" We are not a Hilltop. "

Nickolaos Karambelas, telling Danvers selectmen that people are unlikely to go out of their way to get to his new restaurant as they do to visit the Route 1 landmark. There was concern his Giovanni's on Route 62 might take business away from a similarly named establishment downtown.

" Life in the NBA isn't so shabby. "

Former Salem State College basketball coach Jim Todd, now an assistant with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, in a telephone interview from Phoenix, where he was sitting by the pool at the Ritz

" Wow! "

Neil Gamson, spokesman for the federal Energy Information Administration, upon being told by a reporter that gas was selling for $3.06 a gallon at one station on the North Shore. The national average Monday was $3.48 a gallon.

" We're going to keep doing this. It's the law. "

State Highway Commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky, stating her department will continue to use flaggers where appropriate, despite police protests

" We beat our expectations and the crowds are spending money. "

Merchant Trudy Stavros on the first weekend of Haunted Happenings in Salem

" The last time I saw it, three kids were riding it. "

Marblehead Selectman Harry Christensen on a huge turtle that used to live in Black Joe's Pond

" Fall River's had 116 years to capitalize on the Lizzie Borden story. "

Leonard Pickel, owner of the True Story of Lizzie Borden museum in Salem, after reluctantly agreeing to drop the Borden name to avoid a lawsuit from a business in Fall River, where the famous murders took place

SClB" She is so charming and so media savvy. When she has a script, she will completely seduce America. "

Public speaking coach Richard Greene on the possibility of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin appearing on "Saturday Night Live"

" We stand to collect as much as $47.8 million from the state. That's pretty powerful. "

Mayor Bill Scanlon, telling city councilors that with the state agreeing to pick up almost 60 percent of the tab, the $81.5 million renovation and expansion of Beverly High School is affordable

"I love three teams — the Red Sox, the Rays and whoever beats the Yankees. "

John Doherty, formerly of Peabody and now living in the Tampa Bay area, on his mixed feelings as the Red Sox and Rays prepared to meet in the American League Championship Series