"Do I get up every morning and ask: am I doing the things that I believe in and am I doing them for the best possible motives? Yes. Unambiguously yes."

"I didn't become leader to transform the Liberal Democrats into an enlarged form of the Electoral Reform Society. It's not the be all and end all for us. There are other very, very key ambitions in politics, not least social mobility and life chances, that I care about as passionately if not more."

"My dad's side of the family had lots of artists and musicians. There's an emotional, quite sentimental quality to Slavic culture. It's very open, it loves art, it loves music, it loves literature. It's very warm, it's very up, it's very down. I would celebrate that."

"One thing I have frankly decided is that when it comes to political reform we have two conservative parties in British politics. Both the Labour and Conservative parties have constantly and repeatedly failed to honour promises they have made about reforming, cleaning, modernising our clapped-out system."

"Clear thinking requires courage even more than intellect. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history."

"A leader does not command the wind, but sets the sails and steadies the crew. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history."

"Where compassion abides, fear and resentment lose their dominion. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history."

"History is a set of lies agreed upon."