(FORTUNE Magazine) – -- JOHN J. NEVIN, 61, chairman of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., on halving his work force since 1979: ''I've never seen one press article in my business career about a CEO who took a company through restructuring who was described as easygoing and affable.''

-- LEE IACOCCA, 63, chairman of Chrysler Corp., at a recent press conference defending his hefty pay package: ''That's the American way. If little kids don't aspire to make money like I did, what the hell good is this country? You gotta give them a role model, right?''

-- ICHIRO OZAWA, 45, deputy chief secretary of the Japanese cabinet, using a ready-mixed metaphor to announce an agreement permitting U.S. construction companies to build public works in Japan: ''This is the concrete fruit of what was agreed between Prime Minister Takeshita and President Reagan in January.''