PERSPECTIVES

"He was our Hemingway. He was our friend."
Pitkin County, Colo., Sheriff's Investigator Joe DiSalvo, on author Hunter S. Thompson, 67, who shot and killed himself last week

"This is just old stuff, like rerun stories. I mean, it's like watching 'Sanford and Son'--rerun after rerun after rerun."
San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, on the media's attention on speculation that he used steroids

"I'm a great believer in letting it all hang out."
Dr. Alastair Wood, chairman of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel that endorsed the marketing of pain drugs Celebrex, Bextra and Vioxx, saying that 10 panel members' ties to the drug industry should have been disclosed before each meeting

"Every time I come in, I see something different. Sometimes it's very cheerful. Sometimes it's very peaceful. Other times it appears as it would to a child. It has its own enchantment."
Retired nurse Irene Kelvasa of New York City, talking about artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude's public art project "The Gates," in the city's Central Park

"It's hard to explain the sense of duty that a U.S. soldier has. But, you know, we're committed to something great over there. And my soldiers are again returning to Iraq with the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment. And I feel like I need to be there, too."
Army Capt. David Rozelle, in an interview with "Good Morning America" on his decision to return to Iraq after losing his right foot

"We don't get it. We think Canada would want to be in the room deciding what to do about an incoming missile that might be heading toward Canada."
U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci, on Canada's decision to opt out of the U.S. missile-defense program

"Some of the districts look literally drawn by a drunk with an Etch A Sketch."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying that he wants California's political districts redrawn before the 2006 elections

"Some of his ideas could be taken into account in my work. And I will pay due attention to them... Some other ideas I will not comment on."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on whether President George W. Bush's critiques would affect Russian policy

"The Devil made him do it."
Matt Helmerick, spokesman for the Monroe County state attorney in Key West, Fla., on Monroe County assistant prosecutor Albert (A. J.) Tasker, 28, who was jailed on misdemeanor charges for stripping off his clothes as a prank and heading toward a car where a woman was waiting for her boyfriend

"I told him, 'I don't think we can approve that name'."
Boston's Fleet Center arena spokesman Jim Delaney, after a New York Yankees fan, Manhattan lawyer Kerry Konrad, won a bid for the right to name the sports complex for a day. Konrad chose The Derek Jeter Center, after the Yankees player. The name was rejected.