Verbatim

'The Taliban are part of the Afghan society.'

HAMID KARZAI, Afghan President, saying he would like to reconcile with members of the Taliban "as soon as possible," as long as they part ways with al-Qaeda and are willing to swear allegiance to the Afghan constitution

'[We need] a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism.'

DAVID CAMERON, U.K. Prime Minister, arguing that Britain's policy of "multiculturalism" has led to segregated communities in which Islamic extremism can thrive

'The country would have been better off if I had.'

DONALD RUMSFELD, former U.S. Defense Secretary, saying he should have resigned from the post in 2004 after the release of photos showing abuse at Abu Ghraib prison

'I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often, considering the knives they put on those birds.'

JOHN GOODWIN, of the Humane Society, commenting on the death of Jose Luis Ochoa, a 35-year-old California resident, after he was stabbed in the calf by a cockfighting bird wearing a blade

'I'm not a big fan of young kids' having Facebook. It's not something they need.'

MICHELLE OBAMA, during an appearance on the Today show, on why she doesn't allow First Daughters Sasha and Malia to join the popular social-networking site

'He had his first surgery when he was 3 months old.'

JENNIFER PAGE, mother of 6-year-old Max, star of a Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial in which the boy dressed as a mini Darth Vader; Max was born with a congenital heart defect

'I've signed with the Yankees.'

KEITH OLBERMANN, former MSNBC star, joking about his next gig; Olbermann will actually head to cable's Current TV, where he will host a prime-time news program

TALKING HEADS

Tim Wu

Urging the U.S. to drop its pursuit of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in Foreign Policy:

"Pressing forward with efforts to prosecute an Internet publisher at home while standing up for an open Internet in Egypt and the world at large is an increasingly tenuous position. The WikiLeaks case endangers the reputation of the United States as a defender of free speech and an open Internet globally ... At a time when the Internet is increasingly recognized as a medium of global resistance to authoritarian rule ... the Obama administration and the United States must make sure that they stand on the right side." --2/4/11

Mary Anastasia O'Grady

Contrasting the power of the people in Egypt with the stasis that exists in Cuba, in the Wall Street Journal:

"Why does a similar rebellion against five decades of repression there still appear to be a far-off dream? ... In Cuba there are no opposition political parties or nonstate media; rapid response brigades enforce the party line ... If peaceful dissidents with leadership skills can't be broken, they are eventually exiled. Or they are murdered." --2/7/11

Ben Brantley