Things to come
"The diplomats may be talking peace, but the generals are preparing for war." — A western ambassador in the Middle East, as US companies conclude arms deals worth $13 billion with regional governments, making the US the biggest arms merchant in the area.
Warm welcome
"I will never forget the warm welcome." — US President George Bush on his visit to Panama en route to the Earth Summit in Rio. Bush was caught in tear gas and forced to cancel a speech when Panamanian troops attacked protesters, mainly relatives of civilians killed in the 1989 US invasion of the country. The protesters, from the Chorillo slum, which was flattened with heavy loss of life by US bombing in 1989, welcomed Bush with burning tyres, bunting and US flags, and by hurling mangoes, pineapples and bottles.
Idiote
"The incident showed that the rumours about the vice-president are true — that he is an idiot." — William Figueroa, a 12 year-old student at a New Jersey primary school after US Vice President Dan Quayle, during a visit to the school, asked William to spell potato, and then told him it should be spelled potatoe.
Amusement
"This is amusing, because it is absurd. The next question to ask is: At what targets are they aimed? Maybe at Mars or the Great Bear?" — Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoi on claims by Russian President Boris Yeltsin that Russian missiles are no longer aimed at US targets.
Definitely not
"I don't want to say that we are trying to get closer to President Reagan. That's not what this indictment is about." — Craig A. Gillen, part of the legal team investigating the Contragate scandal, after indicting Reagan's former defence secretary, Caspar Weinberger, for perjury and concealing more than 1700 pages of notes about discussions on arms sales to Iran.
Fox guards chickens
"It will be for the parliament to decide whether the standard of conduct required in this report is unduly high." — ICAC commissioner Ian Temby in his report on the Metherell affair, which found NSW Premier Nick Greiner had acted corruptly.
Give him time
"He has done nothing wrong as a public servant. Indeed, he has done nothing at all as a public servant." — ICAC commissioner Ian Temby on Terry Metherell, who has been on the public service payroll as a member of the Senior Executive Service since mid-April.
Just coincidence
"I also accept, without reservation, Metherell's evidence that he was not induced to vote in any particular way by anything said by Greiner, or by the prospects of the job which became his a month later." — ICAC commissioner Ian Temby on Terry Metherell's change of mind between March 6 and 10 on the NSW Liberals' Timber Industry Protection Bill, which was designed to exempt some forestry activities from environmental guidelines. Metherell voted for the bill after initially opposing it.