Women from England

"The children won't go without me. I won't leave the King. And the King will never leave."

"I am glad we have been bombed. Now we can look the East End in the eye."

"Tinkety tonk old fruit, and down with the Nazis."

"At the dinner table, the talk turned to politics. It was in the days before the 'Gang of Four' had allied themselves to the Liberal Party [early 1981]. Queen Elizabeth [The Queen Mother]: I dislike this new socialist party of Woy's [sic]. Host: They're called the Social Democrats, ma'am. Queen Elizabeth: Yes. Well, you don't change socialist just by leaving ist off the end. I say, it's a cheat to start something called the Social Party. I liked the old Labour Party. The best thing is a good old Tory government with a strong Labour opposition."

"Queen Elizabeth: I thought the girls . . . you see, they were marooned in Windsor Castle for most of the war, and I was not sure that they were having a very good education and kind Sachie and Osbert [Sitwell] said they would arrange a poetry evening for us. Such an embarrassment. Osbert was wonderful, as you would expect, and Edith, of course, but then we had this rather lugubrious man in a suit, and he read a poem . . . I think it was called "The Desert". And first the girls got the giggles, and then I did and then even the King. Self: "The Desert", ma'am? Are you sure it wasn't called "The Waste Land? Queen Elizabeth: That's it. I'm afraid we all giggled. Such a gloomy man, looked as though he worked in a bank, and we didn't understand a word. Self: I believe he did once work in a bank."

"Never trust them, never trust them. They can't be trusted."

"He is the only man, since my dear husband died, to have had the effrontery to kiss me on the lips.”"

"We'd have to go self-service."

"We loved him."

"Whilst playing cards, Elizabeth: How are you getting on? You don't look very happy. Lord Salisbury: Oh, Ma'am, I've been left with a horrible queen. Elizabeth: I don't think that's a very good of way of putting it, do you?"

"Was this yours? Oh, could you take it?"

"But I love communists!"

"Wouldn't it be terrible if you'd spent all your life doing everything you were supposed to do, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't eat things, took lots of exercise, all the things you didn't want to do, and suddenly one day you were run over by a big red bus, and as the wheels were crunching into you you'd say 'Oh my god, I could have got so drunk last night!' That's the way you should live your life, as if tomorrow you'll be run over by a big red bus."

"That's mine!"

"Dear Edwina, she always liked to make a splash."

"I wouldn't if I were you, Noël; they count them before they put them out."

"I'll polish it off myself."

"That is the most dangerous woman in Europe."

"There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors — a noble motto, "I serve". Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the Throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did. But through the inventions of science I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple. I declare before you all, that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family, to which we all belong. But I shall not have the strength to carry out this resolution alone, unless you join in it with me as I now invite you to do. I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow and God bless all of you, who are willing to share with it."

"My Husband and I...."

"It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult."

"Today we need a special kind of courage. Not the kind needed in battle, but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics, so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future."

"On behalf of the British people I salute the skill and courage which have brought man to the moon. May this endeavour increase the knowledge and well-being of mankind."

"1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an Annus Horribilis."

"Although we must leave you, Fair Castle of Mey, We shall never forget, Nor will never repay, A meal of such splendour, Repast of such zest, It will take us to Sunday, Just to digest. To leafy Balmoral, We are now on our way, But our hearts will remain At the Castle of Mey. With your gardens and ranges, And all your good cheer, We will be back again soon So roll on next year."

"We are a moderate, pragmatic people, more comfortable with practice than theory."

"But nothing that can be said can begin to take away the anguish and the pain of these moments. Grief is the price we pay for love."

"Oh, dear, I hope it wasn't anyone important."

"Since I have landed in Quebec, I think we can say that I am Canadian."

"Discrimination still exists. Some people feel that their own beliefs are being threatened. Some are unhappy about unfamiliar cultures. They all need to be reassured that there is so much to be gained by reaching out to others; that diversity is indeed a strength and not a threat."

"Football's a difficult business and aren't they prima donnas?"

"In tomorrow's world we must all work together as hard as ever, if we're truly to be United Nations"

"A Uachtaráin agus a chairde"

"The right to change the government by the ballot box and not the barrel of a gun; perhaps the best definition of a democracy."

"The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country."

"Our religions provide critical guidance for the way we live our lives, and for the way in which we treat each other."

"Our peace and prosperity can never be taken for granted and must constantly be tended, so that never again do we have cause to build monuments to our fallen youth."

"The true measure of all our actions is how long the good in them lasts...everything we do, we do for the young."

"I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future."

"Today it may seem hard that we cannot mark this special anniversary as we would wish. Instead we remember from our homes and our doorsteps. But our streets are not empty; they are filled with the love and the care that we have for each other. And when I look at our country today, and see what we are willing to do to protect and support one another, I say with pride that we are still a nation those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognise and admire."

"Remarkably, a year that has necessarily kept people apart has, in many ways, brought us closer. Across the Commonwealth, my family and I have been inspired by stories of people volunteering in their communities, helping those in need. In the United Kingdom and around the world, people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year, and I am so proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit. To our young people in particular I say thank you for the part you have played. This year, we celebrated International Nurses’ Day, on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. As with other nursing pioneers like Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale shone a lamp of hope across the world. Today, our front-line services still shine that lamp for us — supported by the amazing achievements of modern science — and we owe them a debt of gratitude. We continue to be inspired by the kindness of strangers and draw comfort that — even on the darkest nights — there is hope in the new dawn."

"Your Majesty, during Your Reign, which commenced in an African country only a little distance to the South, You have carried forward gloriously the traditions of Your lineage and brought new honour to the Throne which You occupy. Your Majesty personally enjoys today the respect, the admiration and the affection of all peoples to whom Britain serves as the symbol of indomitability in adversity, of courage when confronted by danger, of dignity and resolve when threatened with defeat, and of magnanimity and generosity in victory."

"In times when nothing stood but worsened, or grew strange, there was one constant good: she did not change."

"So I went to the top lady. And I was sobbing and I said, ‘What do I do? I'm coming to you. What do I do?’... And she said, ‘I don't know what you should do. Charles is hopeless.’ And that was it. That was help! So I didn't go back to her again for help because I don't go back again if I don't get it the first time, right."

"Wouldn't let that family near me with a sharp stick, let alone a sword"

"The British monarchy doesn't depend entirely on glamour, as the long, long reign of Queen Elizabeth II continues to demonstrate. Her unflinching dutifulness and reliability have conferred something beyond charm upon the institution, associating it with stoicism and a certain integrity. Republicanism is infinitely more widespread than it was when she was first crowned, but it's very rare indeed to hear the Sovereign Lady herself being criticized, and even most anti-royalists hasten to express themselves admiringly where she is concerned. I am not sure how deserved this immunity really is. The queen took two major decisions quite early in her reign, neither of which was forced upon her. She refused to allow her younger sister Margaret to marry the man she loved and had chosen, and she let her authoritarian husband have charge of the education of her eldest son. The first decision was taken to appease the most conservative leaders of the Church of England (a church of which she is, absurdly, the head), who could not approve the marriage of Margaret to a divorced man. The second was taken for reasons less clear."

"We, her people of Gibraltar, are perhaps the only ones in her reign who have chosen to remain British on two occasions... We’ve chosen her twice... So we can proudly say that she is our Queen by invitation and not imposition."

"While British republicanism has long been a minority pursuit... it is undeniable that the cause enters the third decade of the 21st century in a considerably worse condition than it entered the third decade of the 20th... That is a testament to the skill of the woman who might well be the United Kingdom’s most successful politician of the past century: Queen Elizabeth II. The Crown’s popularity is the fruit of her strategy and the decisions she has taken over the nearly seven decades of her reign."

"I had already met her (Queen Elizabeth) formally but she was very different this time, much more open. She went out of her way to make me feel comfortable and kept on cracking jokes. I laughed so much that day. At the same time she was very gracious. I hope that the painting reflects these qualities."

"有個貴族朋友在硬幣背後，青春不變名字叫做皇后；每次買賣隨我到處去奔走，面上沒有表情卻匯聚成就"

"The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous."

"What a beautiful step! I shall never be able to do it."

"Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable."

"Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the very first time."

"Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike."

"I need to have a purpose in life and for that I might sacrifice some of the luxuries that I enjoy; fortunately I am fairly adaptable. I try to be aware, flexible and unbiased in my thinking. If I have learnt anything, it is that life forms no logical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?"

"How to put something so visual, so potent with theatrical moment that even film cannot capture it, into plain words? How to explain why it is that when, to a particular strain of music, an ordinary mortal steps forward on one leg, raises the other behind her and lifts her arms above her head, the angels hold their breath?"

"Mother brings a child late to contact by half-an-hour; father then requires an extra half-hour the next week. This is getting silly. If, in fact, the father does not see the child at all, of course he should see the child on another occasion, but there are fathers who actually add up the minutes and produce it and say "Now I should have so much more contact because I lost five minutes last week and ten minutes the week before"."

"Master Tyrwhit and others have told me that there goeth rumors abroad which be greatly both against mine honor and honesty, which above all other things I esteem, which be these: that I am in the Tower and with child by my lord admiral. My lord, these are shameful slanders, for the which, besides the great desire I have to see the king’s majesty, I shall most heartily desire your lordship that I may come to the court after your first determination, that I may show myself there as I am. Written in haste from Hatfield this 28 of January. Your assured friend to my little power, Elizabeth."

"'Twas God the Word that spake it, He took the Bread and brake it: And what that Word did make it, That I believe and take it."

"Much suspected by me, Nothing proved can be, Quoth Elizabeth prisoner."

"This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."

"I am already bound unto an husband, which is the kingdom of England... for every one of you, and as many as are English, are my children and kinsfolks."

"Our realm and subjects have been long wanderers, walking astray, whilst they were under the tuition of Romish pastors, who advised them to own a wolf for their head, (in lieu of a careful shepherd,) whose inventions, heresies, and schisms be so numerous, that the flock of Christ have fed on poisonous shrubs for want of wholesome pastures... and your own Romish idolatry maketh you liars."

"And whereas you would frighten us, by telling how emperors, kings, and princes have owned the bishop of Rome's authority; it was contrary in the beginning. For our Saviour Christ paid his tribute unto Caesar, as the chief superior; which shews your Romish supremacy is usurped."

"But to grant them churches, wherein they might celebrate mass, and have congregations and public assemblies, she could not with the safety of her realm, and without wrong to her own honour and conscience: neither did she see cause, why she should grant it, seeing England embraced not new or strange doctrine, but the same which Christ commanded, and what the primitive and catholic church had received, and was approved by the ancient fathers, as might be testified by their writings. Therefore for her to allow churches which contradicted the truth and the gospel, were not only to repeal the laws established by act of parliament, but to sow religion out of religion, to distract good people's minds, to cherish factions, to disturb religion and the commonwealth, and to mingle divine and human things."

"[I] would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married."

"Like as no one thing, in the government and charge committed unto us by the favourable goodness of Almighty God, doth more profit and beautify the same to his pleasure and acceptation, to our comfort and ease of our government, and, finally, to the universal weal and repose of our people and countries, than unity, quietness, and concord, as well amongst the public ministers having charge under us, as in the multitude of the people by us and them ruled; so, contrariwise, diversity, variety, contention, and vain love of singularity, either in our ministers or in the people, must needs provoke the displeasure of Almighty God."

"Wherefore, although our earnest care and inward desire hath always been, from the beginning of our reign, to provide that by laws and ordinances agreeable to truth and justice, and consonant to good order, this our realm should be directed and governed, both in the ecclesiastical and civil policy, by public officers and ministers following, as near as possibly might be, one rule, form, and manner of order in all their actions, and directing our people to obey humbly and live godly, according to their several callings, in unity and concord, without diversities of opinions or novelties of rites and manners, or without maintenance or breeding of any contentions about the same."

"[I]n sundry places of our realm of late...there is crept and brought into the church by some few persons, abounding more in their own senses than wisdom would, and delighting with singularities and changes, an open and manifest disorder and offence to the godly wise and obedient persons, by diversity of opinions and specially in the external, decent, and lawful rites and ceremonies to be used in the churches...the inconvenience thereof were like to grow from place to place, as it were by an infection, to a great annoyance, trouble, and deformity to the rest of the whole body of the realm, and thereby impair, deface, and disturb Christian charity, unity, and concord, being the very bands of our religion."

"Kings were wont to honour philosophers, but if I had such I would honour them as angels that should have such piety in them that they would not seek where they are the second to be the first, and where the third to be the second and so forth."

"Though I be a woman yet I have as good a courage answerable to my place as ever my father had. I am your anointed Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am endued with such qualities that if I were turned out of the Realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom."

"I will make you shorter by the head."

"Was I not born in the realm? Were my parents born in any foreign country? Is there any cause I should alienate myself from being careful over this country? Is not my kingdom here? Whom have I oppressed? Whom have I enriched to others' harm? What turmoil have I made in this commonwealth, that I should be suspected to have no regard to the same? How have I governed since my reign? I will be tried by envy itself. I need not to use many words, for my deeds do try me."

"The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy, And wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine annoy; For falsehood now doth flow, and subjects’ faith doth ebb, Which should not be if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web. But clouds of joys untried do cloak aspiring minds, Which turn to rain of late repent by changed course of winds. The top of hope supposed the root upreared shall be, And fruitless all their grafted guile, as shortly ye shall see. The dazzled eyes with pride, which great ambition blinds, Shall be unsealed by worthy wights whose foresight falsehood finds. The daughter of debate that discord aye doth sow Shall reap no gain where former rule still peace hath taught to know. No foreign banished wight shall anchor in this port; Our realm brooks not seditious sects, let them elsewhere resort. My rusty sword through rest shall first his edge employ To poll their tops that seek such change or gape for future joy."

"The queen's majesty being right sorry to understand that the order of common prayer, set forth by the common consent of the realm and by authority of parliament in the first year of her reign, wherein is nothing contained but the scripture of God, and that which is consonant unto it, is now of late of some men despised, and spoken against, both by open preachings, and writings, and of some bold and vain curious men, new and other rites found out and frequented; whereupon contentions, sects, and disquietness doth arise among her people, and for one godly and uniform order, diversity of rites and ceremonies, disputations and contentions, schisms and divisions already risen, and more like to ensue: the cause of which disorders, her majesty doth plainly understand to be the negligence of the bishops and other magistrates, who should cause the good laws and acts of parliament made in this behalf to be better executed, and not so dissembled and winked at, as hitherto (it may appear) that they have been."

"[O]f late years there hath been used in divers dioceses of this realm a certain public exercise, or, as they call it, prophesying, by certain persons pretending a more purity, by the manner of the doing thereof evil effect hath ensued in some places, to our grief, among the unlearned sort, easy to be carried with novelties. Therefore, for certain good causes moving us, we do will and command you, forthwith upon the receipt hereof, to make express order throughout all your diocese, that all such prophecies be forborne; and none other exercise be suffered to be publicly used than preaching by persons learned, discreet, conformable and sound in religion, heard and allowed by you without partiality, and reading homilies in such sort as is set forth by public authority, by the injunction and order of the Book of Common Prayer."

"The use of the sea and air is common to all; neither can a title to the ocean belong to any people or private persons, forasmuch as neither nature nor public use and custom permit any possession thereof."

"For rather will I never meddle with marriage than have such a bad covenant added to my part. Shall it be ever found true that Queen Elizabeth hath solemnized the perpetual harm of England under the glorious title of marriage with Francis, heir of France? No, no, it shall never be."

"Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths."

"I grieve and dare not show my discontent, I love and yet am forced to seem to hate, I do, yet dare not say I ever meant, I seem stark mute but inwardly do prate."

"My care is like my shadow in the sun, Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it, Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done. His too familiar care doth make me rue it. No means I find to rid him from my breast, Till by the end of things it be supprest. Some gentler passion slide into my mind, For I am soft and made of melting snow; Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind. Let me or float or sink, be high or low. Or let me live with some more sweet content, Or die and so forget what love ere meant."

"[Y]ou suffer many ministers to preach what they list, and to minister the sacraments according to their own fancies—some one way, some another—to the breach of unity; yea, and some of them so curious in searching matters above their capacity as they preach they wot not what: that there is no hell, but a torment of conscience; nay, I have heard of there be six preachers in one diocese the which do preach six sundry ways. I wish such men to be brought to conformity and unity, that they minister the sacraments according to the order of this realm and preach all one truth; and that such as be found not worthy to preach, to be compelled to read homilies such as were set forth in our brother King Edward his time and since. For there is more of learning in one of those than in twenty of some of their sermons."

"Amyas, my most careful and faithful servant, God reward thee treblefold in the double for thy most troublesome charge so well discharged."

"I...do render you many loving thanks for the joy you took of my narrow escape from the chaws [jaws] of death, to which I might easily have fallen but that the hand of the Highest saved me from that snare. And for that the curse of that design rose up from the wicked suggestion of the Jesuits, which make it an acceptable sacrifice to God and meritorious to themself that a king not of their profession should be murdered, therefore I could keep my pen no longer from discharging my care of your person, that you suffer not such vipers to inhabit your land."

"I thank God that you beware so soon of Jesuits that have been the source of all these treacheries in this realm and will spread like an evil weed if at the first they be not weeded out... What religion is this that they pay—the way to salvation is to kill the prince for a merit meritorious?"

"Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects."

"I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm."

"Rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns."

"By your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people."

"[L]et me warn you that there is risen both in your realm and mine a sect of perilous consequence—such as would have no kings but a presbytery, and take our place while they enjoy our privilege with a shade of God's Word, which none is judged to follow right without by their censure they be so deemed. Yea, look we well unto them. When they have made in our people's hearts a doubt of our religion and that we err if they say so, what perilous issue this may make I rather think than mind to write. Sapienti pauca. I pray you stop the mouths or make shorter the tongues of such ministers as dare presume to make orison in their pulpits for the persecuted in England for the Gospel. Suppose you, my dear brother, that I can tolerate such scandals of my sincere government? No."

"For even our enemies hold our nation resolute and valiant, which though they will not outwardly show, they invariably know. And whensoever the malice of our enemies should cause them to make any attempt against us, I doubt not but we shall have the greatest glory, God fighting for those that truly serve Him with the justness of their quarrel."

"I am Richard II know ye not that? ... He that will forget God, will also forget his benefactors; this tragedy was played 40 times in open streets and houses."

"Those who touch the sceptres of princes deserve no pity."

"Must is not a word to be used to princes! Little man, little man, if your father had lived, ye durst not have said so much: but thou knowest I must die, and that maketh thee so presumptuous."

"Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my Crown, that I have reigned with your loves."

"I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a people. Therefore I have cause to wish nothing more than to content the subject and that is a duty which I owe. Neither do I desire to live longer days than I may see your prosperity and that is my only desire."

"I know the title of a King is a glorious title, but assure yourself that the shining glory of princely authority hath not so dazzled the eyes of our understanding, but that we well know and remember that we also are to yield an account of our actions before the great judge. To be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it."

"There will never Queen sit in my seat with more zeal to my country, care to my subjects and that will sooner with willingness venture her life for your good and safety than myself. For it is my desire to live nor reign no longer than my life and reign shall be for your good. And though you have had, and may have, many princes more mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you never had nor shall have, any that will be more careful and loving."

"I shall be thy name in Christ as I emerge through these walls in vain."

"Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor."

"If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all."

"I would not open windows into men's souls."

"God may forgive you, but I never can."

"It is difficult to say whether the gifts of nature or of fortune are most to be admired in that illustrious lady. The praise which Aristotle gives wholly centres in her—beauty, stature, prudence, and industry. She has just passed her sixteenth birthday, and shows such dignity and gentleness as are wonderful at her age and in her rank. Her study of true religion and learning is most energetic. Her mind has no womanly weakness, her perseverance is equal to that of a man, and her memory long keeps what it quickly picks up. She talks French and Italian as well as English: she has often talked to me readily and well in Latin, and moderately so in Greek. When she writes Greek and Latin, nothing is more beautiful than her hand-writing. She is as much delighted with music as she is skilful in the art. In adornment she is elegant rather than showy, and by her contempt of gold and head-dresses, she reminds one of Hippolyte rather than of Phsedra."

"She is your true and natural Queen, bred, born, and brought up amongst you, and as she has naturally loved you even from the beginning of her reign, so do you most naturally, like English men, defend her, fight for her, and not only guard her with danger of your lives, but also aid her with your lands and livings, and as God has blessed you by her means with gold and silver... open your purses and bestow largely upon her now in time of war, by whom you have filled your coffers richly in time of peace... Pugnate pro patria, fight for you country, your dearest country, wherein you have been bred, born, nourished and brought up, toward which you ought to be as inwardly affected, as you are naturally moved to your mothers. It is your native soil, and therefore most sweet; for what may be dearer or sweeter than your Country?"

"Her Majesty at her coming to the crown, utterly disliking of the tyranny of the Church of Rome, which had used by terror and rigour to seek commandment of men's faiths and consciences, although as a prince of great wisdom and magnanimity she suffered but the exercise of one religion, yet her proceeding towards the Papists was with great lenity, expecting the good effects which time might work in them. And therefore her Majesty revived not the laws made in 28° and 35° of her father's reign, whereby the oath of supremacy might have been offered at the king's pleasure to any subject, though he kept his conscience never so modestly to himself, and the refusal to take the same oath without further circumstance was made treason. But contrariwise her Majesty (not liking to make windows into men's hearts and secret thoughts, except the abundance of them did overflow into overt and express acts and affirmations,) tempered her law so, as it restraineth only manifest disobedience in impugning and impeaching advisedly and maliciously her Majesty's supreme power, and maintaining and extolling a foreign jurisdiction."

