Perspectives.(quotations)

"This is nature. It shows how unimportant we are." Dresden, Germany, resident Falk Herrgott, on the flooding that has devastated his city

"Friends don't allow friends to [flout] international law." William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, on Mexico's criticism of Texas's execution of Mexican Javier Suarez Medina. The United States did not allow Medina to seek help from the Mexican Consulate, a right guaranteed by an international treaty.

"I think Brent just got it wrong." Former Reagan administration official Richard Perle, who supports attacking Iraq, in response to a Wall Street Journal editorial by Brent Scowcroft, former national- security adviser in the first Bush administration. Scowcroft urged President George W. Bush not to carry out the attack without greater forethought.

"I want to say to him, 'Leave her alone, for Christ's sake. She's 47 years old. She doesn't practice contraception because she is a Catholic. So stay off her!' " Feminist Germaine Greer, speaking at the Edinburgh International Books Festival, on Prime Minister Tony Blair's marriage. His wife, Cherie, with whom he ...