“And my remarks were maybe careless or misinterpreted, but I wasn’t comparing the overall administration, and I was certainly not talking personally about any president.”

— Former President Jimmy Carter, explaining to NBC’s “Today” show that he wasn’t calling President Bush’s administration the worst in history when he called it “the worst in history.”

“I never dreamed that I would see ‘Liberal Linda Trout’ on TV.”

— Idaho Supreme Court Justice Linda Copple Trout, describing the increasingly negative campaign tactics that played a role in her decision to retire at the end of August after 15 years.

“Land is there. Money goes. Once the land is gone and it’s all houses, it’s gone for good.”

— Michael Wiltzius, a fifth-generation owner of 680 acres of Peone Prairie land that he and his family have declined to sell to developers, instead releasing control of 100 acres along Deadman Creek, for a lower price, to preserve it as wildlife habitat.

“We’re such a small town. How can we make our river so polluted?”

— Summit School student Katie Mullin, 12, whose classmates in the Central Valley School District have launched a public education campaign aimed at protecting the Spokane River from pollution.

“We’ve talked about painting the fields.”

— California park ranger Cecilia Rejas, quipping about the adverse impact prolonged drought conditions have had on the once abundant display of wildflowers that normally attract throngs of visitors to Southern California’s Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.

“You’re not sure if that person sitting on a rock is dying, in need of assistance or has been dead for five years.”

— Veteran mountain climber Duncan Chessell of Australia, describing the experience of climbing Mount Everest and having to pass numerous previous climbers who died in the attempt but whose bodies are too difficult to remove.

“In no other state except Washington did it go all the way down to dogcatcher.”

Executive Director Alex Hays of Mainstream Republicans, whose recent meeting in Wenatchee featured talk about the political losses suffered by the GOP from the congressional down to the local level.

“This would not be the first time a senator passed national policy based on their personal convenience.”

— U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr., D-Va., arguing that a legislative attempt by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to increase the number of daily flights in and out of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., would make travel easier for them but life worse for his constituents who live near the airport.