Quotable & Notable

“We have 2,000 years of church history, with so many sufferings, including many failures. ... The church has revived after so many crises with a new youth, with new freshness.”

-- Benedict XVI in an impromptu question and answer session with priests from Albano, Italy

“Every time the White House puts out a story that the president will be talking about the war and the new strategy behind it, it’s the same speech.”

-- A senior GOP leadership aide talking to “The Oval,” a Web log by Holly Bailey and Richard Wolffe of Newsweek

“It’s not true that if you build it, they will come. You’ve got to market the hell out of it.”

-- Larry Baras, a Boston baker, trying to build a baseball league in Israel. Opening Day is set for June 22, 2007.

“With the clear faith we see between the lines of Mahfouz’s books, he managed to reach all hearts in the world, not only Arabs or Muslims.”

-- Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa speaking at the funeral for Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz Aug. 31

“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.”

-- American writer and satirist Ambrose Bierce (1842-1913)

National Catholic Reporter, September 15, 2006