"This lady was endued with learning in her sex singular, and great even amongst masculine princes; whether we speak of learning, of language, or of science, modern or ancient, Divinity or Humanity: and unto the very last year of her life she was accustomed to appoint set hours for reading, scarcely any young student in a university more daily, or more duly. As for her government, I assure myself I shall not exceed, if I do affirm that this part of the island never had forty-five years of better times; and yet not through the calmness of the season, but through the wisdom of her regiment."

"At the height of the siege [of Malta], and sensitive as ever to the realities of European politics, Elizabeth herself had warned that "if the Turks should prevail against the Isle of Malta, it is uncertain what peril might follow to the rest of Christendom". Elizabeth, the daughter of the schismatic Henry VIII, was kept on her throne with the help of extreme Protestants – followers of John Calvin. But in her private opinions she herself kept her distance from them. Elizabeth had deeper discernment, and was aware that if the Turks came in victorious, so that the Crescent prevailed against the Cross, then Europe as a recognizable society with its inherited moral values must change for the worse; the world Englishmen had always known would disappear."

"With the Turkish fleet destroyed, Spain for the time was without a rival in the Mediterranean large enough to challenge her or check her. The response of the nominally Catholic King of France to the great victory was secretly to offer Sokolli a firm alliance against Spain... In besieged Leyden, Dutch Calvinists there who followed the Prince of Orange wore little brass crescents in their caps. But though excommunicated by the old Pope as a heretic and treated by him as a usurper, Elizabeth of England showed greater political penetration. For her, Lepanto was not so much a victory for Spain or the Pope as a triumph for all Christendom – a guarantee that the values upon which Western Europe had been established would survive. To show exactly what she thought, the Church of England which she had established by law was ordered to hold services of thanksgiving."

"Now you, the whole world's ornament, the Queen On whose behalf both winds and oceans fight, Rule on with God, far from ambition seen, And succour still the pious with your might, That England you, you England long hold dear, Whom good men love as much as wicked fear."

"Unallied and alone, queen Elizabeth maintained a glorious and successful war against the greatest power and the richest potentate in Europe. She distressed him in the West Indies. She insulted him in Spain. She took from him the empire of the sea. She fixed it in herself. She rendered all the projects of universal monarchy vain; and shook to the foundations the most exorbitant power, which ever disturbed the peace, or threatened the liberties of Europe... She, who seemed to have every thing to fear in the beginning of her reign, became in the progress of it terrible to her enemies... [S]he preserved her subjects in peace and plenty. While the glory of the nation was carried high by achievements in war: the riches and the strength of it were raised by the arts of peace to such a degree, as former ages had never seen, and as we of this age feel in the consequences."

"She considered the interest of no kingdom, no state, nor people, no not even the general interest of the reformation, as zealous a protestant as she was, nor the preservation of a balance of power in Europe, as great a heroine as she was, in any other light than relatively to the interest of England. She assisted, or opposed, she defended or attacked, just as this interest directed."

"She disappointed, divided, and weakened her enemies. She prepared the opportunities, which she afterward improved. She united, animated, and enriched her people; and, as difficult as that may seem to be for a prince in such a situation, she maintained her own dignity, and supported the honour of the nation."

"She considered herself as queen of a country cut off from the Continent, and separated by the sea from all other countries, except Scotland... The situation of an island affords great advantages, when they are wisely improved; and when they are neglected, as great disadvantages may result from this very situation. The reign, now before us, is a glorious and unanswerable proof, that the halcyon days, so much boasted of, and so seldom found, days of prosperity, as well as peace, may be enjoyed in an island, while all the neighbouring continent is filled with alarms, and even laid waste by war."

"[S]he united the great body of the people in her and their common interest, she inflamed them with one national spirit, and, thus armed, she maintained tranquillity at home, and carried succour to her friends and terror to her enemies abroad."

"A warm concern for the interest and honour of the nation, a tenderness for her people, and a confidence in their affections, were appearances that ran through her whole public conduct, and gave life and colour to it. She did great things, and she knew how to set them off according to their full value, by her manner of doing them."

"By the late 1570s, Elizabeth had developed an amicable correspondence with the Ottoman sultan Murad III, advising him that they both hated those idolatrous Catholics, and that she would be happy to act as his subject in return for a political and commercial alliance. Murad was rather perplexed—as we know from his advisers’ writings—to hear from a female ruler of a tiny country on the edge of Europe that he’d never heard of."

"Official papal policy was to excommunicate Christians trading with Muslims, but Elizabeth was now beyond such edicts. By the 1580s Elizabeth had a resident ambassador in Istanbul (then Constantinople) and consuls throughout North Africa and the Middle East, including in places like Aleppo and Raqqa. As reformed Protestants, many of them would have felt safer traveling in Muslim lands under Ottoman protection than in Catholic Europe, where arrest and the Inquisition invariably awaited them."

"With characteristic pragmatism as well as a keen eye for symbolic revenge, Elizabeth stripped lead and tin from deconsecrated Catholic churches to export to the Ottomans as munitions in their wars with the Shia Persian empire—“which the Turk buys of them,” wrote an outraged Spanish ambassador to England, “almost for its weight in gold, the tin being vitally necessary for the casting of guns and the lead for purposes of war.” The trade was so successful that it was replicated in the Barbary states of North Africa, where again English armaments were traded for gold and sugar (hence Elizabeth’s infamously bad teeth). English merchants also traveled as far as Persia, playing the Shah off against his Ottoman adversaries in a dangerous geopolitical game, aimed at neutralizing the Catholic threat of imminent Spanish invasion and keeping the ailing English economy afloat."

"Greatest of all the Queen's services to England was the peace she gave her. When a divided Christendom was wracked by cruel ideological passions, within their watery bounds the English were at peace and unity. It was of this Elizabeth was most proud, and deservedly, for it was she who had saved them from the maelstrom by her diplomacy, her womanly dissimulation and cunning and, after her brief initial intervention in the religious wars of Scotland and France, her determination to spare both her people and purse from the waste, folly and destruction of war."

"Perhaps no figure in English history has inspired more myth than Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603). She had many personas: the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, Good Queen Bess to her supporters; the bastard and heretic daughter of the whore, Anne Boleyn, to her detractors. In her day, scores of poets and artists promoted these various images. Since then, legions of writers, some scholarly, some popular, as well as playwrights and film-makers, have sought to relate the achievements of her reign and explain the mystique she exercised over her people. She herself was well aware of that mystique, cultivating it so effectively that it is almost impossible to pin down the "real" Elizabeth. Still, it is necessary to try, if only because so many of the age's triumphs and failures were intimately bound up with her words and actions."

"Like her father, Henry VIII, with whom she identified publicly, she was a larger-than-life personality. As with King Hal, this makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction. This much is inarguable. Elizabeth was young when she took the throne: 25 years old. She was also good-looking- an advantage that she was not reluctant to exploit. In addition, the new queen was highly intelligent, witty, hardworking, and well educated. She was fluent in Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and, of course, English. She wrote poetry and could speak effectively when she chose to do so. Elizabeth was also, like her father, something of a scholar: she once translated Boethius' On the Consolations of Philosophy into English for her own amusement. She also took after her father in being both musical and athletic. She played the virginals (a primitive keyboard instrument), danced, and hunted with enthusiasm. A final, crucial similarity to Henry VIII was that Elizabeth I was vain and imperious. Men could flirt with her- indeed, she encouraged them- but they had to be careful not to go too far, for she never forgot that she was queen."

"If even Mary's good qualities proved to be counter-productive, Elizabeth's bad ones sometimes worked in her favor. For example, her imperious nature, quick temper, and sharp tongue did much to counter any assumptions that she was weak because she was a woman. The most common charge leveled against her, also linked to contemporary assumptions about her gender, is that she was indecisive. Thus, Robert Devereaux, earl of Essex (1565-1601), complained to the French ambassador in 1597 that "they labored under two things at this Court, delay and inconsistency, which proceeded from the sex of the queen.""

"Indeed, Queen Elizabeth was capable of making her Privy Council and parliaments wait an agonizingly long time while she made up her mind. In some crucial cases (marriage, what to do about Mary Queen of Scots), it could be argued that she never did so. But it could also be argued that she had been taught by hard experience the dangers of committing herself too early or too definitely. After all, Elizabeth had grown up in a perilous environment in which overt commitment to one side or the other- in politics or religion- could lead to disgrace, even death. As queen, she ruled a country which was seemingly at the mercy of bigger, more powerful neighbors. What often struck her subjects (and later male historians) as indecisiveness now looks like prudence, even a mastery of herself and of the situation at hand. In particular she was a virtuoso at playing two sides off each other, so that they would not turn against her- or England."

"Elizabeth, again like her father, learned to use the possibility of matrimony as a diplomatic trump card or, more crudely, as bait: after all, marriage to the queen of England would be a peaceful and inexpensive way for Spain or France to win that country into an alliance and, perhaps, even back to Catholicism. Throughout the first half of the reign, especially during foreign policy crisis, she entertained a steady stream of French princes and German dukes, all of whom offered undying love- and diplomatic alliance. Unlike her father, however, she knew that marriage was a card that she could only play once. Once played, her freedom of maneuver and, with it, that of her country, would be virtually eliminated. Instead, she preferred to play potential suitors against each other in a brilliant game of amorous, albeit duplicitous, diplomacy."

"Elizabeth, unlike Mary, born of both an English mother and an English father, seems to have felt real affection for her people. Certainly, she had the common touch, frequently going out amongst them on summer-long cross-country progresses, or being carried in an open chair through the streets of London. At such moments Elizabeth played to the crowd, ordered "her carriage... to be taken where the crowd seemed thickest, and stood up and thanked the people.""

"Remember and consider that this very day...eighty-two years sithence began a new resurrection of this kingdom from the dead, our second happy reformation of religion by the auspicious entrance of our late royal Deborah (worthy of eternal remembrance and honour) into her blessed and glorious reign."

"[Elizabeth is] descended by father and mother of mere English blood, and not of Spain, as her sister was."

"The wisest woman that ever was; for she understood the interests and dispositions of all the princes in her time, and was so perfect in the knowledge of her own realm, that no counsellor could tell her anything she did not know before."

"[T]he Memory of that Princess (which amongst English-men ought ever to be gratefull and sacred)."

"[In 1588] the Queen with a masculine Spirit came and took a View of her Army and Camp at Tilbury, and riding about through the Ranks of Armed men drawn up on both sides her, with a Leader's Truncheon in her Hand, sometimes with a martial Pace, another while gently like a Woman, incredible it is how much she encouraged the Hearts of her Captains and Soldiers by her Presence and Speech to them."

"On Wednesday the twenty-third of March [1603] she grew speechless. That afternoone, by signes, she called for her Councill, and by putting her hand to her head, when the King of Scottes was named to succeed her, they all knew hee was the man she desired should reign after her."

"The greatest prince that perhaps this country ever saw."

"With 1588 the crisis of the reign was past. England had emerged from the Armada year as a first-class Power. She had resisted the weight of the mightiest empire that had been seen since Roman times. Her people awoke to a consciousness of their greatness, and the last years of Elizabeth's reign saw a welling up of national energy and enthusiasm focused upon the person of the Queen. In the year following the Armada, the first three books were published of Spenser's Faerie Queene, in which Elizabeth is hymned as Gloriana. Poets and courtiers alike paid their homage to the sovereign who symbolized the great achievement. Elizabeth had schooled a generation of Englishmen."

"Victory over Spain was the most shining achievement of Elizabeth's reign, but by no means the only one. The repulse of the Armada had subdued religious dissension at home. Events which had swung England toward Puritanism while the Catholic danger was impending swung her back to the Anglican settlement when the peril vanished in the smoke of the burning Armada at Gravelines."

"Lest I offend, I hasten to explain that I have no motive to reduce Elizabeth in stature, or to diminish her vitality, if such a thing were possible. I know that her power to overawe, having first won the devotion of those personally and politically closest to her, has rarely been equalled."

"Not surprisingly, the cult of Elizabeth grew directly in proportion to the perceived Catholic menace. In the autumn of 1626, while ladies at court were dallying with the Mass, and while Spanish forces appeared ascendant in Europe, the anniversary of Elizabeth's accession produced a resounding clamour of bells. "Today these bells rang merrily in remembrance of famous Queen Elizabeth" wrote one London correspondent on 17 November. Similarly in 1630 there was "universal ringing of bells for Queen Elizabeth's coronation" on 17 November... This anniversary ringing, quite innocent of official prompting, combined elements of reassurance and defiance, as if the commemoration of Elizabeth could somehow restore the virtues of her reign. "Our Elizabeth" had become the unofficial patron saint of England."

"Queen Elizabeth of famous memory,—we need not be ashamed to call her so! ... that Lady, that great Queen."

"To report her death, like a thunder-clap, was able to kill thousands. It took away hearts from millions. For having brought up even under her wing a nation that was almost begotten and born under her, that never shouted any other ave than for her name, never saw the face of any prince but herself, never understood what that strange outlandish word 'change' signified—how was it possible but that her sickness should throw abroad universal fear, and her death an astonishment?"

"Queen Elizabeth, of Blessed Memory, ruled over her people for forty-five years, about half as long as most of them had any cause to expect to live. When she herself died, nearly seventy years old, there were very few alive who could even recall that another sovereign had ever sat on the throne of England. And though towards the end she had been not only old but also somewhat out of touch with the attitudes and ambitions of a new generation, she retained to the last the love and worship of a nation accustomed to a monarchy clothed in the splendour of divine right but also embodied in palpably real people. Whatever else the Tudors may have been, they were aggressively alive, sculpted in the round, formidable personalities of the kind that create living legends in their own lifetime and do not lose their vitality even in death. The Queen's long reign accomplished the promise of her father's rule; the age of Elizabeth is rightly regarded, not only by historians but also in the popular memory, as a time of greatness breeding greater things still than it actually witnessed."

"Elizabeth pursued the only policy open to a sixteenth-century monarch: she promoted her country's interests by promoting her own, tried to avoid military or diplomatic defeat, tried to preserve unity at home, tried to adjust her resources to the sacred cause of public display. Certainly she sought ‘greatness’, but if she had to define it she would have spoken of Henry V and Henry VIII rather than of unknown lands over the seas."

"God has put into your hands the balance of power and justice, to poise and counterpoise at your will the actions and counsels of all the Christian kings of your time."

"She seems to me incomparably more feared than her sister and gives her orders and has her way as absolutely as her father did."

"It appears to me that she is a woman of extreme vanity, but acute. I would say that she must have great admiration for the King her father's mode of carrying on matters."

"[O]ur thanks, most due, to Almighty God, what cause have we all Englishmen so to do, that is, to render most ample thanksgiving to the mercifulness of God, who hath granted, conserved, and advanced, to the seat-regal of this realm, so good, godly, and virtuous a queen; such a chosen instrument of his clemency, so virtuously natured, so godly disposed, so merciful without marring, so humble without pride, so moderate without prodigality, so maidenly without pomp."

"In the year '88, I did then live at the upper end of the Strand near St. Clement's Church, when suddenly there came a report unto us...that the Queen was gone to council, and if you will see the Queen you must come quickly. Then we all ran; when the Court gates were set open... the Queen came out in great state. Then we cried, "God save your majesty! God save your majesty!" Then the Queen turned unto us and said, "God bless you all, my good people!" Then we cried again, "God save your majesty! God save your majesty!" Then the Queen said again unto us, "You may well have a greater prince; but you shall never have a more loving prince:" and so looking one upon another awhile the Queen departed. This wrought such an impression upon us, for shows and pageants are ever best seen by torch-light, that all the way long we did nothing but talk what an admirable queen she was, and how we would adventure our lives to do her service."

"The Queen...presently undertakes Sir Philip; and (like an excellent Monarch) lays before him the difference in degree between Earls, and Gentlemen; the respect inferiors ought to their superiors; and the necessity in princes to maintain their own creations, as degrees descending between the people's licentiousness, and the annoynted Soveraignty of Crowns: how the Gentlemans neglect of Nobility taught the Peasant to insult upon both."

"The expansive notions of religious authority and godly activism that found expression in Knox and Goodman's resistance theories would also continue to shape Protestant thought and activism under Elizabeth. English Protestants literally saw Elizabeth's accession as a godsend, and when James Pilkington called for reformation in 1560, he depicted the monarch as playing an important and helpful role in establishing true religion. Rather than making the prince the necessary source of religious authority in England, however, he cast the monarch as a powerful partner in a task that God Himself laid upon all His people, a task that must proceed, with or without the monarch's assistance. Elizabeth completely rejected this limited view of her authority- just as she rejected the notion that even her most exalted subjects could demand that she name a successor or execute a fellow monarch- but to her great consternation, many of her most fervent subjects did not."

"On her throne, Elizabeth was the Virgin Queen; towards the Church she was a mother, with her nobles she was an aunt, to her councillors a nagging wife, and to her courtiers a seductress."

"In 1603, Elizabeth had seemed a foolish old woman, as men looked expectantly to a Stuart king. By 1630, when Stuart kings had proved rather a disappointment, she had become the paragon of all princely virtues."

"[T]he person of our Salomon her gratious Majesty, whome I feare not to pronounce to have received the same Heroicall spirit, and most honorable disposition, as an inheritance from her famous father."

"Her mind was oftimes like the gentle air that cometh from the westerly point in a summer's morn; 'twas sweet and refreshing to all around her. Her speech did win all affections; and her subjects did try to show all love to her commands; for she would say, her state did require her to command what she knew her people would willingly do from their own love to her. Herein did she show her wisdom fully; for who did choose to loose her confidence; or who would withhold a show of love and obedience, when their sovereign said it was their own choice and not her compulsion? Surely she did play well her tables to gain obedience thus without constraint; again could she put forth such alterations, when obedience was lacking, as left no doubtings whose daughter she was."

"The queen did fish for men's souls, and had so sweet a bait that no one could escape her net-work."

"Now, if ever any person had either the gift or the skill to winne the hearts of people, it was this Queene; and if ever shee did expresse the same, it was at that present, in coupling mildnesse with majesty as she did, and in stately stouping to the meanest sort. All her faculties were in motion, and every motion seemed a well guided action: Her eye was set upon one, her eare listened to another, her judgement rane upon a third, to a fourth shee addressed her speech: Her spirit seemed to be everywhere, and yet so entire in her selfe, as it seemed to bee no where else. Some she commended, some she pitied, some she thanked, at others she pleasantly and wittily jeasted, concerning no person, neglecting no office; and generally casting forth such courteous countenances, gestures and speeches, that thereupon the people againe redoubled the testimonies of their joy and afterwards, raising every thing to the highest straine, filled the cares of all men with immoderate extolling their Prince."

"If where religion was concerned Elizabeth made "no windows into the hearts of men," she certainly left us the most unexpected window into her own soul. It is in the form of her own personal Book of Devotions... These prayers are far-and-away the most interesting of any that we have from Elizabeth's hand. They are written in a simple straightforward manner, and they reveal a deep personal faith which has every token of sincerity."

"So the development of the galleon enabled the rich and powerful colonial empire of Spain to plot the destruction of Elizabeth’s reign and the restoration of a Catholic English state. In 1582, Spain began construction of a new Armada. In light of Spain’s new military project, and with no imminent Turkish threat to English soil, Elizabeth I made the daring move to send the first English ambassador to Constantinople to bargain with Sultan Murad III of the Ottoman Empire. William Harborne was chosen for the task, having travelled to Constantinople throughout the 1570s with British merchants in the Levant Trading Company. Through her ambassador, Elizabeth and Murad corresponded back and forth in Latin, each concerned with Spanish and Habsburg dominance. Murad was quite beguiling in his treatment of the sovereign of England, referring to Elizabeth as:The pride of women who follow Jesus, the most excellent of the ladies honored among the Messiah’s people, the arbitress of the affairs of the Christian community, who trails the skirts of majesty and gravity, the queen of the realm of Ingiltere, Queen Eliz’ade. Ambassador Harborne, in turn, referred to Murad as “the most august and benign Caesar”—illustrating Elizabeth’s view that England did not perceive the Ottomans as conquerors, while also diplomatically casting Murad as the rightful successor of the Byzantine Empire. Elizabeth’s ultimate goal was to persuade Murad to attack Spain as a diversion, so that England would have time to prepare for Spain’s assault of the English coast. While Elizabeth’s proposed Anglo–Ottoman alliance was never quite realized, trade between England and the Ottoman Empire flourished under the Levant Company."

"In their political correspondence, the English and the Ottomans used the argument that they “were alike haters of the ‘idolatries’ practiced by the King of Spain”. Elizabeth I wrote a letter to Murad calling herself the “most mighty defender of the Christian faith against all the idolatry of those unworthy ones that live among Christians, and falsely profess the name of Christ”. So, in essence, Elizabeth framed her hopes of political alliance as being a partnership between the pious monotheists of England and Turkey against the idolatrous Spanish Habsburgs."

"So it was that in 1585, with the Anglo–Spanish War nearly upon Elizabeth’s shore, Elizabeth and Murad discussed an Anglo–Ottoman alliance against Catholic Spain grounded in religious commonality. Though the alliance never came to fruition, the resulting trade agreements between the two peoples gave England the impetus to become a worldwide empire of its own. Because England was a Protestant state, outside of papal authority, it was in a favored position to seek an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. Further, as a consequence of ignoring the 1578 papal ban on Christians dealing in arms with Muslims, England was in an ideal position to trade prosperously with the Ottomans—to the neglect of the Catholic states."

"Her hands were ever working for the defence of the Faith, defending it at home, defending it abroad, for her selfe defending it, and defending it for others; ever in travell for this holy businesse."

"That great Queen has now been lying two hundred and thirty years in Henry the Seventh's Chapel. Yet her memory is still dear to the hearts of a free people."

