In the gutter
"Our democracy is lying in the gutter waiting for us to give it a second breath of life." — US Democratic Party vice-presidential candidate Al Gore, speaking to the party's convention in New York. After his speech, Gore waltzed on the stage with his wife and then his mother and hugged his four children.
No politics
"Politics was not part of this case and should not be part of it. What happened outside the four corners of this case is somebody else's burden, not mine." — US district Judge William M. Hoeveler imposing a 40-year sentence on Manuel Noriega, former president of Panama kidnapped by US forces from his own country for trial in Miami on drug running charges.
Integrity
"I wasn't here at the time to say these things and nobody has asked me and every now and then I'm allowed out to say just what I like ... Nick Greiner is not corrupt, in fact I regard him to be a person of ability and integrity." — Queensland Labor Premier Wayne Goss expressing solidarity with his former NSW Liberal counterpart.
Faint hope
"We want investors. We want foreigners to be very honest with the leadership of this country. In terms of resources we want an honest deal for the investor, an honest deal for the landowners, an honest deal for the people of Papua New Guinea." — Newly installed PNG Prime Minister Paias Wingti.
Lost cause
Queensland's police should "reaffirm among the citizens of Queensland the kind of confidence the community had generally had in the way police carried out their duties". — Governor general and former Queensland cop Bill Hayden.
Information
"It is the same information you would get from a newspaper." — A spokesperson for King's Comics, Sydney, on a pack of swap cards it sells to children featuring mass killers and details of their crimes.
Particularly the white ones
"In the name of all the people who do the work, pay the taxes, raise the kids and play by the rules — the hard-working Americans who make up our forgotten middle class — I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States." — Democratic idate Bill Clinton.
New world heroes
United States forces in the Gulf War committed at least 34 sexual offences against women on their own side.