Quotables

"This is the most humble day of my life."

Rupert Murdoch, facing questioning before members of Parliament on July 19 in a widening scandal over illegal phone hacking that has resulted in the arrest of numerous employees, including Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, which runs the British newspaper operations of Murdoch's News Corp.

"It is time to get back to football. That's what everybody here wants to do."

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell on a July 25 agreement between NFL owners and the NFL Players Association that ended a 136-day lockout.

"I decided I wasn't going to just be a provider, I was going to be an activist."

Abortionist Leroy Carhart on the "tenacity" he feels for performing late-term abortions and training other doctors to do so.

"When we did it without fries, there was a huge disappointment factor."

Jan Fields, president of McDonald's USA, on customer reaction to Happy Meals without french fries. A redesigned Happy Meal is going to have fewer fries and a serving of fruit or vegetables.

"It's nice to be able to touch, feel, and hold the books before you look online."

Tanya Duncan of Brookline, Mass., on her practice of looking for books at a Borders bookstore but then going online to buy them. The struggling bookstore chain announced July 18 that it will close all of its stores by this fall. (See "Final Chapter," by Joseph Slife.)

"What's amazing is that in a country of 1.3 billion, I can't find a point guard."

Bob Donewald Jr., American coach of China's national basketball team, on a lack of system for developing basketball players in the country that produced retiring NBA superstar Yao Ming.