Quotes.

• Position: Notable people in the news

"Our history is not a story of perfection. It's a story of imperfect people working toward great ideals. This flawed nation is also a really good nation, and the principles we hold are the hope of all mankind."

--PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, announcing a program on "Teaching American History and Civic Education" at the White House (White House transcript, Sept. 17).

"The thing I'm most happy about is I'm actually here in person, myself, to accept the award, that I'm living."

--EARVIN "MAGIC" JOHNSON, as he was being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, recalling his HIV diagnosis in 1991 (The New York Times, Sept. 28).

"Without knowledge, I am blind; I do not know white from black."

--TORPIKAY, an Afghan woman who is learning to read (The New York Times, Sept. 22).

"If you look at the number of people who went through the Al Qaeda training camps, and there are literally thousands who did, it stands to reason that a certain percentage of them are in this country."

--JOHN E. BELL JR., a retired FBI special agent, on surveillance that is aimed at primarily young, Muslim men...