"From Caesar's legions to the Napoleonic wars. From the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the industrial revolution to the defeat of nazism. We have helped to write European history, and Europe has helped write ours."

"We have the character of an island nation: independent, forthright, passionate in defence of our sovereignty. We can no more change this British sensibility than we can drain the English Channel. And because of this sensibility, we come to the European Union with a frame of mind that is more practical than emotional."

"Let me completely condemn these sickening scenes; scenes of looting, scenes of vandalism, scenes of thieving, scenes of people attacking police, of people even attacking firefighters. This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted."

"If we are going to try to get across to the poorest people in the world that we care about their plight and we want them to join one world with the rest of us, we have got to make promises and keep promises."

"An idea is a delicate seed; water it with curiosity and protect it from cynicism. Such is the immutable nature of understanding — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"The best way to predict your future is to create it."

"It is a timeless truth that vision without execution is fantasy; execution without vision is chaos."

"A bachelor never quite gets over the idea that he is a thing of beauty and a boy forever."