzl, mother of the girl kept prisoner in a basement in Austria for 24 years by her father who fathered seven children with her.

"Some of the comments that Rev Wright has made offend me, and I understand why they offend the American people. He does not speak for me. He does not speak for the American people." -- Barack Obama on his old pastor.

"I am sure I had it. It's why men want to bonk everything that moves." -- Singer Chris de Burgh explaining how a mid-life crisis made him want to have sex with his children's nanny.

"Hillary Clinton is talking tough. She said if Israel is ever attacked by Iran, she would obliterate Iran. Although, she does admire the Iranians for stoning adulterers." -- Chatshow host Jay Leno.

Quotes of the Week - April 29, 2008:
"A homosexual cannot do the job of a footballer. The football world is not designed for them. It's a special world in which you stand naked under the showers." -- Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi.

"If the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before." -- Professor Stephen Hawking calls for more investment in space travel.

"My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers. Its influence grew, infiltrating schools and civil bodies as well as politics and even religion, before it was recognized for the monster it was." -- Pope Benedict XVI on Nazism, speaking to seminarians and young people at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York, during his first papal visit to the US.

Quotes of the Week - April 22, 2008:
"We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. It is more important to have good priests than to have many priests." -- Pope Benedict.

"In the US and Europe over the last year we've been focused on the prices of gasoline at the pump. While many worry about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs. And it's getting more and more difficult every day." -- IMF chief Robert Zoellick.

"I don't need to be on TV on a Saturday night; I do it because I love helping these performers." -- Composer Andrew Lloyd Weber hits back at Kevin Spacey's accusations that his reality television shows are basically just long advertising campaigns for his musicals.

Quotes of the Week - April 14, 2008:
"Sometimes I think that when people become famous, there's a public perception that they are not human beings any more." -- Writer Salmon Rushdie.

"The Left doesn't even have good taste in women. Ours are more beautiful and, moreover, all have super degrees." -- Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi predicts an electoral victory, with beauty, brains and The Right on his side.

"I feel my entire life up until this moment has crystallised and come to fruition since I met this woman." -- 53-year-old action hero Bruce Willis, about 29-year-old underwear model Emma Heming, who is his girlfriend.

Quotes of the Week - April 7, 2008:
"The evidence provided no basis whatsoever in suggesting that (Prince Philip) was involved in killing his daughter-in-law, One of the regrettable features of this case is the number of people who have told lies in the witness box or elsewhere." -- Lord Justice Scott Baker, presiding at the Princess Diana Inquest.

"How did Bush go from being an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?" -- Film director Oliver Stone, who is making a movie about President George W. Bush.

"The Chinese have made sure that for a few hours, Paris will look like Tiananmen Square. I think it's shameful." -- Robert Menard, of Reporters Without Borders, on the heavy police turnout promised in Paris to deter protests as the Olympic torch passes through that city.

Quotes of the Week - March 31, 2008:
"I do not think that is any of your business." -- Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Hillary Clinton, asked if her mother's credibility was damaged during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

"Within me, there is a charitable disposition." -- President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe denies he is a tyrant.

"Vice President Dick Cheney is in Baghdad. While he was in Iraq, he said that it's a successful endeavour. At least I think that's what he said. It was hard to hear over the explosions." -- Chatshow host David Letterman.

"We have enemies for whom no attack is too cruel." -- Presumptive Republican nominee for US President John McCain.

Quotes of the Week - March 24, 2008:
"They can examine my pulse, my urine, my stool, everything." -- The Dalai Lama invites Chinese authorities to investigate whether he was behind the rioting in Tibet.

"Even President Bush is starting to get worried about this economy being out of control, you know. I mean, gold is over $1,000 an ounce. Oil, over $100 a barrel. Hookers, $5,000 an hour." -- Chatshow host Jay Leno, referring to the Governor of New York's links to a prostitute.

"I saw a photo of me taken at the wrap party for Miami Vice. I looked awful. My eyes were dead. That night I got on a plane and checked into rehab. I was just broken." -- Colin Farrell on his decision to check into rehab.

Quotes of the Week - March 17, 2008:
"We have no business qualifications, we don't understand marketing, and we're not very good at it." -- Michael and Xochi Birch, who are set to make in excess of $850m from the sale of the Bebo social networking site to AOL.

"Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place." -- The Dalai Lama, calling for international action in wake of Chinese crackdown on rioters in Tibet.

"I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger." -- The Joker as played by Heath Ledger in the new Batman movie The Dark Knight set to release this summer. Producers say no edits will be made to Ledger's dialogue to reflect the actor's death.

Quotes of the Week - March 10, 2008:
"They say fags and booze are bad for you - but I'm still here." -- Britain's oldest employee Buster Martin, aged 101, after running a half marathon.

"It's a bit like a Travelodge, minus the mini bar and room service." -- Englishwoman Kate Knight, jailed for trying to kill her husband, on prison life. She tried to kill him by slipping anti-freeze into his wine and curry.

"I saw this crocodile and thought I'd tease it a bit with a small bit of bait, just to get it in quite close to me for the picture. I was playing around, pointing at it, laughing - when it suddenly jumped at me. I didn't realize crocs were so aggressive" -- Novon Mashiah a tourist in Australia's Northern Territory annoyed a croc beside his boat so much it jumped out of the water at him.

Quotes of the Week - March 3, 2008:
"We shot this on two handicams in three weeks for 100 grand. We never thought we would be up here tonight." -- Irish singer with The Frames Glen Hansard accepting the Oscar for best original song for Falling Slowly, from the film Once.

"I don't think we've ever been moved so deeply." -- Jon Deak, of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, which made a historic debut in North Korea.

