Behind that quip lay an idea that coloured his whole philosophy: at any moment, we are free to make of ourselves what we wish.

ECONOMIST: Jean-Paul Sartre

So the idea lay dormant for many years.

ECONOMIST: Nuclear waste

So Towers Perrin came up with the clever idea of having Enron buy the contracts, providing the Lays with immediate liquidity, and hold them as deferred compensation for Mr. Lay with the idea that they would be transferred back in the future under a cliff vesting schedule.

FORBES: Estate of Enron CEO Kenneth Lay Wins in Tax Court

Among its offshoots are the Tablighi Jama'at, a huge, worldwide missionary movement (strong in Yorkshire and London), in which lay people help to propagate the idea of a pious life.

ECONOMIST: Islam in Britain and South Asia: A single space | The

Jurors might be offended by the idea that Skilling and Lay, who sold hundreds of millions of dollars in stock at a profit because of Fastow's activities, knew nothing about what he was doing.

FORBES: Enron: Final Sale

Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey and Chief Financial Officer David DeVoe, who had long been proponents of the idea, ramped up their efforts to lay out the strategic rationale, people familiar with the situation said.

WSJ: Rupert Murdoch Has Change of Heart on Publishing Business

Jane Heyn, the festival organiser and wife of the British ambassador to Burma, said she first had the idea for the event two years ago, but her plans lay dormant for more than a year, as until recently it would have been impossible for foreign writers to be granted visas to attend.

BBC: Burma holds its first global literary festival

Manuel Valdes, looking out of place in the kitchen in slacks and a button-down shirt, had an idea of how to salvage the desiccated pie pulled from the pizza oven: lay on slices of chicken sausage to replace the bone-dry pieces of chicken breast.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The Clinton administration long resisted the idea of arming Iraqi dissidents or fostering insurrection, insisting that the best hope for change lay in a coup from within.

ECONOMIST: Iraq��s opposition: No aid yet for Saddam’s foes | The

The new coalition's prime minister, Bashkim Fino, who hails from the opposition Socialists, has toyed with the idea of going to Gjirokaster, where he used to be mayor, to ask the rebels to lay down their weapons and back the government of national reconciliation.

ECONOMIST: Albania