Verbatim

'There was no evidence of illegal activity nor an offense in plain view.' SHERIFF DAVID DORAN, of Schleicher County, Texas, on why authorities waited until April 3 to investigate a polygamist sect's compound in the desert outside Eldorado

'For the first time, I realized he is an elitist.' MAYHILL FOWLER, blogger for OffTheBus.net who first reported on Barack Obama's comment at a San Francisco fund raiser that economic frustrations have made small-town Pennsylvania voters "bitter" and driven them to "cling to guns or religion"

'This is the endgame of the endgame. Checkmate already happened on the 29th of March.' TENDAI BITI, secretary-general of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, saying it would not take part in a runoff election because its presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, beat President Robert Mugabe outright in the March contest

'Some of them were sympathetic with these lawbreakers, some refused to battle for political or national or sectarian or religious reasons.' MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL-KARIM KHALAF, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman, on the 1,300 Iraqi soldiers and policemen who were dismissed for either deserting or refusing to fight during last month's Shi'ite-on-Shi'ite battles in Basra

'This book constitutes the wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work.' J.K. ROWLING, author of the Harry Potter series, testifying against the planned publication of rival Potter encyclopedia

'While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs.' ROBERT ZOELLICK, World Bank president, after President George W. Bush ordered the release of $200 million in emergency aid to help ease soaring food prices

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Sources: AP (2); New York Times (3); CNN