(FORTUNE Magazine) – -- STANISLAV S. SHATALIN, a top Soviet economic adviser, on Mikhail Gorbachev's idea of a national referendum on legalizing the private ownership of land: ''If all progress was subject to a referendum, we would all be still up in the trees throwing coconuts and stones at each other.''

-- PETER G. PETERSON, 64, chairman of Blackstone Group and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, on federal budget priorities: ''Our national interest is served by programs that direct public resources toward investment and youth, not consumption and age.''

-- RAYMOND LANE, 43, senior vice president at Booz Allen & Hamilton, on why the consulting firm doesn't advertise on TV: ''We're stodgy.''