"A succession of dark plots, formed by Roman Catholics against the life of the Queen and the existence of the nation, kept society in constant alarm. Whatever might be the faults of Elizabeth, it was plain that, to speak humanly, the fate of the realm and of all reformed Churches was staked on the security of her person and on the success of her administration. To strengthen her hands was, therefore, the first duty of a patriot and a Protestant; and that duty was well performed. The Puritans, even in the depths of the prisons to which she had sent them, prayed, and with no simulated fervour, that she might be kept from the dagger of the assassin, that rebellion might be put down under her feet, and that her arms might be victorious by sea and land. One of the most stubborn of the stubborn sect, immediately after his hand had been lopped off for an offence into which he had been hurried by his intemperate zeal, waved his hat with the hand which was still left him, and shouted "God save the Queen!" The sentiment with which these men regarded her has descended to their posterity. The Nonconformists, rigorously as she treated them, have, as a body, always venerated her memory."

"She was the most remarkable princess that has appeared in the world for these many centuries. In all her actions she displayed the greatest prudence... I say, in conclusion, she was the most prudent in governing, the most active in all business, the most clear-sighted in seeing events, and the most resolute in seeing her resolutions carried into effect... in a word, [she] possessed, in the highest degree, all the qualities which are required in a great prince."

"She had high Notions of the sovereign Power of Princes, and of her own absolute Supremacy in Church Affairs: And being of Opinion that all Methods of Severity were lawful to bring her Subjects to an outward Uniformity, she countenanced all the Engines of Persecution, as Spiritual Courts, High Commission, and Star-Chamber, and stretched her Prerogative to support them beyond the Laws, and against the Sense of the Nation. But with all these Blemishes Queen Elizabeth stands upon Record as a wise and politick Princess, for delivering the Kingdom from the Difficulties in which it was involved at her Accession; for preserving the Protestant Reformation against the potent Attempts of the Pope, the Emperor, and King of Spain abroad, and the Queen of Scots and her Popish Subjects at home; and for advancing the Renown of the English Nation beyond any of her Predecessors. Her Majesty held the Balance of Europe, and was in high Esteem with all foreign Princes, the greatest Part of her Reign; and tho' her Protestant Subjects were divided about Church Affairs, they all discover'd a high Veneration for her Royal Person and Government; on which Accounts she was the Glory of the Age in which she lived, and will be the Admiration of Posterity."

"It is difficult to convey a proper appreciation of this amazing Queen, so keenly intelligent, so effervescing, so intimate, so imperious and regal. She intoxicated Court and country, keyed her realm to the intensity of her own spirit. No one but a woman could have done it, and no woman without her superlative gifts could have attempted it without disaster."

"This woman was as vital as Winston Churchill, and, like him, made romantic leadership an art of government. The name ‘Gloriana’ and the phrase ‘via media’ seem odd companions. But the liberal way of life is richest and fullest, and it was well for England that when men's passions led them from it, Queen Elizabeth preserved the tradition. Her Puritan fanatics had no more obstinate opponent: she, in turn, had no more devoted worshippers. It is the strangest paradox of her reign and the supreme tribute to her greatness."

"Greater than Alexander she was, for the world which he subdued by force, she conquered by love."

"Elizabeth, great empress of the world, Britannia's Atlas, star of England's globe, That sways the massy sceptre of her land, And holds the royal reins of Albion."

"Commonwealth schoolchildren are often taught one of the key events in British history with the help of a mnemonic: "King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded: One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded." Beheaded! In 1536 Henry had his wife Anne Boleyn decapitated on trumped-up charges of adultery and treason because she gave him a son that did not survive, and he had become attracted to one of her ladies-in-waiting. Two wives later he suspected Catherine Howard of adultery and sent her to the ax as well. (Tourists visiting the Tower of London can see the chopping block for themselves.) Henry was clearly the jealous type: he also had an old boyfriend of Catherine’s drawn and quartered, which is to say hanged by the neck, taken down while still alive, disemboweled, castrated, decapitated, and cut into four. The throne passed to Henry’s son Edward, then to Henry’s daughter Mary, and then to another daughter, Elizabeth. “Bloody Mary” did not get her nickname by putting tomato juice in her vodka but by having three hundred religious dissenters burned at the stake. And both sisters kept up the family tradition for how to resolve domestic squabbles: Mary imprisoned Elizabeth and presided over the execution of their cousin, Lady Jane Grey, and Elizabeth executed another cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. Elizabeth also had 123 priests drawn and quartered, and had other enemies tortured with bone-crushing manacles, another attraction on display in the Tower. Today the British royal family is excoriated for shortcomings ranging from rudeness to infidelity. You’d think people would give them credit for not having had a single relative decapitated, nor a single rival drawn and quartered."

"She was most lavishly attired in a gown of pure white satin, gold-embroidered, with a whole bird of paradise for panache, set forward on her head studded with costly jewels, wore a string of huge round pearls about her neck and elegant gloves over which were drawn costly rings. In short she was most gorgeously apparelled, and although she was already seventy four, was very youthful still in appearance, seeming no more than twenty years of age. She had a dignified and regal bearing, and, as noted above, rules her kingdom with great wisdom in peace and prosperity and the fear of God, has up till now successfully confronted her opponents with God's help and support, as can be testified by all the histories, and although her life has often been threatened by poison and many ill designs, God has preserved her wonderfully at all times."

"In 1603 King James VI of Scotland succeeded the childless Queen Elizabeth I on the throne of England as James I. Thereafter, although frequently professing an intimate attachment to their ancient kingdom, both he and his son King Charles I, who succeeded him in 1625, regarded themselves first and foremost as English monarchs. Scotland nevertheless still retained its own parliament, referred to as the Estates, and therefore its own quite separate system of government. Unfortunately, moves initiated by Charles I in 1633 with the aim of bringing both the Scottish church and legal system into line with English practice proved to be a disastrous mistake. In 17th century Britain religion and politics were still inextricably linked, and the monarchy's temporal and religious prerogatives were both the subject of passionate debate among the influential classes. Less than a century beforehand the struggle between Roman Catholic and Protestant had seen religious martyrs burned alive at the stake; and despite Elizabeth's generally successful establishment of the Anglican Protestant church of England created by her father Henry VIII, both her reign and that of James I were intermittently troubled by Roman Catholic conspiracies."

"John Hawkins made three trips to West Africa in the 1560s, and stole Africans whom he sold to the Spanish in America. On returning to England after the first trip, his profit was so handsome that Queen Elizabeth I became interested in directly participating in his next venture; and she provided for that purpose a ship named the Jesus. Hawkins left with the Jesus to steal some more Africans, and he returned to England with such dividends that Queen Elizabeth made him a knight. Hawkins chose as his coat of arms the representation of an African in chains."

"Queen Elizabeth is the greatest of English, perhaps of all modern sovereigns. In a period remarkable for long and sanguinary wars, she made her name respected abroad, without a waste of blood or treasure; and, in a time of great political ferment, she maintained the most absolute authority at home, without any loss of the affections of her people. She obtained glory without conquest, and unlimited power without odium."

"She hath been highly valued since her death, the best of any former sovereign over us. She was fitted for fortune's darling but with some improvement to mould her for the rule and sovereignty of a kingdom... she showed her justice and piety as a precedent to posterity... She was magnificent comparativè with other princes, which yet she disposed frugally, having always much to do with little money."

"Elizabeth I got it absolutely right in her famous speech at Tilbury, when she said, in effect, I may be a goddess but I'm also flesh and blood, "resolved in the midst and heat of the battle to live and die amongst you all". She told them she was there to take up arms, "I myself will be your General Judge and Rewarder of virtues in the field". It was fantastic, so moving, so dazzling, so proto-Churchillian. There wasn't a dry eye anywhere. It was a masterpiece of propaganda and she meant it all. She was there as goddess, monarch and chief executive of Britannia Inc – the perfect synthesis of all three at last."

"All the modern life and greatness of England can be traced to those forty-four years in which so many old thoughts were forgotten and so many new thoughts were conceived. This is Elizabeth's work... [W]hen we consider her, not in herself but in relation to English history, we ask, what was her work? And we answer that the greatness of it can scarcely be exaggerated, so that if, in her own language, she was married to that generation of Englishmen we may add that she is the mother of all generations that have succeeded."

"This royal infant—heaven still move about her— Though in her cradle, yet now promises Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings, Which time shall bring to ripeness: she shall be... A pattern to all princes living with her, And all that shall succeed... She shall be loved and feared. Her own shall bless her; Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn, And hang their heads with sorrow... In her days every man shall eat in safety Under his own vine, what he plants, and sing The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours... She shall be, to the happiness of England, An aged princess. Many days shall see her, And yet no day without a deed to crown it. Would I had known no more. But she must die— She must, the saints must have her—yet a virgin, A most unspotted lily shall she pass To th' ground, and all the world shall mourn her."

"If it be a reproach to us that women have reigned over us, ’tis much more to the princes that succeeded our Henry, that none of them did so much imitate him in his government as Queen Elizabeth. She did not go about to mangle acts of parliament, and to pick out what might serve her turn, but frequently passed forty or fifty in a session, without reading one of them. She knew that she did not reign for herself, but for her people; that what was good for them, was either good for her, or that her good ought not to come into competition with that of the whole nation; and that she was by oath obliged to pass such laws as were presented to her on their behalf."

"She certainly is a great queen, and were she only a Catholic she would be our dearly beloved. Just look how well she governs; she is only a woman, only mistress of half an island, and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all."

"[H]er presence and princely encouragement, Bellona-like, infused a second spirit of love, loyaltie, and resolution into every souldier in her Armie; who, being (as it were) ravished with their Souveraygne's sight, that [all] (as well Commanders as common souldiers) quite forgate the ficklenesse of fortune and the chance of Warre, and prayed heartily the Spanyards might land quickly; and, when they knew they were fled, they beganne to lament."

"I acquiesce in the eulogy bestowed upon her by Thuanus, who concludes his enumeration of her great abilities by saying that she had those of a king, not merely as such, but of a very great king. I cannot bestow praises upon the Queen of England equal to the abilities which I discovered in her in this short time, both as to the qualities of her heart and of her understanding."

"In all the centuries that have passed, there has never been seen a woman who could be considered the equal of this great Queen."

"To her own people she boasted on her accession that she was ‘mere English.’ Her mother had been no foreign princess but an English flirt, and her father, the founder of England's Navy and of England's religious independence, had possessed a sixth sense whereby he understood the English people, even in the highest rages of his tyranny. She inherited from both, but most from her father in whose steps it was her ambition to walk. If she was heir to her mother's vanity and coquetry, she heeded the warning of her fate; and her own bitter experiences as a girl,—disgrace, imprisonment and danger of death,—had taught her, as Frederic the Great was taught by similar experiences in boyhood, that private affections and passions are not for Princes. She had learnt every lesson that adversity had to teach, and she would leave it to her rival to lose the world for love."

"There was in her a certain hardness and coarseness of fibre, necessary perhaps for her terrible task in life. As a private person she would scarcely have been lovable, perhaps not even very admirable. But lonely on the throne she knew all the arts to make herself adored by her Court and her people. Without ceasing to be a woman, and while loving life in its fullness, she made everything subservient to purposes of State. Her learning endeared her to the Universities, her courage to the soldiers and sailors. Her coquetry became a means of keeping her nobles and courtiers each in his place, and exacting from each one the last ounce of personal devotion in the public service. Leicester's neck might be tickled by the royal hand, but his rival Cecil would be trusted in matters of high policy... Her love of hunting and dancing, masque, pageantry and display, was used to strengthen the wider popularity which was her ultimate strength; her public appearances and progresses through the country, which she thoroughly enjoyed, were no dull and formal functions, but works of art by a great player whose heart was in the piece, interchanges of soul between a Princess and her loving people."

"The Queen sitting all alone in her splendid coach appeared like a goddess such as painters are wont to depict."

"[T]he most glorious Sun that ever shined in our Firmament of England (the never to be forgotten Queen Elizabeth, of happy memory)."

"Queen Elizabeth, a princess, as ye wot, of no mingled blood of Spaniard or stranger, but born mere English here among us and therefore most natural unto us; of education, brought up and instructed in all virtuous qualities and godly learning, specially (that may be most comfort and joy to us all), in the sincere knowledge and following of God's Holy Word; of natural inclination, so godly disposed as without revenge she patiently suffered so much malice and wrong; of wisdom, so ware as she may shun the inconveniences and follies that her sister fell in."

"On the 14th of January [1603] the late Queen who had two days before sickened with a cold...removed to Richmond. But a little before her going, even the same morning, the Earl of Nottingham, High-Admiral of England, coming to her...she fell into some speech of the Succession; and then she told him, “that her seat had ever been the throne of Kings, and none but her next heire of bloud and descent should succeed her.”"

"[On 23 March 1603 the] lord admirall put her mind of her speech, concerning the succession...and that they, in the name of all the rest of her councell, came unto her to knowe her pleasure who should succeede. Whereunto she thus replyed; “I told you my seat had been the seat of kings, and I will have no rascall to succeed me, and who should succeed me, but a king?” The lords not understanding this darke speech, and looking the one on the other, at length Mr Secretary boldly asked her, what she meant by these words, “That no rascall should succeed her?” whereunto she replyed, “That her meaning was, that a king should succeed her, and who,” quoth she, “should that be, but our cozen of Scotland.” They asked her whether that were her absolute resolution? whereunto she answered, “I pray you trouble me no more. I'll have none but him;” with which answer they departed."

"In Eighty Eight how she did fight Is known to all and some, When the Spaniard came, her courage to tame, But had better have stay'd at home: They came with Ships, fill'd full of Whips, To have lash'd her Princely Hide; But she had a Drake made them all cry Quake, And bang'd them back and side."

"A Tudor! A Tudor! We've had Stuarts enough, None ever reign'd like old Bess in her ruff."

"Your Popish Plot and Smithfield Threat, We do not fear at all, For Loe! beneath Queen Besses feet, You fall, you fall, you fall."

"Fixt in our hearts thy Fame shall live, And maugre all the Popish spight; To honour thee our Youth shall strive, And Yearly Celebrate this Night."

"Britannia's Figure once could Passion move, And Princes either fear'd or sought her Love. When fam'd Eliza gave one single Nod, The Spaniard bow'd, nay cring'd and fear'd her Rod"

"Priest! Priest! Music! Music!"

"I recognize no Queen but my mother. But if the King's Mistress would intercede with the King on my behalf, then I would be grateful."

"While my father lives I shall be only the Lady Mary, the most unhappy lady in Christendom."

"This natural life of ours is but a pilgrimage from this wandering world, and exile from our own country: that is to say, a way from all misery to thee (Lord) which art our whole felicity. And lest the pleasantness and commodity of this life should withdraw us from the going to the right and speedy way to thee, thou dost stir and provoke us forward, and as yet ward prick us with thorns, to the intent we should covet a quiet rest, and end of our journey. Therefore sickness, weepings, sorrow, mourning, and in conclusion all adversities be unto us as spurs; with the which we being dull horses, or rather very asses, are forced not to remain long in this transitory way. Wherefore Lord, give us grace to forget this wayfaring journey, and to remember our proper and true country. And if thou do add a weight of adversity, add thereunto strength, that we shall not be overcome with that burden: but having our minds continually erected and lift up to thee, we may be able to strongly bear it. Lord! all things be thine; therefore do with all things, without any exception, as shall seem convenient to thine unsearchable wisdom. And give us grace never to will but as thou wilt. So be it."

"Her majesty, being now in possession of her imperial crown and estate pertaining to it, cannot forsake that faith that the whole world knows her to have followed and practiced since her birth; she desires, rather, by God's grace, to preserve it till her death; and she desires greatly that her subjects may come to embrace the same faith quietly and with charity, whereby she shall receive great happiness."

"When I am dead and opened, you shall find Calais lying in my head."

"And so am not I."

"She never closde her eare to heare, the rightous man distrest, Nor never sparde her hande to helpe, wher wrong or power opprest. when all was wracke, she was the porte, from peryll unto joye, when all was spoyle, she spared all, she pitied to distroye."

"In greatest stormes she feared not, for God she made her shielde, And all her care she cast on him, who forst her foes to yelde. Her perfecte life in all extremes, her pacient hert dyd shoe, For in this worlde she never founde, but dolfull dayes and woe."

"It was an ancient and commonly received practice, (derived from the civil law, and which also to this day obtains in the Kingdom of France) that, as counsel was not allowed to any prisoner accused of a capital crime, so neither should he be suffered to exculpate himself by the testimony of any witnesses. And therefore it deserves to be remembered, to the honour of Mary I, (whose early sentiments, till her marriage with Philip of Spain, seem to have been humane and generous) that when she appointed sir Richard Morgan chief justice of the common-pleas, she injoined him, “that notwithstanding the old error, which did not admit any witness to speak, or any other matter to be heard, in favour of the adversary, her majesty being party; her highness' pleasure was, that whatsoever could be brought in favour of the subject should be admitted to be heard: and moreover, that the justices should not persuade themselves to sit in judgment otherwise for her highness than for her subject.""

"The English people had rallied to Mary because she was the offspring of Henry VIII and next in line for the throne, not because she was Catholic, or the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, and certainly not because she was a woman. Mary's great tragedy was that she failed to draw the obvious lessons from this. Her Tudor blood was an advantage to be exploited to the full while her Spanish lineage and gender were, at best, neutral factors in the eyes of most of her subjects. As for her Catholicism, it divided her people: some loved it, some hated it. But Mary subordinated her strong Tudor personality to the demands of her religion, her Spanish sympathies, and contemporary expectations of her gender. The result was the only Tudor reign that could truly be called tragic, even pathetic."

"And yet, like her father and grandfather, Mary possessed many traits which should have fit her for a successful reign. Like all Tudors, she was intelligent, courageous, dignified, ad resilient. These qualities had ensured her survival during her father's and brother's reigns. She was well educated: in addition to her native tongue, she spoke Spanish, French, and Latin and could read Greek and Latin. Nor was she entirely serious: she danced and played the lute. Finally, Mary was not without mercy. Apart from Northumberland, few died for the plot to usurp the throne. Even Lady Jane Gray and Guildford Dudley were allowed to live, for the time being, albeit as close prisoners in the Tower. Unfortunately, she was at her accession naive in politics and inexperienced in government, having been repudiated by her father and, thus, never groomed to succeed. Without training or experience, she was forced to rely on her conscience and her faith. In the end, she had too much of the one and was too inflexible in the other for her own or the country's good. More specifically, she was half-Spanish and all Catholic and so saw it as her God-given duty to ally her country with the Spanish Empire and undo the "heresies" of the previous 20 years by restoring the Roman Catholic Church in England at any cost. Both policies would bring misery to her people."

"The reign of Mary Tudor lasted only five years, but it left an indelible impression. Positive achievements there were none: Pollard declared that sterility was its conclusive note, and this is a verdict with which the dispassionate observer must agree. ... She was personally gentle and inclined to mercy. ... She was also sensible and generous. ... But all her good qualities went for nought because she lacked the essentials. Two things dominated her mind—her religion and her Spanish descent. In the place of the Tudor secular temper, cool political sense, and firm identification with England and the English, she put a passionate devotion to the catholic religion and to Rome, absence of political guile, and pride in being Spanish. The result cannot surprise. Welcomed by the nation as a Tudor and a relief from the ambitions of selfish politicians and the extravagances of reforming divines, she died only five years later execrated by nearly all. Her life was one of almost unrelieved tragedy, but the pity which this naturally excites must not obscure the obstinate wrong-headedness of her rule."

"Mary burned few as compared with continental practice, but for English conditions and traditions her activities were unprecedented and left an ineradicable memory. More than all the denunciations of Henry VIII, the fires of Smithfield and the like places all over southern England created an undying hatred of the pope and of Roman Catholicism which became one of the marked characteristics of the English for some 350 years. This in itself is an adequate comment on the activities of these earnest and good and rather stupid fanatics, and an answer to those who would always judge people's place in history by their personal morals rather than by the work they did."

"Religious devotion led Queen Mary - the first woman to rule England in her own name - to commit the atrocities which have blackened her reputation and obliterated the memory of her many acts of clemency and generosity. Mary started life as a princess and heir to the throne, but fell into disgrace and saw her beloved Catholic church dismantled by her father and brother. As Queen, she was determined to restore Catholic worship, but her heavy-handed methods, combined with a bitterly unpopular marriage and her inability to produce an heir, doomed her to failure."

"[W]e shall never find any reign of any prince in this land or any other, which did ever show in it (for the proportion of time), so many arguments of God's great wrath and displeasure, as were to be seen in the reign of this queen Mary; whether we behold the shortness of her time, or the unfortunate event of all her purposes, who seemed never to purpose any thing that came luckily to pass, neither did any thing frame to her purpose, whatsoever she took in hand, touching her own private affairs."

"Everyone who commented upon Mary's conduct of public affairs remarked upon her diligence and her piety. She rose before dawn, heard mass every day, ate frugally and transacted business incessantly, often until after midnight. ... She was generous to petitioners, and had the reputation for never turning away anyone with a story of grievance or oppression."

"Whatever the issue, her response was shaped and motivated by the dictates of her conscience. ... She was incapable of political manipulation, and of self-interest in the normal sense. Hysterically indecisive when her conscience was not engaged, she could be both obstinate and ruthless when she saw a clear path of duty before her."

"The essence of Mary's faith lay in the sacraments, and particularly in the mass."

"Mary Tudor, queen of England and Ireland from 1553 until 1558, the first woman to rule England in her own right, was the notorious ‘Bloody Mary’ who placed her realm at the feet of the Spanish king and presided over a pitiless religious terror, burning dissidents at the stake, to enforce and restore Catholicism. Bitterly preoccupied with the past, she tried to reverse the Protestant Reformation started by her father, Henry VIII. Yet her own life was tragic, her marriage childless, her health ultimately fragile, her mind increasingly deranged; while her reign, both in her repression and foreign policy, failed utterly."