"Talk is cheap. Flouting the rules is expensive." -- Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, which fined Microsoft a record $1,35 billion for failing to fully comply with a 2004 antitrust order.

Quotes of the Week - Feb 25, 2008:
"He's a man of great character." -- Cindy McCain, wife of US presidential candidate John McCain, following rumors he had a fling with a female lobbyist.

"Kosovo is ours! Kosovo is Servia." -- Serb protesters gathering at US embassy in Belgrade to protest the independence of Kosovo.

"It's not allowed for a woman to sit with a strange man and talk and drink coffee together." -- Saudi Arabia defends the arrest of a US woman for having coffee with a colleague.

"Washington is a place where good ideas go to die." -- US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

"People get very snotty when I say I want to bring Mozart to the masses, but what was Mozart if not a pop star?" -- pianist and TV presenter Myleene Klass.

Quotes of the Week - Feb 19, 2008:
"My conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual." -- Steven Spielberg steps down as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics in protest at China's stance on the conflict in Darfur.

"I feel like I am 20 again, but with arthritis." -- Sylvester Stallone, 61, returns as Rambo.

"He would probably not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would kill him. Hillary is a very sharp lady. It might be calmer if she wins." -- Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing on Barack Obama and the US presidency.

"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry." -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologises for the past mistreatment of Aborigines.

Quotes of the Week - Feb 12, 2008:
"We hold in our hands the solution to the global tobacco epidemic that threatens the lives of one billion men, women and children during this century." -- World Health Organisation Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, launching WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008.

"Stay natural. I've been through all this. Look at the state of me." -- Glamour model Jordan (Katie Price).

"We are less of an underdog than we were two weeks ago. Two weeks ago we were a big underdog, now we're a slight underdog." -- Barack Obama.

"I think the results last night prove the wisdom of my investment." -- Hillary Clinton on lending $5m of her own money to her presidential campaign.

Quotes of the Week - Feb 5, 2008:
"I see this as the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe." -- Yoko Ono on Nasa announcement they will beam into space The Beatles song Across the Universe.

"I was friends with Hillary Clinton before we started this campaign. I will be friends with Hillary Clinton after this campaign is over." -- Barack Obama on his Democratic rival in US presidential race.

"We had never heard of her. We had to look her up in Wikipedia" -- Spokesman for Woolworths stores in UK, who were forced to withdraw a children's bed named "Lolita" after mothers objected to it.

Quotes of the Week - Jan 28, 2008:
"I know I'm ugly, but I need love like everyone else." -- Yu Zhenhuan, 29, from China, the world's hairiest man.

"Sorry for being topless." -- How Carla Bruni, official girlfriend to President Sarkozy of France, once greeted a surprised British journalist.

"'I'll now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on for ever." -- Oprah Winfrey launches her own digital channel, Oprah Winfrey Network.

Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." -- Heath Ledger speaking to reporters recently. He died this week.

Quotes of the Week - Jan 21, 2008:
"Being a scientologist, when you drive past an accident it's not like anyone else when you drive past. You're really the only one that can help." -- Tom Cruise on Scientology.

"Musharraf has destroyed Pakistan. The whole of Pakistan is drowned in blood." -- Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on President Pervez Musharraf.

"He talks about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert. That's not how it was." -- Monica Lewinsky on her encounters with Bill Clinton.

"I am allergic to domestic goddesses. Men would prefer a woman with a dirty mind to a clean house." -- Kathy Lette.

Quotes of the Week - Jan 14, 2008:
"It's not easy and I could not do it if I just didn't passionately believe it was the right thing to do. I have had so many opportunities from this country, I just don't want us to fall back. This is very personal for me. It is not just political. I see what's happening. We have to reverse it. Some people think politics is a game. It is about our country. It is about our kids' future." -- A tearful Hillary Clinton on the US presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire.

"Jerry Springer is an appalling man. This isn't entertainment, this is an absolute disgrace. We are very unhappy with this so-called special event." -- Spokesman for America's Little People Organisation on the US TV host who featured a punch-up involving two midgets.

"People live with their choices, and the choice not to play by the rules has been compounded by the choice to break the law." -- Judge Kenneth Karas after sentencing Olympic track star Marion Jones to six months in prison and two years of probation. Jones pleaded guilty in October of lying to a federal agent in 2003 about her use of steroids

"Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus." -- Helen Clark Prime Minister of New Zealand, on the death of Sir Edmund Hillary, who in 1953 became the first person to climb Mt. Everest.

"Over the last week, I listened to you and, in the process, I found my own voice." -- Hillary Clinton, thanking voters of New Hampshire after her victory in the state's Democratic primary despite pollster predictions that opponent Barack Obama would win.

"Tonight, we sure showed 'em what a comeback looks like." -- John McCain, after winning the New Hampshire Republican primary despite declining poll numbers and funding.

Quotes of the Week - Jan 7, 2008:
"You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose." -- Hillary Clinton, accusing her Democrat rival Barack Obama of lacking substance ahead of the New Hampshire primary.

"If Jesus came back today, I think he'd throw up." -- Former Gov. Jesse Ventura on politics and organized religion in his upcoming book Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!

"She is in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention." -- Dr. Phil McGraw, after meeting pop star Britney Spears before her release from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. He later canceled a one-hour show that was to examine her latest public meltdown .

"It's intimidating to think you might be arrested for something on your blog. On the other hand, this means that these voices on the blogosphere are being heard." -- Ahmad Al-Omran of Saudi Arabia, after the country's Interior Ministry confirmed that blogger Fouah al-Farhan was being held for "purposes of interrogation".

Quotes of 2012
Quotes of 2011
Quotes of 2010
Quotes of 2009
Quotes of 2008
Quotes of 2007
Quotes of 2006