"He is a very modest, humble and unselfish man... He is always quick to praise the work of others around him while diverting the limelight away from himself."

--W. Hardy Hendren III, chief of surgery at Children's Hospital, on his colleague Joseph E. Murray who had just won the Nobel prize for medicine

"I'm a little like a horse in panic, waiting at the gates. I think we're ready to go, I'm convinced of the merits of the campaign, and I'm anxious."

--Harvard Boston-area fundraiser Ernest M. Monrad '51 on the delay in the University's massive capital campaign caused by President Derek C. Bok's departure

"We have the choice for the first time of supporting a Republican or supporting a real jerk."

--Harvard-Radcliffe Democrats President James M. Harmon '93 on the decision by members of his club not to work for Democratic gubernatorial candidate John R. Silber

"If one person is specifically responsible for slavery in the new world, it's Columbus. The more people know about Columbus, the less they celebrate the holiday."

--Erich Fox Tree '91, president of Native Americans at Harvard-Radcliffe

"There are over 10,000 Italian people living in Cambridge who are proud today. They're so proud of the fact that Christopher Columbus discovered America. He was a fine man."

--former Cambridge Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci

"I promised that the inflation would end, and the inflation ended. I said the shortages would end. People doubted that. The shortages ended. In a sense I believe the track record on this model is quite successful."

--Stone Professor of International Trade Jeffrey D. Sachs '76 on his plan to quickly convert the Polish economy to capitalism

"Everyone has called it an annexation. We call it a merger."

--Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Sadiq al Mashat, speaking at the Law School this week in reference to the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait

"It was an inexcusable massacre. Even if the Arabs were throwing rocks, it shouldn't be a death warrant. It wouldn't be a reason to murder people in any country."

--Subterranean Review writer Imraan Coovadia '91 on the killing of 19 Palestinians by Isreali police last weekend

"We don't fundamentally disagree with the view that Arabs shouldn't be killed. But through our flyers, we just want to make sure people realize that the Arabs' attack on the Jews at the Wall was premediated, and that's why we are upset."

--Yvette C. Alt '92, co-chair of the Harvard Israel Public Affairs Committee

"When you go looking for a job, you need something to separate you from every Tom, Dick and Harry at Soloman Brothers."

--Joseph K. Hurd '91, an East Asian Studies and Government concentrator, on why he takes Japanese language courses