Verbatim

"Two for two, one dozen wheels on soil." CHRIS LEWICKI, NASA flight director, after Opportunity, the second Mars Rover, joined its companion, Spirit, on the planet's surface

"I have been brought up to believe that you cannot choose your own referee and that the referee's decision is final." GAVYN DAVIES, BBC board chairman, who resigned following the release of a report criticizing the BBC for alleging that the Blair government had "sexed up" its intelligence on Iraqi weapons

"The cockpit is not answering their phone. There's somebody stabbed in business class, and we can't breathe." BETTY ONG, flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, in a tape heard last week by a 9/11 commission

"We're sure we're going to catch Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar this year." BRYAN HILFERTY, U.S. military spokesman, making a prediction as the Army readies a spring offensive to search for the two men

"This is not a time of happiness; this is a time of relief and composure." ARIEL SHARON, Israeli Prime Minister, at an airport ceremony to receive the bodies of three Israeli soldiers in an exchange with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizballah for the release of 429 prisoners

"Veronica is behind the whole thing." SILVIO BERLUSCONI, Italian Prime Minister, blaming his wife for his decision to have a face-lift

"Countries ... must learn from the SARS experience, and that is: fess up as soon as you find a case, as quickly as possible." ALEXANDER DOWNE, Australian Foreign Minister, on the deadly outbreak of bird flu in Southeast Asia

"She's of a certain age now. She doesn't want to keep getting on planes. She's very wise to do what she's doing." MIKE WALLACE, 85, of CBS's 60 Minutes, on 72-year-old Barbara Walters' decision to step down from ABC's 20/20

Sources: AP; BBC; Sydney Morning Herald; San Francisco Examiner; New York Times; Reuters; AP (2)