Quote:
...a "bot", for quotes, and I might adapt the script to also function as a mantra-quoter, in #buddhism, etcetera..


Originally you ask for a script to work on a bot.
Which is easily possible.
Later on, you say:

Quote:
Subsequently triggering; <my-nick> “random Quote” …


So, is it a bot that you want or do you want everything to function from your own nick?

Anyway, if you want I can make a script that suits most of your requirements coming weekend or something.

It will:
- work from a bot only (2nd mIRC client)
- have the quotes.txt file
- have the !quote, !addquote, !quote <nr> commands
- only work on specified channels
- show the total amount of quotes (!quotes)

It will NOT:
- be able to ban specified users from the script
- have a delay in replying on the commands
- work with your F8 script, unless you modify it.

So, it does meet most of your requirements, but not all.
Let me know if I should bother.