Verbatim

'I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk.' RUPERT MURDOCH, chairman of News Corp., on U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama, predicting the Democrat's victory in November

'So much has been written about me, and so many people want to know what it's like to be on the other side of the interviewer's table.' NATASCHA KAMPUSCH, the Austrian woman held captive in a cellar for 8 1/2 years, on becoming the host of her own TV show just two years after her escape

'This wasn't a riot! These people were just disrupting society ... The government will solve their problems.' ZAO MING, an official from Dujiangyan, China's foreign-affairs office, after hundreds of grieving parents were dragged away by local police during their protest over the poorly constructed schools that collapsed in last month's earthquake, killing thousands of children

'She has the impression that people want to silence her.' FRANCOIS-XAVIER KELIDJIAN, lawyer for Brigitte Bardot (right), the 73-year-old film icon who was fined 15,000 euros ($23,000) for provoking discrimination and racial hatred by writing that Muslims are destroying France--her fifth conviction for making controversial remarks about Islam

'We really should have stayed the entire course.' DENNIS JENSEN, Australian Liberal Party politician, after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd officially ended the country's combat operations in Iraq

'While acting is my career, architecture is my passion.' BRAD PITT, actor, announcing that he will help design an eco-friendly 800-room luxury hotel in Dubai

'He's a real slimy guy.' BILL CLINTON, about journalist Todd Purdum, calling him "sleazy," "dishonest" and a "scumbag" after Purdum's Vanity Fair article criticized the former President for bringing negative attention to his wife's campaign. Clinton later apologized for his words

The Conversation Education vs. Diplomacy

MAY 30

ABDULRAHMAN ABDULLAH One of seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip whose Fulbright scholarships were revoked by the U.S. State Department because of Israel's policy of barring students from leaving the Hamas-controlled region "Israel talks about a Palestinian state. But who will build that state if we can get no training?"

MAY 30

CONDOLEEZZA RICE U.S. Secretary of State, noting she had previously been unaware of the issue "If you cannot engage young people and give complete horizons to their expectations and their dreams, I don't know that there would be any future for Palestine."

JUNE 2

MARK REGEV Israeli spokesman, claiming the U.S. hadn't asked Israel to expedite the students' visas "If we weren't aware of a problem, how can anyone expect us to solve it?"

JUNE 2

SEAN MCCORMACK State Department spokesman, after reinstating the scholarships per Rice's orders "She wasn't pleased."

JUNE 2

ELYAKIM RUBINSTEIN Israeli Supreme Court Justice, on granting more Gazan students the right to study abroad "If there are different opinions, perhaps it is a good idea that they be heard."

For more daily sound bites, visit time.com/quotes

Sources: AFP; AP (4); Los Angeles Times; Huffington Post