Perspectives.(quotations)(Brief Article)

"We are not looking for a pretext to say no. We are looking for a reason to proceed."Hasan Abdel Rahman, the Palestinian Authority representative to Washington, on the dwindling prospects of a Mideast peace deal

"We've always said we wouldn't do it if we couldn't do it right." A senior White House official, explaining the reasons behind President Bill Clinton's decision not to travel to North Korea in the remaining days of his presidency

"The intelligent minority of this world will mark 1 January 2001 as the real beginning of the 21st century and the Third Millennium." Arthur C. Clarke, author of "2001: A Space Odyssey," adding that people who partied on New Year's Eve 1999 are welcome to celebrate again

"I guess that qualifies you to be president of the United States, then." New York Gov. George Pataki, after Raymond Martinez, his appointee for state motor-vehicle commissioner, admitted to a 1989 DWI arrest

"This is when compassion runs head-on into conservatism." Democratic media consultant Bill Knapp, on Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft's nomination to be U.S. attorney general

"I do not foresee changing that position by Jan. 11." Convicted Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, restating his plea to be executed as soon as possible

"You haven't heard the last of us." A note left ...