Verbatim

"It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog." DONALD RUMSFELD, Secretary of Defense, in a memo to top-ranking Defense officials leaked to the press last week

"He's going to show me the ropes. He's going to give me some of the inside information here." ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, upon meeting with California Governor Gray Davis, whom he will replace , having won the state's recall election earlier this month

"What we want is for both sides to drop guns and ... to co-exist peacefully." KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY, North Korea's official news service, in response to a U.S. offer of assurances not to attack North Korea as long as the country dismantles its nuclear program. The North Koreans earlier called the offer a "laughing matter"

"We're back." PETER GREENSPUN, defense attorney for accused sniper John Allen Muhammad, who rehired his lawyers after two days of acting as his own attorney at his murder trial

"I would stake my reputation on employment growth happening before Christmas." JOHN SNOW, Treasury Secretary, predicting that 2 million jobs will be added to the U.S. economy in the next year

"Imagine that in someone's [expletive] brain." ERIC HARRIS, in a videotape released last week by police in which Harris and Dylan Klebold are seen at target practice weeks before their shooting rampage at Columbine High School

"I couldn't resist one more chance to just pop over to London." CHRISTIE BRINKLEY, supermodel, who was a passenger on the final flight of the supersonic Concorde, which was retired last week

"I would hope you find the report helpful in choosing the restaurant from which your dinner will be ordered on a going-forward basis." KIMBERLY ARENA, paralegal at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a New York City law firm, in a memo responding to a boss's request for an analysis of the best area sushi restaurants

Sources: USA Today; CNN; AP; Washington Post; London Times; AP (2); New York Times