Quotations from 2005

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>I wonder whether anyone on this list can help me with the following
>question:  Are there any already-famous quotations from 2005, from
>politics, show business, whatever?

Yan Zhang <zhangyx106 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>You may want to try http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ In the right-middle
>of the page, there is a link called "In Quote". However, it is a little
>bit Canadian and only provides recent quotations. Hope this is helpful.

Similarly, _Time_ has "Verbatim" and _Newsweek_ has "Perspectives"...

http://www.time.com/time/verbatim/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7614139/site/newsweek/

There's also a Wiki-style site for news and politics called The Regular
that has notable quotes submitted by readers:

http://www.theregular.org/quotes/

Skimming through this year's quotes, I don't see anything particularly
memorable.  Even the Inaugural Address didn't have any real stand-out
lines (maybe: "The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of
freedom in all the world"?).  Baseball fans might select Mark McGwire's
"I'm not here to discuss the past" or perhaps Barry Bonds' "You wanted me
to jump off a bridge-- I finally did".

But who's to know what will stand the test of time?  Will posterity recall
Pope Benedict XVI calling himself "a simple, humble worker in the vineyard
of the Lord" or Rush Limbaugh's on-air rant about oral sex?  Dan Rather's
final "Courage" signoff or Martha Stewart talking about her prison poncho?


--Ben Zimmer