Waiting for enlightenment

This is yet another question with the answer "It depends", is it not, lucasz?

Personally I find it difficult to keep punctuation within the quotes, as this can cause corruption of the meaning.
e.g.
To my amazement he said "We'll make this project on time"!
Why did you say "I can't take any more"?
and on the other hand:
He said "You could have knocked me down with a feather!"
He said "What do you think?"

IMHO it would be wrong to apply the exclamation marks and question marks within the quotes in the first two examples.

There's a bit of shorthand happening here, though. Because there should be some punctuation at the end of the sentences that contain the quotes, which we would indeed apply if the sentences didn't end with the quotes.

He said "You could have knocked me down with a feather!" whereas I merely shrugged my shoulders.

But I think:
He said "You could have knocked me down with a feather!".
is 'orrible!