"Commonwealth schoolchildren are often taught one of the key events in British history with the help of a mnemonic: "King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded: One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded." Beheaded! In 1536 Henry had his wife Anne Boleyn decapitated on trumped-up charges of adultery and treason because she gave him a son that did not survive, and he had become attracted to one of her ladies-in-waiting. Two wives later he suspected Catherine Howard of adultery and sent her to the ax as well. (Tourists visiting the Tower of London can see the chopping block for themselves.) Henry was clearly the jealous type: he also had an old boyfriend of Catherine’s drawn and quartered, which is to say hanged by the neck, taken down while still alive, disemboweled, castrated, decapitated, and cut into four. The throne passed to Henry’s son Edward, then to Henry’s daughter Mary, and then to another daughter, Elizabeth. “Bloody Mary” did not get her nickname by putting tomato juice in her vodka but by having three hundred religious dissenters burned at the stake. And both sisters kept up the family tradition for how to resolve domestic squabbles: Mary imprisoned Elizabeth and presided over the execution of their cousin, Lady Jane Grey, and Elizabeth executed another cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. Elizabeth also had 123 priests drawn and quartered, and had other enemies tortured with bone-crushing manacles, another attraction on display in the Tower. Today the British royal family is excoriated for shortcomings ranging from rudeness to infidelity. You’d think people would give them credit for not having had a single relative decapitated, nor a single rival drawn and quartered."

"The nobility have gone off to the country, entirely disposed to take up arms as they know the people are harbouring evil intentions. When I ask the reasons of all this, I am told that the people say the King [Philip II] will not be served by Englishmen although this point was settled by the articles... They assert that the King is sending for 10,000 Germans and 10,000 Spaniards to land in this country; that it is intended to set up the monastaries again...and the Bishop of Rome is going to command in religious matters. The foreigners, they complain, are making Englishmen feel strangers in their own homes, and have taken to managing everything since they landed... They proclaim loudly that they see they are going to be enslaved, for the Queen is a Spanish woman at heart and thinks nothing of Englishmen, but only of Spaniards and bishops. Her idea, they say, is to have the King crowned by force and deprive the Lady Elizabeth of her right, making the operation of the law subject to her own will."

"The Queen, being born of a Spanish mother, was always inclined towards that nation, scorning to be English and boasting of her descent from Spain."

"I verily believe the poorest creature in al this city feared not God more than she did. She had the love, commendation, and admiration of al the world. In this church she maried herself unto this realm, and in token of faith and fidelity did put a ring with a diamond upon her finger; which I understand she never put off after, during her life, whatsoever succes things had: for that is in the hand of God only. She was never unmindful or uncareful of her promise to her realm. She used singular mercy toward offenders. She used much pity and compassion towards the poor and oppressed. She used clemency among her nobles. She restored more noble houses decayed, than ever did prince of this realm, or I pray God ever shal have the like occasion to do hereafter. She restored to the church such ornaments as in the time of schism were taken away and spoiled. She found the realm poisoned with heresy, and purged it; and remembring herself to be a member of Christ's Church, refused to write herself head thereof."

"I make all this stuff in the studio, but I also work on these white elephants — like House or Untitled Monument — things that are incredibly ambitious, take an awful long time to do, involve a lot of controversy, an awful lot of people, and don't make any money particularly, but it's just because I need to make them."

"We still have prostitutes standing on our corner, and people crapping round the back of buildings. The charms are still there."

"I think the difference between me and some of the other YBAs [Young British Artists] was that I was ambitious for the work, and not ambitious for myself."

"I don't want to make plop art — sculpture that just gets plopped down in places. I wouldn't want to litter every corner of the world with my sculpture."

"I became aware of Louise Bourgeois in my first or second year at Brighton Art College. One of my teachers, Stuart Morgan, curated a small retrospective of her work at the Serpentine, and both he and another teacher, Edward Allington, saw something in her, and me, and thought I should be aware of her. I thought the work was wonderful. It was her very early pieces, The Blind Leading the Blind, the wooden pieces and some of the later bronze works. Biographically, I don't really think she has influenced me, but I think there are similarities in our work. We have both used the home as a kind of kick-off point, as the space that starts the thoughts of a body of work. I eventually got to meet Louise in New York, soon after I made House. She asked to see me because she had seen a picture of House in the New York Times while she was ironing it one morning, so she said. She was wonderful and slightly kind of nutty; very interested and eccentric. She drew the whole time; it was very much a salon with me there as her audience, watching her. I remember her remarking that I was shorter than she was. I don't know if this was true but she was commenting on the physicality of making such big work and us being relatively small women. When you meet her you don't know what's true, because she makes things up. She has spun her web and drawn people in, and eaten a few people along the way."

"I say, life and figure are distinct attributes of one substance, and as one and the same body may be transmuted into all kinds of figures; and as the perfecter figure comprehends that which is more imperfect; so one and the same body may be transmuted from one degree of life to another more perfect, which always comprehends in it the inferior. We have an example of figure in a triangular prism, which is the first figure of all right lined solid triangular prism, which is the first figure of all right lined solid bodies, where into a body is convertible; and from this into a cube, which is a perfecter figure, and comprehends in it a prism; from a cube it may be turned into a more perfect figure, which comes nearer to a globe, and from this into another, which is yet nearer; and so it ascends from one figure, more imperfect to another more perfect, ad infinitum; for here are no bounds; nor can it be said, this body cannot be changed into a perfecter figure: But the meaning is that that body consists of plane right lines; and this is always chageablee into a perfecter figure, and yet can never reach to the perfection of a globe, although it always approaches nearer unto it; the case is the same in diverse degrees of life, which have indeed a beginning, but no end; so that the creature is always capable of a farther and perfecter degree of life, ad infinitum, and yet can never attain to be equal with God; for he is still infinitely more perfect than a creature, in its highest elevation or perfection, even as a globe is the most perfect of all other figures, unto which none can approach."

"The framework of Conway's system is a tripartite ontological hierarchy of ‘species’, the highest of which is God, the source of all being. Christ, or ‘middle nature’, links God and the third species, called ‘Creature’. God as the most perfect being is infinitely good, wise and just. A principle of likeness links God and creation. Since God is good and just, his creation too is good and just. Created substance, like God, consists of spirit, but, unlike God, is constituted of particles called monads. All created substance is living, capable of motion and perception Anne Conway denies the existence of material body as such, arguing that inert corporeal substance would contradict the nature of God, who is life itself. Incorporeal created substance is, however, differentiated from the divine, principally on account of its mutability and multiplicity even so, the infinite number and constant mutability of created monads constitute an obverse reflection of the unity, infinity, eternity and unchangeableness of God. The continuum between God and creatures is made possible through ‘middle nature’, an intermediary being, through which God communicates life, action, goodness and justice. ‘Middle nature’, partakes of the nature of both God and creation, and is therefore both a bridge and a buffer between God and created things. Thus, although she conceives of created substance as a continuum, and understands mutability as capacity for increased perfection, she sought to avoid the charge of pantheism."

"She explains evil as a falling away from the perfection of God, and understands suffering as part of a longer term process of spiritual recovery. She denies the eternity of hell, since for God to punish finite wrong-doing with infinite and eternal hell punishment would be manifestly unjust and therefore a contradiction of the divine nature. Instead she explains pain and suffering as purgative, with the ultimate aim of restoring creatures to moral and metaphysical perfection."

"My philosophical views approach somewhat closely those of the late Countess of Conway, and hold a middle position between Plato and Democritus, because I hold that all things take place mechanically as Democritus and Descartes contend against the views of Henry More and his followers, and hold too, nevertheless, that everything takes place according to a living principle and according to final causes—all things are full of life and consciousness, contrary to the views of the Atomists."

"I perceive and bless God for it, that my Lady Conway was my Lady Conway to her last Breath; the greatest Example of Patience and Presence of Mind, in highest Extremities of Pain and Affliction, that we shall easily meet with: Scarce any thing to be found like her since the Primitive times of the Church."

"She distinguishes three distinct kinds of being, God, Christ, and creation, which are differentiable from each other chiefly with respect to changeability — God is utterly unchangeable, Christ is changeable only for the better, and hence forms a necessary mediation between God and creation, and creatures are changeable for better or for worse. With respect to creatures, this feature has the result than any creature could in principle be transformed into any other. Lady Conway goes so far as to claim that there is no difference in kind between body and spirit, that even though in each creature there is a passive principle and an active one, the difference is only in degree not in kind."

"Anne Conway embraces the fundamental tenet of the occult philosophers that God was not a vindictive Father who wanted to punish his children for their failings. God damned no one; at most, people damned themselves by turning their backs on God, whose infinite love was freely available to everyone. From the end of the seventeenth century, occultists like Lady Conway and Jane Lead, representative of early modern occultism, were extending this belief into universal salvation. God not only wanted to save everyone, eventually he would succeed in doing so."

"Some pre-Socratic “Greek” thinking conceived of the world as a composite whole made up of indivisible parts (atoms) and so searched for a basic “stuff” at bottom. Conway suggests that the distinctions composite/indivisible, whole/part be collapsed without abandoning the pre-Socratic process of division. Divide a whole and you are left not with parts, but with wholes. In this sense, nothing is more “basic” than anything else. Plato and Parmenides began with the One not “at bottom,” but “at top.” The problem is not how to get a whole out of a bunch of parts, but how to account for the diversity of “wholes” without sacrificing unity. Perfect freedom would consist in perfect determination — perfect identification of wholes: hence, the idea of “conformity to God’s will” and the Quaker ideal of simplicity. Sequentially, there is a time and place where/ when “simpler” structures exist and more “complex” structures do not — but atemporally (and from the perspective of the whole) all simply exists. Reading back from that perspective (as Plato and Parmenides attempt to do), the“end” may be seen as informing the “beginning” and the “middle.” If Plato worked backward from the “end” and Democritus worked forward from the “beginning,” Conway worked outward from the middle — and this is the place Leibniz mapped in his comment to Burnett. Since the middle is the one place we can be, it is most assuredly a more secure place to start than the“end” or the “beginning,” where we cannot."

"Oh I am what I am I'll do what I want But I can't hide I won't go I won't sleep I can't breathe Until you're resting here with me I won't leave I can't hide I cannot be Until you're resting here with me."

"If you were a king up there on your throne would you be wise enough to let me go? For this queen you think you own Wants to be a hunter again wants to see the world alone again to take a chance on life again so let me go."

"My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all the morning rain clouds up my window and I can't see at all And even if I could it'd all be grey, but your picture on my wall it reminds me that it's not so bad it's not so bad"

"If you gave me just a coin for every time we say goodbye Well I'd be rich beyond my dreams, I'm sorry for my weary life I know I'm not perfect but I can smile and I hope that you see this heart behind my tired eyes."

"Why don't I watch the ocean? My lover's gone. No earthly ships will ever bring him home again bring him home again..."

"It's all right to make mistakes, you're only human Inside everybody's hiding something."

"And the last words I heard him say were I shall return for you my love on Christmas Day..."

"I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be."

"When you're stoned, baby, I am drunk. And we make love, it seems a little desolate It's hard sometimes not to look away And think what's the point when I'm having to hold this fire down I think I'll explode if I can't feel this freely now. When your stalled baby take me home."

"I haven't ever really found a place that I call home I never stick around quite long enough to make it I apologize that once again I'm not in love But it's not as if I mind that your heart ain't exactly breaking."

"If you're cold I'll keep you warm If you're low just hold on Cause I will be your safety Oh don't leave home."

"I've still got sand in my shoes And I can't shake the thought of you I should get on, forget you Why, why would I want to I know we said goodbye Anything else would've been confused but I wanna see you again."

"And we danced, and we drank And I've seen something you probably never got the chance to see Don't worry, Mary Cause I'm taking care of Danny And he's taking care of me"

"Not sad because you lost me But sad because you thought it was cool to be sad"

"I've got a couple of those Gossard Wonderbras. They are so brilliant, I swear, even I get cleavage with them."

"I don't do any Class A -especially not cocaine - after seeing what it does to people."

"It was just the time. It was a swing from more buxom girls like Cindy Crawford and people were shocked to see what they called a 'waif'. What can you say? How many times can you say 'I'm not anorexic'?"

"'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.'"

"A celebrity now is someone who's on the telly."

"The top is high so your roots are forgottenGiving is good as long as you’re gettingWhat’s driving you? It’s ambition and bettingI said who do you think you are?"

"I want to be with my friends. I'm drunk. I want to phone my mum. She's going to be embarrassed by this conversation. I don't care. I don't give a fuck about it."

"Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!"

"When it comes to words I have a uniqueness that I find almost impossible in art – and it's my words that actually make my art quite unique."

"There is no comparison between him and me; he developed a whole new way of making art and he's clearly in a league of his own. It would be like making comparisons with Warhol."

"When I think about sex it makes me realise how alone I feel."

"I'm a songwriter but she [Katie Melua] has her songs written for her... She must think it's her fucking lucky day... It's not like she's singing old songs like Jamie Cullum], she's singing shit new songs that her manager writes for her."

"It's not important to me to make other people at ease. I am difficult, but that's 'cause I don’t really give a fuck."

"I always said I never wanted to write about love, but then I went and did that anyway."

"I know there are people in the world who have worse problems than falling in love and having it blow up in your face, but I didn't want to just wake up drinking, and crying, and listening to the Shangri-Las, and go to sleep, and wake up drinking, and listening to the Shangri-Las. So I turned it into songs, and that's how I got through it."

"Life's short. Anything could happen, and it usually does, so there is no point in sitting around thinking about all the ifs, ands and buts."

"Life happens. There is no point in being upset or down about things we can't control or change."

"There's no point in saying anything except the truth."

"You should be stronger than me, But instead you're longer than frozen turkey, Why'd you always put me in control? All I need is for my man to live up to his role, Always wanna talk it through- I'm ok, Always have to comfort you every day, But that's what I need you to do - are you gay?"

"You can't sit down right, Cause your jeans are too tight, And you're lucky it's ladies night. With your big empty purse, Every week it gets worse, At least your breasts cost more than hers."

"You've got a degree in philosophy, So you think you're cleverer than me. But I'm not just some drama queen, Cos it's where you're at not where you've been. So what do you expect from me, To hold your head above the sea? And there are you even though you're bigger, Cos don't you know you crush my tiny figure? And anyway we're still so young And this isn't yet the day. I can't help you if you won't help yourself."

"You'll never get my mind right like 2 ships passing in the night."

"The Moschino bra you bought me last Christmas Put it in the box, put it in the box Frank's in there and I don't care Put it in the box, put it in the box, Now take it, Take the box."

"My destructive side has grown a mile wide and I question myself again: what is it about men?"

"Though I battle blind, Love is a fate resigned Memories mar my mind, Love is a fate resigned Over futile odds, And laughed at by the gods And now the final frame, Love is a losing game."

"I'd rather be at home with Ray, I ain't got seventy days Cause there's nothing, There's nothing you can teach me That I can't learn from Mr Hathaway. I didn't get a lot in class But I know it don't come in a shot glass."

"They tried to make me go to Rehab I said no, no, no Yes, I've been black, but when I come back You'll know, know, know! I ain’t got the time, And if my daddy thinks I'm fine Just try to make me go to rehab I won't go, go, go."

"He left no time to regret, Kept his dick wet, With his same old safe bet. Me & my head high, And my tears dry, Get on without my guy."

"I don't understand, Why do I stress a man, When there's so many bigger things at hand. We could've never had it all, We had to hit a wall, So this is inevitable withdrawal. Even if I stop wanting you And perspective pushes through, I'll be some next man's other woman soon. I couldn't play myself again, I should just be my own best friend, Not fuck myself in the head with stupid men."

"He walks away, The sun goes down, He takes the day but I'm grown And in your way, In this blue shade My tears dry on their own."

"Then you notice likkle carpet burn My stomach drop and my guts churn You shrug and it's the worst Who truly stuck the knife in first? I cheated myself like I knew I would I told you I was trouble, you know that I'm no good I cheated myself, like I knew I would I told you I was trouble, yeah you know that I'm no good."

"It's okay in the day, I'm staying busy Tied up enough so I don’t have to wonder, "Where is he?" Got so sick of crying So just lately When I catch myself I do a 180 I stay up, clean the house At least I'm not drinking Run around just so I don't have to think about thinking That silent sense of content That everyone gets Just disappears soon as the sun sets His face in my dreams, seizing my guts He floods me with dread Soaked to the soul He swims in my eyes by the bed Pour myself over him Moon spilling in And I wake up alone."

"What kind of fuckery is this? You made miss the Slick Rick gig."

"I'll battle this bitter finale, Just me, my dignity and this guitar case."

"Amy Winehouse: Did she invent white soul? Wearing a beehive? No. But she did something brand new and fresh, altogether as a package, and you see who's in her wake, from the Duffys to the Lana Del Reys. Adele selling 20 million records? That would not have happened if Amy Winehouse was alive."

"If it wasn't for Amy and Frank, one hundred per cent I wouldn't have picked up a guitar, I wouldn't have written "Daydreamer" or "Hometown" and I wrote "Someone Like You" on the guitar too. Contrary to reports, me and Amy didn't really know each other, we weren't friends or anything like that. I went to Brit School and she went for a little while. But a million per cent if I hadn't heard Frank this wouldn't have happened. I adored her."

"The last real individualist."

"I have always found women difficult. I don't really understand them. To begin with, few women tell the truth."

"The great majority of people in England and America are modest, decent and pure-minded and the amount of virgins in the world today is stupendous."

"The right diet directs sexual energy into the parts that matter."

"France is the only place where you can make love in the afternoon without people hammering on your door."

"I will be voting for John Major. He is getting better and better every year. He is very, very good. He now speaks far better than he did. He's a brilliant speaker. He is learning to be a real leader. He really does speak out. Look around and who else is like the old leaders like Winston? I knew Winston when he was a little boy. He gradually got stronger and stronger. John Major came to lunch with me when he got in. He asked me what he should be doing. I said take England back to what it was. We really want lo be led, and John Major is leading as he has never before."

"The Labour Party are going to bring in a law that means you can go everywhere you want in the country. I have checked this with two people and they both said it was true. People will be able to walk into your garden and pick your flowers. It is absurd. My garden is a blaze of flowers. I don't want anyone In there."

"Like many other young girls in wartime, I read Barbara Cartland's Ronald Cartland, the life of her brother, a young, idealistic Conservative MP, who had fought appeasement all the way and who was killed at Dunkirk in 1940. In many ways her most romantic book, it was a striking testament to someone who had no doubt that the war was not only necessary but right, and whose thinking throughout his short life was "all of a piece", something which I always admired."

"I would like to create a speedier and more efficient system. Careers and reputations are at stake, and it would be good to be able to inject a sense of calm and transparency into procedures."

"Everyone was muttering about Bill Clinton's philanderings before he came to visit, but once he walked into the room none of the women - or men - could get enough of him. He rather ignored me: my hair wasn't big enough."

"I'm now a committed silver surfer."

"I'm fed up with this Scottish waving of nationalism when it suits them. Alright, they're devolved, but I think they did this just to show the rest of us oh, that we are independent, we make our own decisions, and it's been very embarrassing for the rest of us. And it started me thinking along these lines, if Scotland wants to be independent, OK, be my guest, go ahead, do what you want and [Applause] please take back with you all the Scottish politicians - there's so many of them - you know - starting with Blair and Brown and Campbell, take them all back, and off you go, and go off on your own, because actually, we're all subsidising them I think, by way of benefits and all sorts of reasons, and if they want to show how independent they are, OK, thank you and goodbye."

"I know that people are interested, and I understand why, but I don't want that stuff to overshadow my life. It's just the way it is. I'm a singer, I'm in a band, I've been out with musicians, I've had children with two different musicians. To me, it's no big deal. I only get upset because I want people to listen to the songs. Listen to the LP or come and see my band. I don't like it when people write about my life and don't even mention the music."

"It spurs me on. I'm going to get over that, I'm a good songwriter, my kids are happy, the band is great and I've almost sorted out all my debts. At least I've never sold my story. I've had countless offers but I'd rather be in a bedsit council flat than splashed all over Hello! or the tabloids. I really would, I have a responsibility to my band and my children as well. I don't believe in it, I'm never ever tempted."

"At least I've never sold my story. That's one point for me at least. And I am never going to, there are too many risks to take, so that's a no for me. I've had countless and endless offers but I'd rather be in a nursing home with bad carers than splashed all over the tabloids. So, please don't stir up nonsense to get more people to buy your magazines, or make up something to peddle your own brand of propaganda."

"Cuz I have so much love, for you, do with it what you will; and I have nothing more to prove, do with it what you will, say it again; say it again."

"Just like the moon, I'll step aside, and let your sun shine while I follow behind..."

"And loveliest sight of all, in front of the fire, stretched at full length, was his tiger – and on him – also at full length – reclined the lady, garbed in some strange clinging garment of heavy purple crepe, its hem embroidered with gold, one white arm resting on the beast's head, her back supported by a pile of the velvet cushions, and a heap of rarely bound books at her side, while between her red lips was a rose not redder than they – an almost scarlet rose."

"A madness of tender caressing seized her. She purred as a tiger might have done, while she undulated like a snake."

"No matter what he does, one always forgives him. It does not depend upon looks, either – although this actual person is abominably good-looking – it does not depend upon intelligence or character or – anything – as you say, it is just "it"."

"To have "It", the fortunate possessor must have that strange magnetism which attracts both sexes. He or she must be entirely unselfconscious and full of self-confidence, indifferent to the effect he or she is producing, and uninfluenced by others. There must be physical attraction, but beauty is unnecessary."

"He had that nameless charm, with a strong magnetism which can only be called "It", and cats – as well as women – always knew when he came into the room."

"Would you please publish the enclosed manuscript or return it without delay, as I have other irons in the fire."

"Would you like to sin With Elinor Glyn On a tiger skin? Or would you prefer To err With her On some other fur?"

