Maggots unite!
"It sounds terrible, but it is a fact that flies get into wounds on occasions." — Senator John Herron, representing the minister for aged care, excusing maggots infesting the wounds of patients at Perth's Kensington Park Nursing Home.
(Un)hidden agenda
The people "are going to get pay cuts, and these are net pay cuts ... These are genuine pay cuts ... they are substantial pay cuts." — WA Liberal Ross Lightfoot getting a little confused in a March 12 Senate speech in praise of the Coalition's proposed tax cuts.
Japan through the looking glass
"The fact is, the economy is clearly improving." — Japan's finance minister Kiichi Miyazawa after the announcement that Japan's GDP shrank by 1.4% in the December quarter, the third-worst performance on record.
Mutual avoidance
"There are shades of grey and to that extent it is difficult to say what compliance is." — Deputy tax commissioner Jim Killaly on his office's efforts to collect more tax payments from multinational corporations operating in Australia.
Zero tolerance
"I've been racking my brain. I don't even remember this." — A 30-year-old Michigan housewife, clapped into handcuffs and dragged off to the local police station for allegedly failing to appear on an alcohol possession charge when she was 16.
Example
"[The managers said this] would serve as an example, to show that the company does not give to beggars." — A waiter in a Paris McDonald's sacked for giving his staff cheeseburger tokens to a beggar.
It figures
"Given the number of sins committed in the course of 20 centuries, it must necessarily be rather summary." — Bishop Piero Marini on the pope's apology for misdeeds of the church.
One could
"One could argue that this reduces Pakistan's claims that it is bringing terrorism under control." — A diplomat, quoted in the Washington Post, on the murder of Pakistani lawyer Iqbal Raad.