Status quo
"Conservatives and Liberals do not read books. They don't buy books and they're not changers and thinkers. They are there to maintain the status quo." — Tim Curnow, managing director of publishing agents Curtis Brown, on why there is a larger market for memoirs of Labor politicians than of Liberal politicians.
In quantities of horse s—-?
"It'll be bigger than Ben Hur." — Louise Adler, publishing director of Reed Books Australia, on Bob Hawke's autobiography.
Education report
"Australia's public universities were 'ratbag institutions' where students sprayed graffiti and had sex in the corridors, Bond University Professor Harry Messel said yesterday." — Brisbane Courier-Mail, June 7.
Knows all about it
"Poverty [in Britain] is no longer absolute. It has become relative." — Prince Philip, England's most chronically unemployed multimillionaire.
High moral ground
"I don't want wild allegations to be made, and where wild allegations are made ... they're not made with my blessing." — Liberal leader Alexander Downer after his backbenchers had spent two weeks under parliamentary privilege making unsubstantiated allegations about former ALP senator Graham Richardson.
Who?
"If we don't respect our own talented people, how can we expect the constituency beyond to respect them?" — Senator Stephen Loosley at the NSW ALP conference, referring to a person or persons not yet identified.