"I have read but little of Madame Glyn. I did not know that things like It were going on. I have misspent my days. When I think of all those hours I flung away in reading Henry James and Santayana, when I might have been reading of life, throbbing, beating, perfumed life, I practically break down."

"Prudent readers will do well to hold Three Weeks at arm's length, unless they want to be cut by flying adjectives."

"The first time you see Winston Churchill you see all his faults, and the rest of your life you spend discovering his virtues."

"Oh to be my verse an answering gleam from higher radiance caught"

"....We write our lives indeed, But in a cipher none can read, Except the author"

"What He tells thee in the darkness, Weary watcher for the day, Grateful lip and heart should utter When the shadows flee away."

"Teach us, Master, how to give All we have and are to Thee; Grant us, Saviour, while we live, Wholly, only Thine to be."

"Doubt indulged soon becomes doubt realized."

"If washed in Jesus' blood, Then bear His likeness too, And as you onward press Ask, "What would Jesus do?""

"Only, stay by his side Till the page is really known, It may be we failed because we tried To learn it all alone, And now that He would not let us lose One lesson of love (For He knows the loss,) — can we refuse?"

"Jesus, Master, I am Thine; Keep me faithful, keep me near; Let Thy presence in me shine All my homeward way to cheer. Jesus, at Thy feet I fall, Oh, be Thou my All in All."

"Earthly joy can take but a bat-like flight, always checked, always limited, in dusk and darkness. But the love of Christ breaks through the vaulting, and leads us up into the free sky above, expanding to the very throne of Jehovah, and drawing us still upward to the infinite heights of glory."

"It is not that I feel less weak, but Thou Wilt be my strength. It is not that I see Less sin, but more of pardoning love in Thee, And all-sufficient grace. Enough! And now All fluttering thought is stilled; I only rest, And feel that Thou art near, and know that I am blest."

"I take this pain, Lord Jesus, From Thine own hand; The strength to bear it bravely Thou wilt command. I am too weak for effort, So let me rest, In hush of sweet submission On Thine own breast."

"Oh, give Thine own sweet rest to me, That I may speak with soothing power A word in season, as from Thee, To weary ones in needful hour."

"All the lessons He shall send Are the sweetest: And His training, in the end, Is completest."

"Upon Thy word I rest. So strong, so sure: So full of comfort blest, So sweet, so pure — The word that changeth not, that faileth never! My King, I rest upon Thy word forever."

"Jesus, my life is Thine, And ever more shall be Hidden in Thee, For nothing can untwine Thy life from mine."

"The gods love salt. The sweat of human endeavour adds savour to every sacrifice."

"I know that my Redeemer liveth."

"On Thee alone my hope relies, Beneath Thy cross I fall; My Lord! my Life! my Sacrifice! My Saviour! and my All!"

"Let the sweet hope that Thou art mine, My life and death attend; Thy presence through my journey shine, And crown my journey's end."

"Dear Lord! while we adoring pay Our humble thanks to Thee, May every heart with rapture say,— "The Saviour died for me!""

"Magic. Magic had happened to him. He knew it would one day. He had always believed in magic, even whe the others had laughed at him, laughed because he was the eldest and ought to know better."

"Magic doesn't happen often — not once in a blue moon … I expect there isn't another magic ship like this one in the whole world."

"Earth and fire and water and air We solemnly promise, we solemnly swear Not a word, not a hint, not a sound to declare Earth and fire and water and air!"

"There is no magic when one no longer believes."

"I was a lonely child though there were children in plenty on our land. But my nurse forbade me to play with them. She guarded my dignity; more than my mother, indeed, who being so great a lady took dignity for granted. But in any case there was little time for them to play. There was work for even the smallest upon our land; some of our peasants had run away, tempted by ever-rising wages. Wages fixed by law were certainly low; but, like many another ruined in the French wars, we had no money to pay a penny more than the law laid down. All over the country men were running away from their masters and the land lost as many laborers as by the Black Death itself."

"I think hawking is the nearest thing to flying in this world. There you sit high up and poised light as air, the horse swift beneath you. You unhood your bird, let the jesses go and watch your falcon, its bells a-jingle, like some wild spirit take the air … and your own spirit goes with it."

"Nobody seemed to know where the King was. He was at Windsor choosing new furnishings for the little Queen's rooms; he was hunting at Eltham; he was at Leeds Castle; he was at Havering. He was here, he was there, restless as quicksilver. Certainly I never set eyes on him. I was disappointed. And yet I was relieved, too. It was common talk that the King's moods shifted this way and that you never knew what to expect."

"Why think of anything at all but the pretty, gentle child sitting high upon the white horse! So women holding up their children to see her pass cried blessings on her head, the easy blessings of a crowd, that may turn at any moment to curses. And there were wenches in plenty, who, seeing the little Queen in cloth of gold and the King at her side, handsome Richard, wished themselves, no doubt, in her place."

"When she saw the children jumping first upon one bare foot and then upon the other, she envied them and wished that she, too, could run barefooted for a little while. For a little while. She was a royal child. She knew that golden shoes pinch and there is no escaping them."

"I am convinced of the urgent need for democratic people to think clearly without the distortions due to unconscious bias and unrecognised ignorance. Our failures in thinking in part due to our faults which we could to some extent overcome were we to see clearly how these faults arise."

"...we easily fall into the habit of accepting compressed statements which save us from the trouble of thinking. Thus arises what I shall call ‘Potted Thinking’."

"...potted thinking is easily accepted, is concentrated in form, and has lost the vitamins essential to mental nourishment."

"We must face the unfortunate fact that we are moved to the acceptance of beliefs by factors that are wholly irrelevant to their truth."

"There are many ways of being wrong, but only one way of being right."

"We are content to accept without testing any belief that fits in with our prejudices and whose truth is necessary for the satisfaction of our desires."

"Perceiving involves more than being sensibly aware of something present to the senses; it involves the activity of perceiving. This is the activity of a person, and in perceiving, the whole person is involved, not merely one or other of his sense organs."

"A mind in blinkers is a mind that is unfree."

"A system is said to be coherent if every fact in the system is related every other fact in the system by relations that are not merely conjunctive. A deductive system affords a good example of a coherent system."

"I think if you do go out with someone for quite a long time you do get to know each other very, very well. You go through the good times, you go through the bad times, both personally and within a relationship as well."

"I think, the people around home are very supportive to us and those are the people who really matter to us, our close friends and close family and I think if they feel you are doing the right thing you can only be true to yourself and you sort of have to ignore a lot of what's said, obviously take it on board, but you have to be yourself really and that's how I have stuck by it really."

"I really hope I can make a difference, even in the smallest way. I am looking forward to helping as much as I can."

"Myself, I wish her well and also wish I could whisper to her: If you really love him, honey, get him out of there, and yourself, too. Many of us don't want or need another sacrificial lamb to water the dried bones and veins of a dessicated system. Do yourself a favor and save what you can: Leave the throne to the awful next incumbent that the hereditary principle has mandated for it."

"Oh, it's quite all right, we curse quite a lot around here."

"English students don't spend much time on their studies. They're more interested in partying and having fun."

"What I have learned from my travels is that by listening at least as much as we speak, and by trying to understand before we act, we perhaps stand a better chance of coming up with the right answers…"

"My grandfather, P Morton Shand, […] declared that ‘A woman who cannot make soup should not be allowed to marry’. You might not agree with his rants, but there was no doubting his passion for proper food"

"Reading is exciting. Reading is fun. Reading is cool. There is nothing quite like the thrill of opening a book and being drawn into another world to meet new people and to discover their stories - it’s like making new friends"

"Being a friendly neighbour has always been the keystone of community life and just saying “hello” can sometimes make a huge difference"

"Oh, oh, very badly. I would love to start again but maybe I’m too old"

"In a world where so many things have changed for the better, there are –sadly - still many vulnerable, forgotten and neglected children. Each one of them has a unique story"

"There are lots of things I do feel strongly about, but if I speak about them I will be on my best behaviour."

"As a half-resident of Wiltshire I feel very loyal to the county."

"Poetry is like time travel, and poems take us to the heart of the matter"

"From now on, Montaigne would live for himself rather than for duty."

"The great stoic Seneca repeatedly urged his fellow Romans to retire in order to “find themselves,” as we might put it. In the Renaissance, as in ancient Rome, it was part of the well-managed life. You had your period of civic business, then you withdrew to discover what life was really about and to being the long process of preparing for death. Montaigne developed reservations about the second part of this, but there is no doubt about his interest in contemplating life. He wrote: “Let us cut loose from all the ties that bind us to others; let us win from ourselves the power to live really alone and to live that way at our ease.”"

"Seneca, in advising retirement, had also warned of dangers. In a dialogue called “On Tranquility of Mind,” he wrote that idleness and isolation could bring to the fore all the consequences of having lived life in the wrong way, consequence that people usually avoided by keeping busy—that is, by continuing to live life in the wrong way."

"Finding his mind so filled with “chimeras and fantastic monsters, one after another, without order or purpose,” he [Montaigne] decided to write them down, not directly to overcome them, but to inspect their strangeness at his leisure. So he picked up his pen; the first of the Essays was born."

"As Seneca put it, life does not pause to remind you that it is running out. The only one who can keep you mindful of this is you."

"The trick is to maintain a kind of naïve amazement at each instant of experience—but, as Montaigne learned, one of the best techniques for doing this is to write about everything. Simply describing an object on your table, or the view from your window, opens your eyes to how marvelous such ordinary things are. To look inside yourself is to open up an even more fantastical realm."

"The philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty called Montaigne a writer who put “a consciousness astonished at itself at the core of human existence.”"

"Knowing that the life that remained to him could not be of great length, he said, “I try to increase it in weight, I try to arrest the speed of its flight by the speed with which I grasp it. … The shorter my possession of life, the deeper and fuller I must make it.”"

"The peasantry … were the true philosophers of the modern world, the heirs to classical sages such as Seneca and Socrates. Only they knew how to live, precisely because they knew nothing much about anything else."

"The unusual treatment began soon after his birth, when Micheau was sent to live with a humble family in a nearby village. Having a peasant wet-nurse was normal enough, but Montaigne’s father wanted his son to absorb an understanding of commoners’ ways along with their breast milk, so that be would grow up comfortable with the people who most needed a seigneur’s help. Instead of bringing a nurse to the baby, therefore, he sent the baby to the nurse, and left him there long enough to be weaned. Even at the christening, Pierre [Montaigne’s father] had “people of the lowest class” hold the infant over the font. From the start, Montaigne had the impression at once of being a peasant among peasants, and of being very special and different. This is the mixture of feelings that would stay with him for life. H felt ordinary, but knew that the very fact of realizing his ordinariness made him extraordinary."

"The hedonistic approach to education did make a difference to him [Montaigne]. Having been guided early in life by his own curiosity alone, he grew up to be an independent-minded adult, following his own path in everything rather than deferring to duty and discipline."

"Learning should be a pleasure, and children should grow up to imagine wisdom with a smiling face, not a fierce and terrifying one."

"The sands of time are sinking The dawn of heaven breaks; The summer morn I've sighed for, The fair, sweet morn, awakes. Dark, dark hath been the midnight, But dayspring is at hand, And glory, glory dwellth In Immanuel's hand"

"I like my women in a few wisps of drapery: then I can hope for a chance to remove the wisps. If they start out with nothing I tend to get depressed because either they have just stripped off for someone else or, in my line of work, they are usually dead."

"Some men are born lucky. Others are born Marcus Didius Falco."

"Popular men who laugh at your jokes pose a threat which blatant villains can never command."

"In my experience, men who sit in corners are the ones to watch."

"It struck me there might be a reason why Helena Justina whipped along at such a cracking pace: she did not want to be stuck in the wilderness with my corpse. I thanked Jove for her ruthless good sense. I did not want my corpse to be stuck with her in any case."

"'How old now?' 'Thirty. Downhill to the dark boat across the Styx. Probably be sick over the side in Charon's ferry too…'"

"Emperors must make their own rules."

"Senator, don't let your judgement be warped by one heady moment."

"I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher’s bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing himself the son and the grandson of gods, and who thought wearing the purple gave him free rein to indulge his personal vanities, execute real talent, bankrupt the Treasury, burn half of Rome – and bore the living daylights out of paying customers in theatres!"

"You could tell those two had been married by the way that she ignored him."

"The plumber plodded along in silence, like a man who has learned to be polite to lunatics through dealing with civil engineers."

"He listened with the mild demeanour of a man who had waited eight years for his town council to draw up a specification for emergency repairs."

"She called me a rat.” “Oh yes, I gathered you two were very close!"

"We marched him to the turfy shack where he lived with his parents and while the youth sulked Petronius Longus put the whole moral issue in succinct terms to them: Ollia’s father was a legionary veteran who had served in Egypt and Syria for over twenty years until he left with double pay, three medals, and a diploma that made Ollia legitimate; he now ran a boxers’ training school where he was famous for his high-minded attitude and his fighters were notorious for their loyalty to him… The old fisherman was a toothless, hapless, faithless cove you would not trust too near you with a filleting knife, but whether from fear or simple cunning he co-operated eagerly. The lad agreed to marry the girl and since Silvia would never abandon Ollia here, we decided that the fisherboy had to come back with us to Rome. His relations looked impressed by this result. We accepted it as the best we could achieve."

"Petronius would take his free bread buns and run. I happened to know that since Petro had been elected to the watch he had never cast a vote. He believed a man on a public salary should be impartial. I didn’t agree but I admired him being so stubborn in his eccentricities. Aufidius Crispus would be an unusual politician if he had allowed for such morality in the voters he was courting."

"I had been right in the first place. Getting involved with politicians is complete stupidity."

"Marcus! I thought you must have been developing other interests, but I never expected to find you with your arms locked round a fish..."

"Justice never paid a poor man's bills."

"Stick with it, Xanthus. There are fortunes to be made out of bristle for a man with deft hands."

"But mere technical details can be worked out any time. All a hero needs is grit."

"The world is full of people slandering their birthplaces, as if they really believe that small-town life is different elsewhere."

"You're not bloody Aristophanes, and the people who are paying for tickets are not educated Athenians. We're acting for turnips who only come to talk to their cousins and fart. We have to give them a lot of action and low-level jokes, but you can leave all that to us on stage. We know what's required. Your job is to hone the basic framework and remember the simple motto: short speeches, short lines, short words."

"Communicating wit is a lonely art. It demands an independent soul."

"I asked why Grumio had had to turn to lesser things.'No call. In my father or grandfather's day all I would have needed in life were my cloak and shoes, my flask and strigil, a cup and knife to take to dinner, and a small wallet for my earnings. Everyone who could find the wherewithal would eagerly ask a wandering jokesmith in.' 'Sounds just like being a vagrant philosopher!' 'A cynic,' he agreed readily. 'Exactly. Most cynics are witty and all clowns are cynical. Meet us on the road, and who could tell the difference?’ 'Me, I hope! I'm a good Roman. I'd take a five-mile detour to avoid a philosopher.'"

"The new "humour", if you can call it that, is pure malicious gossip. Instead of making a genuine point, it's now good enough to repeat any ribald story without a thought for whether it's even true."

"In fact, making up a spiteful lie has become respectable. Today's "jesters" are outright public nuisances."

"In an ideal world I ought to have gone with him to observe their reactions, but in an ideal world heroes never get tired or depressed; what's more, heroes are paid more than me."

"Love and death are gritty subjects. Their appropriate handling by poets does not require myrtle petals and violets."

"He wore the purple; it was his entitlement. With it he had neither wreath nor jewels. For him the best adornment of rank was acute native intelligence."

"Smartness always helps in gaining access to the houses of the wealthy. Anyone with a clean face is acceptable to thugs."

"Not all the fine civic building programmes in the world would ever displace the raw forces that drive most of humankind. This was the true city: greed, corruption and violence."

"'Do you kill people?' 'Not regularly. It's too much trouble making my peace with the gods afterwards.'"

"Never lend if you need repayment; never give where you want a return."

"‘What's the verdict?’ ‘A shining new talent. A breathtaking story, written with mystical intensity. An author who will sell and sell.’"

"Luck is a wonderful luxury. What could better prove that some are born under a star of good fortune than the career (and the large, comfortable home) of the Great King?"

"That's the trouble with foreign travel. You spend half your time trying to find edible food, and the rest fighting off men who profess extravagant love to your female companions. I'm amazed how many women believe outright lies from foreigners."

"Architectural drawings may look beautiful and be admired by critics but to be good, they have to work in daily use."

"Discovering that a fraud exists is only the first step. It has to be proved and the proof has to be absolutely watertight."

"Even the impetuous Helena Justina was an advocate of traditional family councils. However, every Roman matron knows that domestic councils were devised by our foremothers purely so the views of the matron of a household may prevail."

"Intimidation and awe are how our rulers keep us respectful."

"Never stop to breathe the pretty flower scents. The graves of the poor still stink."

"This was no more cynical than most lying lozenge-pushers, but when he thought it mattered, Rhoemetalces had been honest. We cannot have that. Rome is a complex, sophisticated society. Truth is distrusted as much as Greek philosophy."

"'Do you want a cretin or a meddler?' 'Which is better for us?' 'Whoever gets the larger backhander.' 'We won't pay. We are going for probity.' 'Can't afford true justice, eh?'"

"When I hear the words 'social order', I start looking around for somebody to pick a fight with."

"To know another person's fortune smacks of wanting to control their fate for the wrong reasons."

"To be born with nothing was grim. But to be born with everything, then to lose it, was far more cruel."

"We are Romans. We despise thought."

"This was a solitary walk where the sun and the scents of wild flowers would act on a tortured mind like a soothing drug."

"Words are real if other people think they understand their meaning."

"Have any sheep been seen walking out of the Library with seagoing adventurers clinging to their wool?"

"Petronius once told me that pathological murderers tend to start their killing sprees while they are children. Find a man who takes prostitutes off the streets as a personal vocation, and he'll probably have a set of neat jars with his childhood collection of dissected rats."

"On the scale of country crime, rape tended to rank with shouting boo at chickens."

"Afterwards, sometimes she dared to remember being in his arms. How, after only clumsy couplings with others, she and this man had straightaway come together as a perfect fit. How they moved together, in effortless synchronicity and with such deep pleasure. How when their exercise left them exhausted, she cried a little, so Vinius wiped her eye with his index finger, murmuring kindly, 'No tears!' before they both fell into profound sleep. How her troubled mind had drowned in peace, her body melting against his..."

"He was dead. No point speculating. Cherish the past for what it was, an ideal, a signal that human happiness might be a possibility. Raise your standards. Make a decent life, Lucilla. Life is all there is. If it's only once, it must be good... He had been right. If perfection only happened once, that was better than never. Now nothing for her would ever again entail complete despair. So thank you, Gaius Vinius Clodianus, son of Marcus, thank you for your good deed, a deed that brightened somebody's dark world."

"If being hit on the head by a falling flower tub could be worth cash to the victim, what price a child’s life under civil law?"

"Sometimes you run away by yourself purely so someone who cares will come to find you. Half the time nobody does. That's the tragedy of life."

"He had the kind of personality that makes you think a boy will grow up to be a public torturer."

"I despise women who rely on men entirely for their own existence."

"A wise partner does not come between her man and his best friend."

"No woman who builds a career on hard work and talent will ever compliment a much younger one who uses the shallow gift of her looks."

"Curiosity is a terrible inducement."

"They were not beggars; well, not in the usual sense. They were Christians, who wanted not just my nephews' money but their souls."

"Their work was undercover—yet their existence unconcealed. That is how fear works."

"Sometimes information you barely noticed consciously comes back to you of its own accord."

"There comes a point for a nut-lover, Quintus thought, where funeral food is worth taking a risk, even when you are dining with a megalomaniac who wants to kill you."

"Think of tonight as having a real purpose. Yes, it is dining with the dead in order to be at one with our ancestors, but at the same time, a good scoff in shared company provides solace for the unhappy, it anneals the internal stress of bereavement, it helps the living along the path of their recovery from grief.” “That’s a useful motto for a caterer!"

"[Y]ou would think happy wedding guests would tuck in with gusto—yet ... [i]t’s mourners at funerals who scoff.” “Because this is food as human comfort, plus respect for the national gods. We are one with our ancestors and one with our fellow mourners."

"Do we think Locusta is still alive?” “If so, she would have to be about two hundred.” “Sipping at the Fountain of Youth?” “No, I think she was killed in the Year of the Four Emperors.” “Poison?” “Natural causes—execution.” “Did she train up apprentices?” “Yes, but the old crafts are dying. No one wants to be bothered. These days you can’t find suppliers with the expertise, however big a bribe you offer."

"We are not just rather like animals; we are animals. Our difference from other species may be striking, but comparisons with them have always been, and must be, crucial to our view of ourselves."

"Still, people have a lot of obvious and important things that other species do not–speech, rationality, culture and the rest. Comparison must deal with these. I have tried to discuss some of the most important of them, not attempting at all to deny their uniqueness, but merely to grasp how they occur in what is, after a primate species, not a brand of machine or a type of disembodied spirit. I have tried to show these capabilites as continuous with our animal nature, connected with our basic structure of motives."

"Philosophy, like speaking prose, is something have to do all our lives, well or badly, whether we notice it or not."

"Other areas were being mapped by anthropologists, who seemed to have some interest in my problem, but who were inclined (at that time) to say that what human beings had in common was not in the end very important; that the key to all the mysteries did lie in culture. This seemed to me shallow. It is because our culture is changing so fast, because it does not settle on everything that we need to go into these questions."

"Consideration of motives brings up the matter of free will. I had better say once, that my project of taking animal comparisons seriously does not involve a slick mechanistic or deterministic view of freedom. Animals are not machines; one of my main concerns is to combat this notion. Actually only machines are machines."

