WHAT'S $60-BILLION AMONG FRIENDS?
"To the people who nag about Dubai and Abu Dhabi, shut up!"
Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, responds to critics earlier this month who were concerned about the emirate's financial problems. On Wednesday, Dubai's main development fund, mired in more than $60-billion of debts, asked for a standstill on debt payments until at least May.
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ARE WE THAT UNLOVABLE?
"This is a very short-term thing. In three days, it will be forgotten. Even in one day."
Beat Siegenthaler, analyst with TD Securities in London, dismisses speculation that the Canadian dollar could surge if more central banks follow Russia's lead to cut exposure to the fading U.S. currency. The next day, the currency lost more than a full cent to the U.S. dollar, wiping out its gains for the week, as Dubai's debt woes sparked a flight to the safety of the U.S. dollar.
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DON'T MAKE ME STOP THIS CAR
"I could close this place down, and then nobody will get any pie."
Dorothy Pryor Rose explains how she stopped an unruly holiday throng of people who began shoving and shouting in the long line outside her California pie shop at Thanksgiving last year - just a small part of the annual retail madness that grips the U.S. around the annual turkey holiday. This year, she told The Wall Street Journal, she hired a security guard.
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SHOW US THE MONEY
"We need to see banks making more loans to their business customers."
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman Sheila Bair told reporters this week that "there is no question" the lack of availability of credit is an issue in America's economic recovery.
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IS THAT A FAKE MUSTACHE?
"I bet if we put résumés on the table without names or pictures, we'd have more women on boards."
Vancouver board consultant and director recruiter Elizabeth Watson muses on the reasons women account for only 13 per cent of directors on the boards of Canada's 500 largest organizations.