(FORTUNE Magazine) – LAMAR ALEXANDER, 51, U.S. Secretary of Education, on the fall to the lowest level since 1983 in composite SAT scores for college-bound U.S. high school students: ''The simple fact is that even our best students generally don't know enough and can't do enough to assure success in tomorrow's world.''

JAMES W. HUGHES, 47, professor of urban planning, Rutgers University, on financial pressures facing aging baby-boomers: ''The generation that was once associated with dropping acid in order to escape reality is now going to be dropping antacid in order to cope.''

WARREN E. BUFFETT, 61, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and interim chairman of Salomon Inc., on the logistics of holding down both jobs at once: ''I will be in Omaha or New York as the circumstances require. My mother has sewn my name in my underwear, so it'll be okay.''