"But understanding and explaining motives does not compromise freedom; nor does even predicting acts necessarily do so. A person committed to a political cause may vote predictably, and intelligibly in an election. He does not vote less freely than someone that flips a coin at the last minute. So if we find comparison with animals any help in understanding motives, it will not mean that conduct is not free. And since animals are not (as Descartes supposed) automata, the issue of freedom does not make comparing man with any other species and downgrading irrelevance."

"The notion that we "have a nature" far from threatening the concept of freedom, is absolutely essential to it. If we were genuinely plastic and indeterminate at birth, there could be no reason why society should not stamp us into any shape that might suit it. The reason people view suggestions about inborn tendencies with such indiscriminate horror seems to be that they think exclusively in one particular way in which the idea of such tendencies has been misused, namely, that where conservative theorists invoke them uncritically to resist reform. But liberal theorists who combat such resistance need them just as much, and indeed, usually more. The early architects of our current notion of freedom made human nature their cornerstone. Rousseau's trumpet call "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains," makes sense only as description of our innate constitution as something positive, already determined, and conflicting with what society does to us. Kant and Mill took similar positions. And Marx, though he officially dropped the notion of human nature and attacked the term, relied on the idea as much as anybody else for his crucial notion of Dehumanization."

"Every age has its pet contradictions. Thirty years ago we used to accept Marx and Freud together, and then wonder, like the chameleon on the turkey carpet, why life was so confusing."

"The future will not "be with" anybody in the sense of falling to them as a conquest. The need for many different methods is not going to go away, dissolved in a quasi-physical heaven where all serious work is quantitative...Quantification, like surgery, is an excellent thing in the right place, but a very bad topic for obsession. Unless you know just what you are counting--unless you are sure that the things counted are standard units--and unless you understand what is proved by results of your counting, quantifying provide you only with the outward show of science, a mirage, never the oasis."

"Selection does not work by cutthroat competition between individuals, but by favouring whatever behavior is useful to the group. People with crude notions of "Darwinism" make an intriguing blunder here. They refuse the mere fact of competing, that is, of needing to share out a resource with the motive of competitiveness or readiness to quarrel."

"The trouble with words like "fit" in these discussions is that, if taken in a wide sense they are liable to become vacuous, and if taken more narrowly they easily become tendentious. Thus the phrase "survival of the fittest" does not mean much if it means only "survival of those most likely to survive." If on the hand it means "survival of those whom we should admire most" or the like, it describes a different state of affairs; we shall need different arguments to persuade us that this is happening. In just the same way, Wilson equivocates with the notion that to be "fit" is an advantage to anybody. If it means "healthy" or "able to do what he wants to do" then it usually is so. But if it only means "likely to have many descendants," then there is no reason for treating it as an advantage at all."

"If we ask how creatures [bees] that act so elaborately against their private advantage can have evolved, the answer lies in their mode of reproduction. Most workers are sterile. The unit of selection is normally the whole community. Its prosperity depends on the efficiency of the workers. An uncooperative strain would simply revert toward the solitary life these insects started from and in which many would still remain..So it is natural to understand their evolution, as we would that of a plant, without reference to the plans or wishes of the individual bees."

"Rightly did Darwin pin up a paper warning himself to be careful about using such words as "higher" and "lower." What is downward about the trend that has produced elephants, chimpanzees, wolves, dolphins, and jackdaws by comparison with ants and bees?"

"The point cannot be just survival, nor even survival in numbers. Survival is just as well achieved by much less ambitions creatures which go in for sheer number. (In fact a cost-benefit-conscious gene that really understood its business would, no doubt, have remained on board something like the amoeba; it will probably be amoung the last to go.) Nor is it survival-as-society, since many animals achieve this despite a lot of bickering."

"What do we mean when we speak...of higher and lower animals? ...What too about communication (a respect in which, Wilson says, we much exceed the insects)? What is so good about communicating? How are we sure that it constitutes and excellence? Is it even clear that in respect we do exceed the corals and the colonial jellyfish? With them, there are no internal barriers; information flow freely from unit to unit wherever it is needed. The unrestrictedness of the communication much exceeds that among people. Why does this fail to impress us?"

"The issue is not between bad guys who use and "adversary" approach and good guys who are scientific and impartial...Everybody, including himself is partial in the sense of starting somewhere, of selecting something for emphasis. The fatal thing is not this. It is being confused about ones reasons for doing so. Particular insights and principles of inquiry must be set in the context of other possible alternatives."

"Arguments can always be answered. Moral philosophy, unlike straight moralizing, arises from and trives on plurality of values."

"Creatures really have divergent and conflicting desires. Their distinct motives are not (usually) wishes for survival or for means-to-survival, but for various particular things to be done and obtained while surviving. And these can always conflict. Motivation is fundamentally plural. It must be so because, in evolution, all sorts of contingincies and needs arise, calling for all sorts of different responses. An obsessive creature, constantly dominated by one kind of motive, would not survive."

""Cognition" cannot be "translated into circuitry." Learning and creativeness cannot be "defined as specific portions of the cognitive machinery." They cannot be because translating and defining are operations performed, not on the mean in any thinker's brain, but on language. Learning, knowing and so forth are words to describe the relation of a thinking subject (as a whole) to the things he thinks and talks about. Defining these words is clarifying their proper use, so as to get rid of whatever ambiguities and confusions dog them. Since these words describes functions of the whole thinking subject, they cannot be used to describe changes in "portions of the cognitive machinery" he uses to perform them. This would again be like saying that the carburetor had won the race, instead of the car of the driver. Carburators do not even know how to enter races, let alone win them. Winners need carburetors, and thinkers (including neurologists) need brain cells."

"We must face unconsidered possibilities and ask ourselves alarming questions–for instance, must we perhaps let the self-destroyer go if he really wants to? Trying to answer this by collecting information about our own neurones would be no more use than doing it, like the Roman augur, by inspecting the entrails of a goat."

"People did not proceed, as the theory of evolution really requires by demythologizing their symbolism about animals and the downward direction. Instead they resisted evolution at all costs, or accepted it with the provisio that the future was to lift them out of the degrading company that admittedly contaminated their past. The Future was seen as leading many away from the rest of nature as fast as possible, as giving him the hope of escaping continuity with it after all. Those who felt a sense of pollution at the thought of kinship with other animals could dwell on the hope of becoming less like them."

"Many people fail to grasp this point, apparently because they think of "scientific" evidence as only that produced in laboratories by controlled experiments. This leads them to treat field studies, however careful, thorough and well-documented, as "anecdotal"--mere preparation for the real thing, therefore properly ignored till it bears fruit entitled to be considered by learned persons. This attitude was much like that of cavalry generals in the First World War, waiting patiently for the infantry to clear the ground so that they could make the dashing charges that alone they thought entitled the name of warfare. Because these creatures are complex, only a tiny fraction of important truths about them can ever be seen in laboratories of expressed in control experiments. The same, of course, is true of the human race."

"But my present point is a much wider one. What we need, in order to feel at home in the world, is certainly not a belief that it was made for us. We are at home in this world because we were made for it. we have develped here, on this planet, and are adapted to live here. Our emotional constitution is part of that adaptation. We are not fit to live anywhere else (the possibility, such as it is, of surviving briefly, and at ruinous expense in space-craft and the like is just parasitical; it depends on extending the conditions we are used to into a few bizairre corners, not on our being able to live in other conditions."

"The symbolism of meat-eating is never neutral. To himself, the meat-eater seems to be eating life. To the vegetarian, he seems to be eating death. There is a kind of gestalt-shift between the two positions which makes it hard to change, and hard to raise questions on the matter at all without becoming embattled."

"It would be quite false to say that competition is the only relation that obtains between species. Mutual dependence is in general quite as important. Each kind exists within an ecosystem, and needs the others to keep the system going. Thus, grazing animals on the African plains co-exist because each specializes in eating some particular kind of plant, and needs the others to keep the whole pasture at a balanced level. They depend, too, on each other's specialized capacities to give warning of danger. … each also depends for survival on innumerable others, such as the insects which pollinate the plants, the fauna of their intestines and of course their predators. It is unthinkable that any species should be an island."

"Neither ecological nor social engineering will lead us to a conflict-free, simple path . . . Utilitarians and others who simply advise us to be happy are unhelpful, because we almost always have to make a choice either between different kinds of happiness--different things to be happy _about_--or between these and other things we want, which nothing to do with happiness."

"Do we find ourselves a species naturally free from conflict? We do not. There has not, apparently, been in our evolution a kind of rationalization which might seem a possible solution to problems of conflict--namely, a takeover by some major motive, such as the desire for future pleasure, which would automatically rule out all competing desires. Instead, what has developed is our intelligence. And this in some ways makes matters worse, since it shows us many desirable things that we would not otherwise have thought of, as well as the quite sufficient number we knew about for a start. In compensation, however, it does help us to arbitrate. Rules and principles, standards and ideals emerge as part of a priority system by which we guide ourselves through the jungle. They never make the job easy--desires that we put low on our priority system do not merely vanish--but they make it possible. And it is in working out these concepts more fully, in trying to extend their usefulness, that moral philosophy begins. Were there no conflict, it [moral philosophy] could never have arisen."

"The motivation of living creatures does got boil down to any single basic force, not even an 'instinct of self-preservation.' It is a complex pattern of separate elements, balanced roughly in the constitution of the species, but always liable to need adjusting. Creatures really have divergent and conflicting desires. Their distinct motives are not (usually) wishes for survival or for means to survival, but for various particular things to be done and obtained while surviving. And these can always conflict. Motivation is fundamentally plural. . . An obsessive creature dominated constantly by one kind of motive, would not survive."

"All moral doctrine, all practical suggestions about how we ought to live, depend on some belief about what human nature is like."

"Speaking of an institution such as marriage as natural is, of course, paying it a compliment, the compliment of saying that it meets a fairly central human need. The fact that it is found in some form in every human society is in a way enough to show. But it might be thought that marriage became thus widespread only because it was, like adequate sanitation, a means to an end. This is pretty certainly what Hume thought, as evidenced by his very confused contrast of natural with artificial virtues. He regarded human sagacity simply as the power to calculate consequences, and counted chastity and fidelity, with justice, as artificial virtues, devices designed merely to produce safety and promote utility. In a species as emotionally interdependent as man this view of marriage is nonsense. Pair-formation could never have entered anybody's head as a device deliberately designated to promote utility."

"Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started."

"Philosophy, in spite of all its tiresome features, is not a luxury but a necessity, because we always have to use it when things get difficult."

"The contrary, literalist campaign within Christianity is actually quite recent. It developed among more or less extreme Protestants after the Reformation – largely indeed in the last century in the US. It was consciously designed as a competitor with science, providing equal certainty by comparable methods. It is thus a political phenomenon, acting in some ways like a cargo cult. It has enabled relatively poor and powerless people to use their Bibles (which the Protestant Reformers had provided) to shape a rival myth of their own. They see this as an alternative to the materialist glorification of science and technology which they have perceived – with some reason – as the oppressive creed of those in power."

"Many natural patterns, such as the arrangement of buds on a stem, accord with the series of Fibonacci numbers, and Fibonacci spirals are also observed in spiral nebulae. There are, moreover, no flying pigs …"

"Scientism exalts the idea of science on its own, causing people to become fixated on the assumptions that seemed scientific to them during their formative years. This prevents them from seeing contrary facts, however glaring they may be, that have been noticed more lately."

"Let us start by considering why the attempt to glorify science on its own cannot work. This is because human thought operates as a whole. It is an ecosphere, a vast and complex landscape, including, but not confined to, common sense. Science itself is, of course, not a single compartment but a large, thickly wooded area comprising many sciences, an area that merges into those around it. Those sciences vary from physics to anthropology and all of them are shot through with problems coming from areas outside them, such as philosophy and history. Biology, for instance, has to deal with philosophical problems about the concept of life and also with vast historical problems about evolution for which it uses historical methods, not those of physics."

"About all these things physics can tell us nothing. The idea of natural selection, which, as we shall see, is uaully called in to account for this vast creative surge, is already looking increasingly inadequate to explain evolution. The main trouble is, I think, best explained in the analogy of coffee. Natural selection is only a filter, and filters do not provide the taste of coffee that pours through them. Similarly, the range of evolutionary alternatives between which selection takes place has to be already in matter. How it comes to be present there is the real mystery about creation."

"In fact, the whole idea of illusion seems to make sense only if we accept the reality of the illusory experience as an experience and question only what it seems to be telling us about the outside world. Optical illusions do really hapen. What they can’t do is provide accurate measurements of the outside world. The idea of having, so to speak, two successive layers of illusion here is unworkable."

"A particularly strong assumption here has been scientists’ deep reliance on atomization; on finding the meaning of things by breaking them down to their smallest components. Atomizations illustrates the simplest, most literal meaning of the word “reduction”; it works by making things smaller. The illumination that follows does not, of course, flow simply from their being smaller but from the wider scientific picture into which they can now be fitted. That picture gives them a new kind of context, a wider whole within which they can be differently understood. And finding that kind of context is an essential part of what “understanding” means."

"The preliminary outward movement of thought—holism—is everybit as necessary as the inward, atomizing one and in any investigation it usually needs to come first."

"A rational disposition must necessarily preclude a romantic outlook in life, and only the failures of this world can afford to dispense with a rational disposition."

"Recovering from an ill-starred romance is, after all, to anyone of sufficient will-power and self-respect, purely an attitude of mind."

"Boredom on social occasions is an inescapable hazard for the over-educated, and for the over-ambitious it must be endured."

"Man cannot live on charm alone, and an ambitious man cannot live on anything less than wealth, good social connections and substantial political influence."

"One must be rational about such matters and being rational need not mean being cold."

"Romance is the opiate of the dissatisfied, it anaesthesises them from the pain of their disordered second-rate lives [...] If romance is the opiate of the dissatisfied then surely nostalgia is the opiate of the disillusioned, for those who see all their dreams come true and find themselves living in a nightmare."

"'But never mind, all the best heroines are beautiful orphans, abandoned to their fate, and the one thing that's certain about my situation is that I'm going to be a heroine when I grow up.' 'Can I be a hero?' 'Well, I suppose you can try. But you'll have to try very hard.'"

"'Friendship's best,' I said, 'and friendship's forever because no baby can come along to spoil it.'"

"'To be distracted is pardonable. To be incoherent is simply unobliging.'"

"'Success on that scale don't make for happiness. Look at Asquith. Why does he drink? I wouldn't want you to end up a drunkard like that.'"

"Again, be patient. And have courage. Remember, everything passes, even the most unspeakable horrors."

"'Acquiring carnal knowledge is like swimming in the sea ... The sea's so beautiful to look at, so wonderful to swim in, but you must never bathe unless it's safe. People so often drown in the sea and some coasts are so very dangerous, ... like the Coast of Gower.'"

"'There are standards of immorality as well as standards of morality, Robert. Make sure yours are high.'"

"Death had won my three friends; Death had almost won me. But now I was the one who was going to win and I was going to win by outwitting Death over and over again ... To compete with Death, as I had discovered in the mountains, was to know one was alive."

"'The English don't have opinions about the Irish. They have prejudices.'"

"'Little girls don't stay playmates. Little girls become big girls and big girls become sweethearts.'"

"'Barbarity's everywhere, that's the truth of it. Absolutely anyone is capable of absolutely anything.' 'My dear Papa, I had no idea you were such a cynic!' 'That's not cynicism, that's honesty — as you well know, dealing with criminals as you do, seeing the human race continually at its worst.'"

"'I deserve to be thought a coward. I am a coward. I'm just so bloody afraid of dying — of losing —'"

"Every woman needs a special friend of her own sex with whom she can 'have a haircombing' about everything from menstruation to male monsters, and Julie had become that kind of special friend."

"'I could always walk out on a husband. But I could never turn my back on a friend.'"

"Distrust grows out of lies. Wrong-doing grows out of distrust. Tragedy grows out of wrong-doing. But out of honesty grows love and love's so powerful, it'll be like a suit of armour, protecting Robert, protecting you."

"'... we have to be kind, we have to be charitable and we can't condemn people just because they get in a mess...even the best people can get into ghastly messes,...we must never judge other people too harshly because although they can make awful mistakes they can still be very nice people.'"

"True doppelgängers should never meet face-to-face, you know."

"What a bloody jungle income tax is! It's a wonder we don't all go on strike and refuse to pay."

"More tears. Disgraceful. I was getting just like Kester, weeping at the drop of a hat, but of course I was Kester. I'd become him, and now there was just this other stranger who wrote me debonair notes and who sounded just like me."

"'He wasn't just being selfish, he was being realistic. Marriage would have been very difficult if not downright impossible.'"

"Christ, all you psychiatrists think about is sex — sex, sex, sex, sex, sex ..."

"Life's for living, not for mourning ... Live in the present, not the past."

"Sexual desire has to be dead as a doornail before a man and a woman can be genuinely at peace in a platonic relationship."

"Ghosts, unshriven souls, psychological hang-ups — they all exist in the mind to put people through hell — they're just different ways [...] of looking at a given situation."

"'Bloody men! sometimes I feel I hate them all.'"

"The one advantage of being childless is that one can choose one's children and so avoid the bizarre game of chance in which one passes one's best — or one's worst — genes to one's poor innocent offspring."

"Kester wrote about people and since human nature doesn't change his observations hadn't dated."

"But magic can't operate without a magician, and being a magician can beat a man to his knees."

"Redemption's just a word and as I'm not a Christian it means nothing to me."

"The first place he went into was the Royal Exchange, .... where men of all ages and all nations were assembled, with no other view than to barter for interest. ... David ... resolved to stay no longer in a place where riches were esteemed goodness, and deceit, low cunning, and giving up all things to the love of gain were thought wisdom."

"I don’t think that maternal and child health is a global priority. The health and welfare of mothers and their children received unprecedented international attention in 2010, but not all Governments were involved and other issues subsequently knocked this issue off the top slot. For those Governments who did make specific policy and resource commitments, the role of civil society is to work hard to get them to deliver. However, to see a truly seismic shift in the life chances of mums-to-be and their babies, Governments — rich and poor — must tackle inequality, especially gender but also income."

"Building an integrated, cost-effective, national health service that delivers quality care for all is one of the critical challenges facing anyone with a stake in global health. A mum doesn’t divide the health of her family up into different bits when she goes to a health clinic: ‘vaccines’, ‘malaria’, ‘HIV’. For her a health centre is a health centre and a nurse is a nurse. When she goes to get help, she should receive integrated care for all her family’s needs not just the one thing that centre, or health practitioner, happens to know about. We need to assign inefficient, parallel health interventions to the rubbish bin."

"It bodes well for the future that young people are thinking so intently about political issues."

"Every weekend families across Britain settle down to watch the X-factor or Britain’s Got Talent. We revel in the discovery of new talent, the chance for someone to come from nowhere and suddenly make it big based simply on their raw ability and hard work. Yet (perhaps outside the realm of music and entertainment) our society is all too often the opposite of this ideal of opportunity."

"The idea that a child living deep in poverty whose parents don’t have enough money for food or heating, books or basic things like school trips can ever have the same opportunities for development as a more fortunate child is patently absurd. But because it leads to some difficult choices many politicians choose to ignore it, essentially promising to make you an omelette without breaking any eggs."

"It’s not about creating an equal country, but it is about stopping the development of an underclass cut off from the rest of society. This focus could be a straight forward set of things like a living wage, supporting more effective pathways into work and an effective benefits system."

"If we can find the will I strongly believe we can still make Britain’s approach to talent a bit more X-factor (without Simon Cowell) and a bit less Downton Abbey."

"I have fought a really local and positive campaign full of energy and enthusiasm and I think that came across. I’m not nervous, I’m honour and humbled to be elected, I appreciate the big challenge ahead, I have two children aged two and four so I am used to the challenge."

"It was the realisation of a lifelong ambition to be the MP for my home town. It was by no means the end of a journey, but rather the beginning of a new chapter both for me and for the people of Batley and Spen."

"We now face five years of an unbridled Conservative government that is intent on swingeing cuts, further attacks on society’s most vulnerable and on our NHS. This will severely limit what can be achieved but I am determined to work tirelessly to do what I can to make sure local people are heard in Parliament and protected from the worst of what is to come."

"Many people don’t realise just what a valuable lifeline libraries can be."

"They are a lifeline for job hunters without their own computer, slimmers, walkers, discussers, knitters and natterers."

"British policy on Syria has wandered aimlessly, a deadly mix of timidity and confusion. The lack of a coherent response, not just by Britain but by the wider international community, has allowed the situation in Syria to fester into the greatest humanitarian crisis of our lifetime. … We can and should do much more to help."

"We need a robust but targeted military approach. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no war-monger. I opposed the Iraq war and worked for a decade as an Oxfam aid worker – but this isn’t Iraq. This is a humanitarian crisis."

"I don’t believe there will be a military solution to this conflict but I do believe there will be a military component to it. The vast majority of the fighting will be done by people from the region and by Syrians themselves, but that doesn’t mean that the UK shouldn’t play a role."

"I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But despite all of the dangers and difficult judgements that lie ahead, burying our head in the sand is not an option. We must face up to this crisis and do all that we can to resolve it."

"Thanks Diane. I hope we can all agree that this debate should be about Syria not UK party politics"

"The priority has been offering a service and making a difference."

"I don’t think we as a party should let China and Russia stop international action to save lives in Syria … Three times they have vetoed action in Syria, and each time the crisis has escalated and escalated."

"I always back UN action where we can find it, but I do not think it should be a limit to our help. There have been multiple UN resolutions that say [to] Assad: stop killing indiscriminately your own citizens."

"On the military side, we need to get two things right if we only talk about limited air strikes against Isil [Isis] – and I back international action against Isil – it will be counterproductive. We have to look at the conflict dynamic in Syria, and that is 75% of civilian deaths and causalities are caused by the Assad regime due to his aerial bombardment of civilians."

