Common enemy
"I want you to know this fight is not Pakistan's alone. These extremists are committed to destroying what is dear to us as much as they are committed to destroying what is dear to you and to all people. So this is our struggle as well."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just hours after a car bomb killed more than 90 people and wounded more than 200 at a Peshawar market
The flu's new too
"The swine flu vaccine has not been out long enough for me to trust it."
Sheena Ash, a Brooklyn mother of three children in elementary school
Extremely belated apology
"She is not an enemy to us, and we are sorry all the time and [you have]our sympathy, because she was on duty."
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi apologizes for the 1984 killing of British police officer Yvonne Fletcher, who was outside the Libyan embassy in London during a protest
Alcohol sickness
"When my husband asked [the student]what was the matter, he said he was suffering from wine flu."
The Countess of Mar, during a debate in the British House of Lords on high-alcohol wines, refers to a young man who was "under the weather"
Efficient killer
"It's a weapon system that the enemy has figured out has strategic impact. It really hampers our ability to execute a counterinsurgency doctrine. And it's a weapon system that has to be fought, and I don't think we can back off or shy away from fighting it."
U.S. General Thomas Metz, after roadside bombs - the biggest killer of American soldiers - took eight more lives
Life-and-death decision
"I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm's way. I won't risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary."
U.S. President Barack Obama, who is evaluating whether to alter the U.S. strategy in the war in Afghanistan, visits a naval air station in Florida
That's rich, coming from him
"The idea that people who move money are some favoured class strikes me as pretty far from where we should be."
Warren Buffett, billionaire investor
More than 50 cents
"If you don't lose money in this recession, it means you didn't have enough to start off with. Sure, I lost a few million, but that's because I have so much. ... Any businessman who wants a piece of the future should learn from me. ... Obama is great - if he wants me as his financial adviser, that would be cool."
U.S. rapper 50 Cent
A terrible day at the office
"Sadness is overwhelming today in the office. It's as if we are sitting at a funeral in the office because many of our colleagues and people we know were killed."
An Iraqi government employee after 155 people were killed by suicide bombings that targeted government buildings in Baghdad
I'm not with stupid
"Non sono una donna a sua disposizione." ("I am not a woman at your disposal.")
One of the T-shirt slogans created by Italian politician Rosy Bindi
as she protests against the sexist quips of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Aiming sort of high
"I like to think I'm on the high side of the middle. Upper-middlebrow. That's what I am. Upper-middlebrow."
Malcolm Gladwell, a popular non-fiction author, on whom he writes for
Older and better
"A lot happens at 50, the best thing being that you just don't care any more. At 40, you still care. At 30, you care way too much - and your 20s are quite frankly a nightmare. Bring on 60!"
Jerry Hall, fashion model and former wife of Mick Jagger
Michael Kesterton writes
the daily Social Studies column
in The Globe and Mail.