Verbatim

'I want to get one of those really sharp-looking jackets that rock-'n'-roll groups have ... It could say "The Apology Tour."'

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. Secretary of State, joking about her recent travels in which she has tried to mend relationships damaged by the publication of confidential cables by WikiLeaks

'All I knew was, the whistle wasn't blowing and my coach was saying, "Go!"'

MICHAEL DYER, Auburn University running back, whose near fall and 37-yd. run in the BCS title game set up the winning field goal on the final play; Auburn defeated Oregon 22-19, notching its first national championship since 1957

'We're not leaving if you don't want us to.'

JOE BIDEN, U.S. Vice President, indicating to Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the U.S. is willing to keep troops in the country beyond a planned 2014 security handover if their services are still needed

'The tumor is gone.'

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, actor, saying he believes he is cancer-free after undergoing treatment for a growth on his tongue

'The ATM machines were shown to be heavily contaminated ... to the same level as nearby public lavatories.'

RICHARD HASTINGS, a British microbiologist and part of a team that tested bacteria levels of ATMs and toilets in England

'Months before the Nazis launched their attack on the Soviet Union, they had nothing better to do than to obsess about this dog.'

KLAUS HILLENBRAND, historian, on newly discovered documents revealing that a Finnish mutt's ability to imitate the Nazi salute resulted in a German campaign against its owner

'Drilling offshore is a privilege to be earned, not a right to be exercised by private corporations.'

BOB GRAHAM, co-chair of the White House oil-spill commission, in the group's final report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster

TALKING HEADS

Ezra Klein

Analyzing John Boehner's first speech as House Speaker, in the Washington Post:

"Traditionally, politicians overpromise in these moments ... Boehner promised almost nothing at all. He certainly didn't set himself up as a foil to President Obama, or anoint himself leader of a new conservative moment ... Rather, his speech had two themes: Humility, and comity ... It was, I think, as smart a speech as I've seen a politician give ... The White House may have a more able opponent in him than they thought."

-1/5/11

Nick Earls

Describing the Australian response to the Queensland floods, in the New York Times:

"There is none of the clamor of disaster, none of the chaos one might expect. Crisis management plans have been activated ... Events like this flood not only show our stoicism, but create it. It's important to Queenslanders, like all Australians, that we see ourselves as people who look adversity in the eye, stare it down and band together to overcome it."

-1/9/11

Ryo Takahashi