"This is about a deterrence effect to stop the Syrian regime targeting their own civilians. I think it would be enforceable from the Mediterranean using US French and UK military capability already out there. It would mean the aerial bombardment of Syrian civilians would stop, and it would create space for peace talks."

"The civil war in Syria is the worst humanitarian tragedy of our generation and one that our government, and the world, is failing to deal with adequately."

"I never really grew up being political or Labour. It kind of came at Cambridge where it was just a realisation that where you were born mattered. That how you spoke mattered... who you knew mattered. I didn’t really speak right or knew the right people. I spent the summers packing toothpaste at a factory working where my dad worked and everyone else had gone on a gap year! To be honest my experience at Cambridge really knocked me for about five years."

"Having gone through that experience of being in a Cambridge college, surviving it and building myself up, meant that coming here (Westminster) was a walk in the park, and a lot of the same people are here!"

"I’ve been in some horrific situations where women have been raped repeatedly in , I’ve been with child soldiers who have been given Kalashnikov and kill members of their own family in . In Afghanistan I was talking to Afghan elders who were world weary of a lack of sustained attention from their own Government and from the international community to stop problems early. That’s the thing that all of that experience gave me - if you ignore a problem it gets worse."

"If you talk to quite a lot of people around the world, whether it’s in an camp or in an emergency disaster they often say the UK is a UN Security Council member, a leading member of the European Union, a leading member of , you can make a massive difference and they want us to act."

"Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us."

"In my neck of the woods non-conformity is what we do best."

"What many of our businesses are lacking is confidence: confidence to expand; confidence to borrow; confidence to grow; and the confidence to fuel a real economic recovery that benefits everybody, offering decent jobs, paying decent wages and bridging the skills gap."

"It is time to give city and county regions the powers and resources they need to promote growth, and I will happily work with all of those who are genuinely committed to building an economic powerhouse in the north."

"Yorkshire folk are not fools."

"Many businesses in Yorkshire want the security and stability of Britain’s continued membership of the European Union, a cause I look forward to championing passionately in this place and elsewhere."

"I am Batley and Spen born and bred, and I could not be prouder of that. I am proud that I was made in Yorkshire and I am proud of the things we make in Yorkshire. Britain should be proud of that, too. I look forward to representing the great people of Batley and Spen here over the next five years."

"Every decade or so, the world is tested by a crisis so grave that it breaks the mould: one so horrific and inhumane that the response of politicians to it becomes emblematic of their generation —their moral leadership or cowardice, their resolution or incompetence. It is how history judges us."

"We must put party politics to one side and focus on what really matters—the protection of Syrian civilians."

"Please let us stop casting the humanitarian, diplomatic and military responses as mutually exclusive alternatives. They are not. If we are serious about addressing this crisis, we need to stop pretending that any one of them offers a panacea and instead weave these strands into a coherent strategy."

"Let us not be duped into believing that we need to make a choice between dealing with either Assad or Isis. On the surface, this may seem appealing, but it is not an option. There is no choice."

"No matter what our humanitarian response is to this crisis, it will never be enough. It cannot end the conflict."

"If four years of continuous vicious conflict have taught us anything, it is that the current regime is no longer capable of bringing peace and stability to Syria."

"While I do not believe that there is a purely military solution to this conflict, I do believe that there will be a military component to any viable solution."

"I believe it is time for the Government urgently to consider deterring the indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilians in Syria through the willingness to consider the prudent and limited use of force."

"We owe it to everybody in our party to be honest about where we stand."

"The Tories deserved a kicking last night. With chaos and discord in our hospitals and schools, an unprecedented housing crisis and fatcats lining their pockets while life gets tougher for everybody else, it’s an outrage for David Cameron to appear on TV looking like the cat who got the cream, knowing his party is on track to win again in 2020."

"Labour is in the doldrums and we have to ask ourselves why. Why, day after day during the campaign, we failed to get a hearing. Why the voters aren’t getting the alternative vision of a fairer, stronger, more just Britain that we should be offering."

"When the voters tell us on the doorsteps that they can’t picture our leader in No 10 we have to listen. When our candidates in London and Wales ask the leader to stay away, we have a problem. When the revival we were promised in Scotland with Corbyn’s “new” politics proves to be a mirage, we have to ask what it has actually achieved."

"We both nominated Corbyn for leader last year. We have never had cause to doubt his commitment to society’s most disadvantaged and to Labour’s values – a commitment we all share. But we have come to regret that decision."

"Weak leadership, poor judgment and a mistaken sense of priorities have created distraction after distraction and stopped us getting our message across."

"Every time we flounder we just embolden them further."

"Some say we need to be more patient. What we cannot, must not do is sit back and hope for the best."

"Corbyn needs to show he’s ready to lead from the front. He and those around him must come out of their bunker, stop blaming everybody else, and show the discipline and determination to drive our message home. These elections were a terrible missed opportunity. We cannot afford any more."

"In recent years, Britain has withdrawn from the world. On Syria, on Europe, on Ukraine this government has been on the periphery: all victim of the same lack of long-term strategic thinking about British foreign policy and the absence of a moral compass. It is time for the left to revive its ethical foreign policy and carve out a new long-term narrative that puts human rights and the protection of civilians centre stage once again."

"There is much to be proud of in the left’s internationalist past. Many from our movement made the ultimate sacrifice fighting Franco’s fascism during the . We were unequivocal in our opposition to Apartheid in South Africa, led action to protect civilians in Kosovo and . And we put this country firmly on the road to fulfil our historic commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on aid – an act of solidarity that has seen millions more children in school and many more women surviving childbirth. However, this active internationalist approach is not inevitable. It has been, and is still, contested across the . It is threatened by an increasingly nationalist and isolationist right, by a government that has withdrawn from global leadership. And it is threatened by those on the left who might show great personal solidarity with international causes but tend to think the British state has no role to play."

"I believe the left is now in a fundamental fight about our future approach to international affairs: one where we decide whether to channel UK resources, diplomatic influence and military capability in defence of human rights and the protection of civilians; or one where we stand on the sidelines frozen by our recent failures. I believe it’s time for the left to revive its ethical foreign policy and in particular, rebuild the case for a progressive approach to humanitarian intervention."

"After the horror of 9/11 ‘interventionism’ was increasingly expressed through the paradigms of ‘security’ or ‘counter terrorism’, rather than being grounded firmly in the protection of civilians. And then Labour’s support for military action in Iraq distorted a worthy principle with such devastating impact. The legacy of Iraq – an intervention I was wholly opposed to because it was not fundamentally about protecting civilians – still hangs over us. But Labour can no longer be paralysed by Iraq. We need to learn from its many lessons without forgetting the equally important lessons of Bosnia or Rwanda."

"President Assad dropped chemical weapons on school children and the world stood by. He rained down barrel bombs and cluster munitions on hospitals and homes and we did not respond. For too long, the UK government let the crisis fester on the ‘too difficult to deal with’ pile. There was no credible strategy, nor courage or leadership – instead we had chaos and incoherence, interspersed with the occasional gesture. It’s been a masterclass in how not to do foreign policy and a shameful lesson on what happens when you ignore a crisis of this magnitude."

"Unless we act to end the slaughter of civilians in Syria by President Assad, Isis will continue to find a steady stream of recruits from the Syrian Sunni population driven to desperation and radicalisation. In this context no amount of military action against Isis will be able to eradicate them. ... As long as these attacks persist these forces will not be able to focus – as many want to – on freeing their country from the cancer of Isis."

"The left should carve out a new long-term narrative about British foreign policy: one that puts human rights and the protection of civilians centre stage again. And one that reasserts our commitment to the responsibility to protect those most at risk of mass atrocity crimes. This isn’t really about being pro or anti-military intervention. Rather it’s a call to redefine the principles that will guide the decisions we take, as well as a commitment to then honour them."

"Before I heard the news that my friend Jo Cox had died from her injuries on Thursday, I sent her a text message, it read, 'you won't see this until you're better, but I love you'. And then I sat all day hoping, praying, willing her to recover. I still can't come to terms with the fact that she didn't. The 'I love you' still stands."

"I know if she could read this now she would wince and recoil, like so many women she beat herself up constantly, thinking she was struggling to be a good enough mum or a good enough MP. She was more than good enough at both."

"I think she was very worried that the language was coarsening, that people were being driven to take more extreme positions, that people didn’t work with each other as individuals and on issues; it was all much too tribal and unthinking. And she was particularly worried – we talked about this regularly – particularly worried about the direction of, not just in the UK but globally, the direction of politics at the moment, particularly around creating division and playing on people’s worst fears rather than their best instincts. So we talked about that a lot and it was something that worried her."

"She was a politician and she had very strong political views and I believe she was killed because of those views. I think she died because of them, and she would want to stand up for those in death as much as she did in life."

"The two things that I’ve been very focused on is how do we support and protect the children and how do we make sure that something good comes out of this, ... their mother was someone who was loved by lots of people and that therefore, it’s OK to be upset and it’s OK for them to cry and to be sad about it."

"She cherished every moment … I remember so much about her but most of all I will remember that she met the world with love and both love for her children, love in her family and also love for people she didn’t know. She just approached things with a spirit, she wasn’t perfect at all you know, but she just wanted to make the world a better place, to contribute, and we love her very much."

"Two of the most widely adopted models of human resource management are the hard and soft versions. These are based on opposing views of human nature and managerial control strategies. The hard model is based on notions of tight strategic control, and an economic model of man according to Theory X, while the soft model is based on control through commitment and Theory Y. We argue that because these assumptions are so divergent, they cannot both properly be incorporated within a single model of human resource management."

"Each of us needs three things, three types of network. We need a ‘posse’ prepared to ride out with us, so that when things get really tough you can e-mail them in the middle of the night to say, ‘Oh shit!’ and they get it, they know what you mean. I have about four people in my posse... You also need what I call the ‘big ideas’ crowd – people who live in different worlds from you. And I think we also need what I call a ‘regenerative community’: a physical place – because much of what we do now is virtual – a real place with real people who know you, who love you. My feeling is that the regenerative community is the bit that we’ve got most wrong right now, because the big default of the future is that we’re lonely. We live on our own in cities, and we’re lonely."

"You can't expect that what you've become a master in will keep you valuable throughout the whole of your career, and you want to add to that the fact that most people are now going to be working into their 70s. Being a generalist is, in my view, very unwise. Your major competitor is Wikipedia or Google."

"One-third of our children will live to 100-years-old. That will make a huge difference in how we think about careers. Longevity will be one of the most important issues we face. It will affect everyone and organisations are extremely ill-prepared."

"An unhysterical look at the future of employment. We are now facing a revolution in the way we work. A substantial schism in the past which is so great that the work we do will change – possibly so that in two decades our working lives will have been so REWORKED that they are unrecognisable.This is not just about the impact that a low carbon enonomy will have on the way we work. It is also about how the nexus of technology and globalisation will work together with demographic and societal changes to fundamentally transform much of what we take for granted about work"

"Work is a defining, all-consuming part of our lives. Now, more than ever, the speed at which the nature of work is changing is having an extraordinary impact on working lives everywhere."

"We are more likely to love our work when we see it as play."

"Our nation is becoming a totalitarian state and unless we rise up to defend our rights, they will be lost forever."

"I joined UKIP in 2003, when it was a party hardly anyone had heard of, but it was the start of an upward trend as we grew in importance and professionalism. In recent time I have watched the chaotic infighting and seen the growing frustration of members who feel their voices are once again being ignored as we embark on a new future for the United Kingdom. And it's this future I want to help shape by leading the party which had such a significant impact on the political scene in this country, under the leadership of Nigel Farage. My message is clear: I'm offering a real alternative to the other options of EDL-lite or diet Labour."

"I expect better from Catholic bishops. They need to understand that Ukip and the Catholic Church have so much in common. I cannot think of anyone who is a bishop or a priest who would not have the same values for people as we do."

"I am delighted to be named the first UKIP spokesman for Women and Equalities. These important issues need to be promoted without patronising tokenism, virtue-signalling and political correctness."

"Clear and decisive leadership is crucial and we shall deliver it. It is urgent that we work on projecting our party firmly and decisively with the purpose of securing our nation’s interests through Brexit and beyond."

"The result sends a clear message to the powers at Westminster that people have become completely disenfranchised with their politics, and that the politicians have become completely detached from the issues which really concern the working man and woman. I have always believed that Britain is big enough and strong enough to stand on its own two feet, and to truly thrive when freed from the shackles of EU bureaucracy. Now we have the opportunity to prove it. June 23 will go down in history as our Independence Day – and for me, it's very emotional."

"[T]he European Union is happy to suck money from member states like a giant leech, with absolutely no respect for how it is spent. Whenever more transparency is called for, they simply hide behind smoke and mirrors and fancy words, and completely ignore common sense. They show a total lack of respect to the citizens of the European Union."

"The problem with the EU is that it spends money like it is going out of fashion, when actually it’s the Euro which is going out of fashion right now, with so many countries now questioning its membership."

"After your death people will write of your love affairs, but I shall say nothing, because I will remember how proud you were."

"We must finally see an end to cruel and inhumane conversion therapies, which have been allowed to spread fear and hatred in our society for far too long."

"There was one incident when I wore plain fishnets to parliament. I received so many overly sexual, misogynistic comments that I took the tights off and threw them in the bin and never wore fishnets again. I spoke to a more senior female MP. She told me to ignore it saying, ‘it’s all banter’. She told equivalent stories women MPs have been through. There were lots of stories of MPs looking up their skirt. The parliamentary environment needs to change."

"The good thing is now post-Me Too movement, we are not putting up with it. Some of the men have not moved forward. They still think it is acceptable to be sexist and misogynistic. When I was a whip, an MP was talking about me having a real whip in the tea room in parliament. It happened more than once. It became very uncomfortable and embarrassing for me. Parliament was designed for men only and there is still that prevailing attitude that this is a man’s place and the women are just window dressing and there is that entitlement to belittle women."

"I believe that Brent, South is a shining example of integration at its best. Brent, South deserves a chance to prosper, a chance to benefit from opportunities and a chance for my constituents to live independently."

"I am proud to represent the Labour party, which established the minimum wage, which some Opposition parties could not find time to support."

"I am proud to represent the Labour party, which has pledged to end the equal pay gap. My constituency has more women living in it than men—52 per cent.—and equal pay has a direct effect on economic stability and business prosperity, and a direct correlation with child poverty. If we are serious about tackling those issues, the gap must be closed, and soon. I am confident that I will be working hard with my Government to ensure that that will be achieved."

"This is modern, progressive politics reflecting our society."

"I am proud to be a GMB member and a former officer. I strive to ensure that my contributions continue to aid the historic constructive working relations between the Labour party and the trade union movement. The Warwick agreement, which was referred to in our manifesto, is another historic agreement which only the Labour party could achieve."

"I promised the youth that they would have a voice through me. We must encourage our youth, listen to them and help them to resolve youth issues. After all, they are our future. Guess what—not all youth are yobs, and not all yobs are youth. Furthermore, youths are victims of antisocial behaviour, more than any other group in our society. I will campaign and lobby extremely hard for my constituents in Brent, South to further their concerns and to put forward the case for social justice in Brent, South, the UK and worldwide."

"When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and sparkle all day."

"In the summer of 2011, just after I'd finished my second year of university, I was diagnosed with a relatively rare illness called Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. It's a very strange illness and even now my closest family and friends can't quite get their heads around it. The syndrome effectively breaks down your autonomic nervous system: the system that controls everything that is meant to happen automatically in the body—your heartbeat, digestion, circulation, immune system etc. As you can imagine this had a pretty devastating effect on my life—I literally couldn't walk down the street, I slept for sixteen hours a day, was in chronic pain, had blackouts, never-ending heart palpitations, unbearable stomach issues, constant headaches and the list goes on. It was anything but fun and I was bedridden 95 percent of the time."

"After a lot of Googling I came across some incredibly inspirational people, in particular Kris Carr, who overnight changed my life. She had changed her diet to manage her cancer and had written a wonderful book all about it, so I ordered the book and immediately realized that if she could come back from that, I could absolutely come back from where I was. So, overnight I started a whole-foods, plant-based diet and gave up all meat, dairy, sugar, gluten, anything processed and all chemicals and additives. As you can imagine it was a really difficult change for someone who had never eaten fruit or vegetables before, let alone quinoa, buckwheat and chia seeds! I'll never forget the looks on my family's faces when I told them I was becoming a gluten-free vegan—I don't think I've ever seen people so surprised and confused."

"My healthy eating adventure had really worked and in less than two years I was off all the medication I should have been on for life. It felt like a miracle: my symptoms had all but disappeared and my self-esteem was rebuilt, all thanks to the goodness of plants. It was amazing. I felt free and truly like myself again. The decision to change my diet really was single-handedly the best thing I've ever done. It allowed me to take control of my illness and get my life back, which was so empowering."

"People resent change, I think in some ways, but they forget that they've changed too. I think most of us changed for the better rather than the worst."

"I didn't invent an image. It just sorta grew on me, like a fungus or whatever it is. It was an extension of me. Well: I did say at seventeen, "I'm going to invent Dusty Springfield", but it was an extension of Mary O'Brien, convent schoolgirl. And I think that's what [Sheena]'s probably got, and there are too many people flashing around, saying "You gotta develop an image, kid!" I think that you know, singing and songs are the things that are the most important thing. An image comes when you present yourself to the public. And the public really kind of accepts you or they don't accept you. Trying to invent something that's not natural to you will be a disaster."

"Many other people say I'm bent, and I've heard it so many times that I've almost learned to accept it ... I know I'm perfectly as capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don't see why I shouldn't."

"I'm glad to see that royality isn't confined to the box."

"The magic of my situation with Johnny Franz was that he allowed me the freedom to follow my enthusiasm. He’d sit in the control room while I’d go out and scowl at the musicians. It was very difficult for them because they’d never heard this stuff before. I’m asking somebody with a stand-up bass to play Motown bass-lines, and it was a shock. The ones who thought I was a cow I didn’t work with again. The ones who wanted to learn with me, they had the greatest time. Johnny had played piano for Anne Shelton, and had perfect pitch. Bless his heart, he’d sit there and read Popular Mechanics. But he had good ears, he’d suddenly look up from Popular Mechanics and go, E flat! I never took the producer’s credit for two reasons. For one, he deserved it and I was grateful. And then there was the calculating part of me that that thought it looked too slick for me to produce and sing. Because women didn’t do that. And there remains in the British audience, though less so, that attitude of ‘Don’t get too slick on us. Don’t be too smart or we won’t love you.’ And I wanted to be loved."

"Irishness is a state of mind rather than a geographic thing. I’m not English. My name is O’Brien and I’m glad it is. I’ve got nothing against the English and I’m glad I was born here. But I’m glad my mother came from Kerry and I’m glad my name is Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien and I can weep at Riverdance on TV, and it makes me laugh."

"It was that I felt that I'd done as much as I could do there [in England]. I didn't know what direction I could go, apart from across the sea."

"I was ready to work; what I couldn't was the right producer. I had considered various people like the people who do Randy Newman and talked to Ted Templeman who was doing Carly Simon at that time. Again, availability. I wasn't at the right place and right time. They were busy. And the thought of Roy was very strange, I mean, it was a bizarre combination. But I didn't know; I think a lot of people don't know what a very broad musical background he does have; He started out at Decca in the classical department and sort of regressed through Frank Chacksfield and Mantovani, passed through that into pop music and really got into heavy stuff; into rock. But I didn't know he had that background and it was nice. He has incredibly good judgments."

"Things have changed, sound systems now work - on occasion. Various things are made easier in some ways for the artists. All the things I used to want to do and get right, and became known as being difficult cause I wanted them... they are now part of a parcel of a tour, and it will be a delight to work under that system."

"...when, oh, when I see your face, yeah And, oh, when I'm in your warm embrace I know for sure our love is something special"

"Now, when you pass my way I guess I'll smile and say To think that boy was mine Once upon a time"

"...If I had to pick one artist who, song after song, always touched something deep inside me, it would be Dusty. I loved her work from the moment I heard I Only Want to Be with You in 1963, her first major hit. The sound was different from anything I had heard before - it made a visceral connection."

"Dusty sings around her material, creating music that's evocative rather than overwhelming ... Dusty is not searching – she just shows up, and she, and we, are better for it."

"To my dear and honoured Mother, whose life, no less than her pen, has been devoted to the welfare of others, this little book is affectionately dedicated."

"The first place that I can well remember, was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a ploughed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the meadow was a plantation of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank."

"[D]o your best wherever it is, and keep up your good name."

"[A] bad-tempered man will never make a good-tempered horse."

"Oh! if people knew what a comfort to horses a light hand is."

"[T]hey always think they can improve upon nature and mend what God has made."

"[W]e shall all have to be judged according to our works, whether they be towards man or towards beast."

"God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves, but He had given animals knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by which they had often saved the lives of men."

"[T]here is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham."

"[I]f they strain me up tight, why, let 'em look out! I can't bear it, and I won't."

"I am never afraid of what I know."

"If you in the morning Throw minutes away, You can't pick them up In the course of a day. You may hurry and scurry, And flurry and worry, You've lost them forever, Forever and aye."

"If a thing is right, it can be done, and if it is wrong, it can be done without; and a good man will find a way."

"Do you know why this world is as bad as it is? […] it is because people think only about their own business, and won't trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrong-doer to light."

"My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt."

"[W]e call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."

"My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple trees."

"It is good people who make good places."

"The barriers to a two-state solution are well known. As a strong friend of Israel, I admit freely, but with great regret, that these include the expansion of settlements on the west bank. Settlement building is wrong. It threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state—the case for which is unarguable. It does immense damage to Israel’s standing in the world, and, over time, it will put at risk that which is most precious about Israel’s character: its Jewish and democratic character. However, as Secretary of State Kerry stated clearly, this is not to say “that the settlements are the whole or even the primary cause of this conflict.”There is also the incitement tolerated, and, in many cases, perpetrated by the Palestinian Authority. I am talking about the payment of “salaries” to those convicted of terrorist offences, and the naming of schools, streets and sports tournaments after so-called martyrs, thereby glorifying their violence. Then there is the greatest barrier of all: the rejectionist, anti-Semitic ideology of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, which denies Israel’s very right to exist, and the terrorism that inevitably flows from it."

