Amen
"Kennett looks like he should have been on drugs." — Victorian Labor MLA Neil Cole, scoring a telling point in the debate on legalisation of marijuana.
Popular non-government
A New Zealand opinion poll in early January asked voters to name their preference for prime minister. The leader, on 19%, was "nobody".
Because all of us are born
"... because birth rather than ego thrust [Prince Charles] to eminence, he can actually be closer to the mentality of the average citizen." — Tony Abbott, executive director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.
Progress
"The end of communism in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Bloc has resulted in more poverty, more truancy, more deaths, fewer births and marriages and a dramatic surge in crime." — Adrian Bridge in the Independent, reprinted in the January 29 Sydney Morning Herald.
Home is where the trial isn't
"My principal family is here, my home is here, my friends are here — I am not leaving." — Failed entrepreneur Christopher Skase, refusing to return from Majorca to Australia to face charges of misappropriating $10.25 million.
End of civilisation as we know it
"It's not like it was in 1987 because when you go out for a boozy lunch these days you are expected to come back. And when you come back you are expected not to be too plastered." — Futures trader, quoted in the Sun-Herald, on how yuppie lifestyles have changed.