"No country or group of countries can address all security issues on its own. And only when security for all is achieved, can peace and security for individual countries be safeguarded."

Li Baodong, Permanent Representative of China to the UN, at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York

"The current negotiations have not been negotiations at all, because no buyers have been given a say."

Luo Bingsheng, Vice Chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association, on the stalled price negotiations between Chinese steel mills and their foreign iron ore suppliers

"This is not going to be a black tide of oil, it's globs of oil coming in patches, but it's going to come for a long time. At this point, it's impossible to protect everything."

Ed Overton, an emeritus professor of environmental science at Louisiana State University, on difficulties in cleaning up the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20

"We are called on today to make a basic choice. The choice is between collapse or salvation."

George Papaconstantinou, Greece's Finance Minister, on a deal with the EU and IMF for a $145-billion financial rescue, in return for which Greece must commit to years of austerity measures

"Cigarettes kill people. Therefore, the government makes no apology whatsoever over what it's doing."

Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister, on his government's plan to ban brand labels on cigarette packaging

"We beat ourselves up for that."

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, admitting, in an interview with CNN that his company bears some blame for the real estate bubble that led to the global financial meltdown