Verbatim

“You’ll not get a deal in Hong Kong in December, no …”
PETER MANDELSON, European Union Trade Commissioner, after talks in Geneva failed to resolve differences within the World Trade Organization on agricultural subsidies ahead of the group’s meeting in Hong Kong next month

“They should be stopping their programs immediately.”
CHRISTOPHER HILL, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, demanding that North Korea shut down its nuclear-weapons program, following the latest round of six-party talks in Beijing

“There are legal services for downloading music and movies. This service is not one of them.”
GROKSTER, in a farewell message on its web page last week, as the company, whose popular software enabled peer-to-peer file sharing, shut down after losing a copyright-infringement case brought by the entertainment industry that went to the Supreme Court

“Obviously anyone who blows himself up in a wedding hall is not someone who wants the good of his country or the good of any human being.”
MARWAN MUASHER, Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan, commenting on one of the three simultaneous suicide bombings that killed at least 57 people in Amman

“Business is business; it’s not politics.”
JACK MA, CEO of Alibaba.com, defending the decision by Yahoo! to provide information that may have helped the Chinese government arrest a dissident. In August, Alibaba acquired Yahoo!’s China operations

“If you talk to God, that’s a prayer. If God talks back to you, that’s schizophrenia.”
OSCAR CRUZ, outspoken Philippine bishop, referring to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s claims to have had conversations with God on political issues.

“I’ve gained no wisdom, no insight, no mellowing. I would make all the same mistakes again, today.”
WOODY ALLEN, director and actor who turns 70 next month, on aging ungracefully