"Nuclear weapons are obsolete in an era of asymmetric warfare and cyber warfare and have no placed in a European defence policy for the 21st century. Britain and France have ignored their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for far too long."

"UKIP have now crossed a line in terms of what is acceptable behaviour in a democratic society."

"The crucial thing about the transition to a carbon-neutral economy is social justice. If you think about why people voted for Brexit, it’s because they felt they were being left behind. Their resentment is being attached to climate denialism, by very irresponsible politicians who whip up resentment caused by austerity. They connect that and say ‘Now you’re telling me I can’t have my car’. But that’s not what we’re saying at all."

"Although President Trump operates like an authoritarian leader, he is actually subject to a system of checks and balances, meaning that Congress, rather than Trump, will decide what sort of trade deal we will have with the US if we proceed with Brexit."

"The stakes couldn’t be higher. The burning of the Amazon places the planet on red alert. Bolsonaro is encouraging this torching of the forest to appease his agricultural paymasters so they can use the land for beef cattle and soya. He is guilty of ecocide and politicians across the globe must stand up to this environmental criminal."

"The mob currently in power are determined to crash us out of the EU on October 31 and will sacrifice everything at the altar of new trade deals. Food safety standards, consumer protections, animal welfare standards will all be ditched if it means securing a trade deal with the US. This will leave our farmers concerned not so much with tackling our climate emergency but with survival against an onslaught from cheap imports."

"You should not be able to be thrown out of your home of 30 years because you can’t find documents you never knew you would have to keep"

"Now is not the time to campaign to rejoin but we must keep the dream alive, especially for young people who are overwhelmingly pro-European. I hold in my heart the knowledge that one day I will be back in this [the European Parliament] chamber, celebrating our return to the heart of Europe."

"Yesterday’s motion gave us the opportunity to send the opposite message to the world … that, while Saudi Arabia will remain a valued strategic, security and economic ally in the years to come, our support for their forces in Yemen must be suspended until the alleged violations of international humanitarian law in that conflict have been fully and independently investigated. And until the children of Yemen have received the humanitarian aid that they so desperately need."

"The communities who stand to lose out most from Brexit must be looked after first,"

"We cannot turn the clock back and run the Brexit vote again. We have been given our instructions by the British people and we must act on them."

"We need to leave the European Union but it is good for our economy - they're our biggest market - that we stay as close as we can"

"We have to negotiate a new agreement. That, we think, is likely to be a customs union that will look pretty much like the current customs union."

"[A new agreement is needed] that we think is likely to be a customs union that will look pretty much like the current customs union."

"I think anybody who has looked into this issue has seen that it is quite clear that there is no other place that we can go than to remain in a customs union with the European Union - nothing else makes sense."

"Britain has disappeared into the Brexit black hole"

"It is quite clear that the government of Venezuela is, on the face of it, responsible for human rights abuses and it does not have a plan to get themselves out of the situation they are currently in."

"[Under a Labour government, there would be] no indulgence of human rights abuses because they are committed by less powerful countries, or by countries who call themselves 'socialist' but who, by their actions, betray every socialist ideal."

"We've got to a stage where we feel that any deal is so controversial and may well be so far from what people voted for when they voted to leave, that we think that it is probably appropriate… that we say to the people, 'Is this what you wanted?' We just want to check. Because if it isn't, then let's stay."

"Frankly, it’s a shame and a disgrace that the Equality and Human Rights Commission have been brought in to look at the Labour party, but they have. And I think we should now welcome it, open our doors up and say to them, right we have been trying to improve our processes, clearly it’s still not working, can you help us?"

"Are we going to celebrate a Labour version of Brexit? No. We must have the Labour Party this week saying no to Brexit and we must lead the campaign to remain."

"[Labour must] lead the campaign to remain"

"Let's be clear: this was always going to be the Brexit election, the first genuine single-issue election in 119 years. Back then, in 1900, the Tories were cynically capitalising on their early success in the Boer war to try to win another thumping majority over the Liberals. It was also Labour's very first election, and we went into it with noble domestic ambitions far distant from the South African veldt."

"And if you're a Labour voter seized with gloom – or a Tory gleaming with complacency – just remember that in 1906, six years after the last single-issue election, the Liberal opposition won a majority of 124, with the Tories losing 246 seats. Why? Because the Tories were totally divided over trade policy and because their "single issue" of the Boer war had turned into a disaster. Will history repeat itself now as the Tories grapple with the reality of "getting Brexit done"? Well, history has a tendency to do that."

"The Labour Party hate the concept of Englishness. They have done for a very long time. New Labour can't even stand the concept of patriotism. They think the flag somehow is unpleasant, backward-looking and nasty. People like Emily Thornberry would rather we had that blue flag with 12 stars on it that comes to us from Brussels."

"The climate system takes decades to respond to changes in carbon emissions so decisions made now will affect future generations - for better or worse."

"Without concerted and swift international action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the 1.5°C threshold is likely to be passed by 2040 and the report () sets out very starkly the costs of inaction."

"We were aware of it back in the late 1970s. There was a lot of talk about the greenhouse effect."

"I think it’s going to be very, very, very difficult to get to 1.5C."

"Solar geoengineering, I’m afraid I think it’s a fool’s paradise, and I’ve been saying the same thing for many years."

"I think it is possible to get the carbon dioxide emissions down and to get the temperature increase slowed down. It just requires everybody to work together to do it."

"She appears regularly on TV, radio and in print media, and as a result, gets a lot of emails – many from people who do not believe that humans are causing climate change. She tries to reply to them all unless they are directly offensive, but admits she has about a “two percent success rate” in positive responses to her explaining the science."

"Workers in lower status jobs tend to have more stressful working conditions—they have lower pay, poorer pension arrangements, less control over their work, and report more unsupportive colleagues and manager."

"I am pretty confident in saying that the physiological stress levels (as measured by cortisol) of bosses are lower than their employees—in other words, the bosses are not as stressed as the employees they manage, this is shown not just by my study, but loads of other studies that show exactly the same results. Stress levels increase (not decrease) as we go from the top of the occupational ladder to the bottom."

"A lot of my colleagues also have dyslexia because we work in a technology company that is always about thinking differently, and I think that's one of the strengths we have as dyslexics is to look at things differently, be a problem solver, find new ways to do things, be experimental, entrepreneurial."

"It is not something that is wrong with you. It is a great part of how your brain works and everybody's brain works incredibly differently, there is nothing wrong, there is just everything that is so right."

"Growing up in the media, it’s... interesting. We’ve had some serious grounding from our parents. They’ve had their fair share of terrible media interest and it makes us stronger. We believe very strongly in who we are, and the support system of our friends and our family is pretty incredible. There's no point being angry with anyone for beating us up – we just need to shine light and love in the world."

"It’s nerve-wracking because you want it to be perfect but then you realise that you’re going to be with the person you love forever and nothing else really matters."

"I've never felt the need to tell anyone that I'm bisexual. I don't feel like I am. I just feel like I'm attracted to who I like. I honestly feel like everyone is like that."

"What I want to do in life is make people happy. Every day I wake up and say, ‘I’m going to make people smile."

"Who the hell even asked for 5G????? Whatever you do. DO NOT GET 5G"

"Haven't I made it obvious? Haven't I made it clear? Want me to spell it out for you? F-R-I-E-N-D-S Haven't I made it obvious? Haven't I made it clear? Want me to spell it out for you? F-R-I-E-N-D-S F-R-I-E-N-D-S"

"Dancing on the hood in the middle of the woods On an old Mustang, where we sang Songs with all our childhood friends And it went like this, say Oops, I got 99 problems singing bye, bye, bye Hold up, if you wanna go and take a ride with me Better hit me, baby, one more time, uh Paint a picture for you and me On the days when we were young, uh Singing at the top of both our lungs"

"The art in which, unhappily, quick and clever urchins attain the highest degree of proficiency, is that of scolding. The Hindostanee vocabulary is peculiarly rich in terms of abuse ; native Indian women, it is said, excel the females of every other country in volubility of utterance, and in the strength and number of the opprobrious epithets which they shower down upon those who raise their ire. They can declaim for five minutes at a time without once drawing breath; and the shrillness of their voices adds considerably to the effect of their eloquence."

"The ornaments worn by Hindostanee females are, generally speaking, very tasteful and elegant; the pattern of the double joomka ear-rings has been borrowed by European jewellers, and bracelets resembling the Indian bangle are now very common; but the splendid necklaces, so richly carved as to glitter like precious stones, are more rarely seen ; they are formed of a series of drops beautifully wrought and suspended from a closely-linked gold chain of exquisite workmanship."

"At Allahabad, on the celebration of the Mohurrum, some of the leading persons repaired to the judge to request that the Hindoos, who were about to perform some of their idolatrous worship, should not be permitted to blow their trumpets, and beat their drums, and bring their heathenish devices in contact with the sad and holy solemnity, the manifestations of their grief for the death of the Imaums. They represented, in the most lively manner, the obligation which Christians were under to support the worshippers of the true God against infidels, and were not satisfied with the assurance that they should not be molested by the intermixture of the processions, which should be strictly confined to opposite sides of the city. The Hindoos were equally tenacious in upholding their rights, and it became neceuary to draw out the troopa for the prevention of bloodshed."

"Since the conquest of the city by Arungzebe, Moosulman architecture has reared its light and elegant erections, amid the more heavy and less tasteful structures of Hindu creation. From a mosque, built upon the ruins of a heathen temple, spring those celebrated minarets, which now rank amid the wonders of the city. Their lofty spires shoot up into the golden sky from a dense cluster of buildings, crowning the barbaric pomp below with graceful beauty."

"Natural history studies are fun, rewarding and an invaluable source of information."

"In recent decades the effects of environmental change on insect populations has been the focus of my research. It is widely recognised that invasive alien species, climate change and habitat destruction are all major players in the declines of many insects. Ladybirds are no exception."

"I’ve worked for BAS for 10 years, I’ve sailed on both the James Clark Ross and the Ernest Shackleton so to have the honour of welcoming the Sir David Attenborough in as the Harbour Master was a really big moment."

"The Falkland Islands is an amazing place, with a rich maritime heritage. I'm looking forward to building on that while driving forward maritime safety and standards in the new role."

"One of the ways in which all universities could contribute substantially to their home societies is by helping students obtain a better understanding of the development and interdependencies over time of our seemingly fragmented globe."

"Dramatic in their scope though the maritime empires once were, it is overland empires that have proved more resilient, and variations of them are still with us. The United States, Russia, China and India call themselves nation-states, but all of them are in reality products of, and marked by, different imperial enterprises; and their respective rulers on occasion still behave accordingly. Think of Donald Trump’s casual suggestion last August that the US purchase Greenland. At the time, many put this down to Trump being Trump. In fact, he was acting in conformity with many of his predecessors. US presidents proposed purchasing Greenland in the 1860s and 1940s, and American politicians did succeed in buying other vast tracts of land, Alaska, for instance, and the huge Louisiana Purchase in 1803."

"The men who dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 were deploying technology that had taken decades to develop. Nonetheless, in carrying out that act, these US airmen did effect an almost immediate transformation in the nature of warfare and in attitudes towards it."

"Consider the terrible outbreak of plague in the 14th century known as the Black Death. Europe suffered disproportionately, losing perhaps 50 per cent of its total population. One result of this, however, was that the living standards and wages of many of those who survived seem to have improved. This, it has been suggested, led in time to a marked increase in Europeans’ food consumption and demand for consumer goods. And this rise in demand may well in turn have contributed to the increasing number of European trading voyages across the world’s oceans in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries."

"Given the current bitter polarisation of political allegiances, it is important to remember that national groupings have never been homogeneous and are rarely static. Of course, there are some persistent habits and patterns of thought and behaviour in all long-standing states. But countries and their populations are not just mixed in terms of ethnicity, politics, religion and much more, they also change over time, sometimes rapidly and radically."

"Perhaps the most recurring and paradoxical trigger of change in human society has been war."

"The second amendment, passed in 1791, allowing US citizens access to arms, was manageable when most firearms were muskets that took minutes to load."

"It’s not just about giving a voice to those otherwise unheard but trying to demonstrate by example, a new way of living and thinking about money."

"Over the next few decades one billion lives and trillions of pounds will be at risk due to a single issue: climate change."

"All art is political and most artists want to change something in the world; they want to spur action."

"All is fair in love and art but nothings ever fine in war."

"It is about recognising dual materiality, understanding where we can invest to make the world a better place and where risks may impact our bottom line."

"You cannot always bang the drum for financial returns."

"And then can I have the naked chef David Beckham?"

"I am so speechless right now. I didn't know what my reaction would be, and then that just happened. I'm so, so grateful for all the support I had today. This is by far the biggest court I've played on. I think I coped quite well in the beginning, I just tried to hold my nerve. When I was packing to come into the bubble, my parents said, 'Aren't you packing too much match kit?' I think I'm going to have to do some laundry tonight."

"Felt like the hardest thing in the world."

"You say, "I want to win a Grand Slam." But to have the belief I did, and actually executing, winning a Grand Slam. I can't believe it. My dad is definitely very tough to please. But I managed to today."

"I really respect Nigel, and me and Nigel got on great. I think very very highly of him, but I think at this stage of my development a fresh voice, and fresh eyes are sometimes good"

"I need someone who has experience at the high levels"

"Torben is a great guy. I really enjoyed my time with him on and off the court. He is one of the nicest people I've met so obviously it was a tough one to split with someone like that. But I feel like right now I'm very comfortable with my current training. I'm feeling very confident in what I'm doing and how I'm working. I think Torben has been great for me because when I wanted someone with tour experience, I think for my first six months on the tour, it was very valuable."

"We didn’t agree on the terms and there were some red flags that just couldn’t be ignored."

"I have really enjoyed Seb's coaching and working with him, it's unfortunate that circumstances made it unfeasible for both of us to continue right now and we have decided to part ways."

"I'd like to thank Nick for a great partnership over the last year and a bit, especially post-surgeries. I wish him all the best in his next chapter and no doubt we'll stay in touch."

"Emma and Vlado have parted ways. Emma has utmost respect for Vlado and the work they started but it wasn't quite heading in the right direction. Emma is now focused on doing as well as she can here in Miami after a solid start today and will continue looking for the right coach.""

"The way we stopped working together was totally amicable. My job at the start with her was going to be just Miami. Then obviously it became longer through to Wimbledon, and then obviously she had three days with Francis Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach, after Wimbledon and that went well. But he couldn’t start due to other commitments until Cincinnati. So, around the work stuff that I have, we stayed in contact, and I helped her up in Montreal as best I could. But eventually my commitments were going to be too much to be a lead person for her in that environment."

"Thank you for our time together. You have been more than a coach to me and I will cherish the many good times we spent together on and off the court. While we have come to the conclusion together that we ought not to move forward, please know I am very grateful for all you have taught me and fond of our time shared."

"In football I enjoyed competing and wanted to be the best.That was also part of it.There were quite a few factors.I loved the game,it was a great way to socialize and I liked playing against girls because it meant competing on a level playing field."

"Football was just the playing I enjoyed at first,but the longer you're playing the more it becomes a social event.You meet new people and make new friends.I still know some of the people I played with when I was 11-years-old, which is nice."

"I think any sport needs to be accessible, affordable and practiced within the confines of a safe environment.Parents who have young children want to be able to leave their child somewhere which has good facilities and where they're going to be looked after."

"I think part of being a good coach is knowing how to extract the best from different people."

"A great football team is the right balance and the right mixture of players.Good leaders, good communicators and good technicians.You need people that are strategically astute.People need passion, desire and most importantly, a willingness to keep learning."

"In order to play some sports there's quite a big cost implication, whereas football is relatively cheap.All you need is a ball and a couple of jumpers to practice."

"I think you can learn lots of skills playing football.Team building is one.You also learn how to solve problems within your team. Sometimes you find yourself playing with players that you don't necessarily like, but you have to put your differences aside for the good of the team.It gives you skills that you may not appreciate at the time."

"There are lots of positives to come out of playing all sports, not just football.Team games can offer you different life skills than an individual sport can.Football improves your time management you have to be places on time and disciplined in terms of training."

"If you want to make it as a sportsperson, become knowledgeable in the sport you want to participate in.Think about the sport and what it can offer in its entirety.You shouldn't want to become a professional sportsperson because of the money.There's a lot more to gain from being involved in sport. Work hard to get what you want.If it's your ambition, go for it.You don't have to be the best in the world to make it as an elite athlete.You need to be a grafter and be prepared to sacrifice."

"In 2018, she wrote an op-ed for the Sun addressing the "problem [of] British Pakistani men raping white girls", in reference to the Rotherham grooming-gang scandal. She was subsequently accused of being Islamophobic and was forced to quit the shadow cabinet. Given the treatment of Champion, you can see why many in the public eye opt, in the interests of self-preservation, to describe Pakistani grooming-gang members as "Asian" – if indeed they talk about the issue at all."

"Cryer said that it is because they do not want arranged marriages with “very young girls from their village” in Pakistan that Muslim men "look for very young girls through this organised sex ring that we are seeing in Keighley." She does not explain what part of "Asian culture" would lead the parents to want their sons to marry “very young girls” from Pakistan, nor why this should lead to "organised" rings of men who seek to exploit "very young", non-Muslim girls near Bradford, and get them addicted to drugs and alcohol and then turn them into prostitutes. Ann Cryer left it up to the population of Britain to assume that Hindu and Sikh and Buddhist men were also doing this, as these activities were supposedly part of “Asian culture”, rather than men from one specific religious group..."

"But the quotations of contemporaneous reports of what Cryer actually said in 2003 show that in claiming that it was to do with "Asian culture" rather than religion, she had led the public to believe the problems were nothing to do with Islam. Since Islam comes from Arabia rather than Asia, and since Asia has many religions and cultures other than those of Muslims, the public was led to believe that what was happening in Bradford involved criminal grooming gangs of many different religions. But Cryer was talking to Muslim leaders in order to get the grooming gangs to stop; there was apparently no need for her to talk to Hindu or Sikh leaders to get their youths to stop grooming young white girls. Thus, even at the time, Cryer should have been able to perceive the difference between Muslim culture and Asian culture."

"We are aware of no evidence showing that Ann Cryer spoke out about the activities of the grooming gangs before August 22 2003, when Channel 4 News disclosed the existence of the 18-month investigation into the grooming gangs by Bradford Council and West Yorkshire Police, although surely as the MP she must have known about such a major investigation into their activities. Perhaps she had known about this investigation, but had chosen to remain silent, as the previous year she came under criticism from left-wing Muslims for "damaging race relations", when she stated that "Asian gangs" in her constituency were out of control."

"It is for the Prime Minister]] to decide whether he expressed himself appropriately in the Commons. It is up to him as to whether he wants to annoy 51% of the population."

"This year, the Tory party has given us five Education Secretaries, four Chancellors, three Prime Ministers, two leadership coups—[Interruption.] And, Mr Speaker, the partridge has had to sell the pear tree to pay the gas bill. [Laughter.] Is it not the case that, after a year of Tory chaos, incompetence and self-indulgence, the best Christmas present the Prime Minister could give to the British people is a general election?"

"My focus is on how we deliver for patients and I appreciate I may not be the role model, but I am sure that the Chief Medical Officer and others will continue to be role models in that regard and I will do my best as well. I will probably get all sorts of comments, Nick, but nevertheless, on a more serious matter, I have been a patient of the NHS too and have had some brilliant experiences and I have had some experiences where it could have been better. My focus is on patients and that is what I will be making sure the department focuses on too."

"It's important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country. A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce and tomatoes and similar, but I'm conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world try to satisfy."

"I'm frankly fed up with the right to roam campaign. The only things that have rights to roam are farmers, their pigs and cattle."

"Have a cup of tea when you’re feeling blue/have a cup of tea when Prince Harry didn’t choose you"

"Women are made to feel grateful for progress but there is still so much to be done to reach equity (& that isn't just equal pay). Players associations are a vital part of reaching this. India women will dominate the global stage when as much thought goes into their game as the men"

"Her tone of voice and style of commentary is both passionate and knowledgeable. Isa Guha is the best female cricket commentator in the world and of quite possibly of all-time,"

"If Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé and Hailey Bieber can rock a G-string bikini with unparalleled confidence, then why the hell can't the rest of us? Our bums are as worthy of soaking up the sun as any other part of the body. Get those peaches out!"

"It has not been a fab day for me, I have to say...I am very disappointed because I feel like I am in an amazing place. I couldn’t feel my legs [after grimacing in the semi-final], it was a bit weird, but at the end of the day, I can still run, it’s not really a problem. I am in much better shape than that so I am very disappointed."

"It's more a case of giving it less thought...last time I really missed racing and I know I'm going to feel just the same when the baby's born. I came back (in 2007) and I'm not saying I started back running too soon 12 days after the birth but rather the scale at which I ramped it up. I had gone through a difficult labour and I didn't give my body enough time to recover."

"Germaine Greer first impinged on my own life in my final year as an undergraduate at Newnham College, Cambridge. We women students were all gathered together in the college hall for the annual Founder's Day Feast, and as we finished eating, the principal called us to order for the speeches. As a hush descended, one person continued to speak, too engrossed in her conversation to notice, her strong Australian voice reverberating round the room. At the graduates' table, Germaine was explaining with passion that there could be no liberation for women, no matter how highly educated, as long as we were required to cram our breasts into bras constructed like mini-Vesuviuses two stitched, white, cantilevered cones which bore no resemblance to the female anatomy. The willingly suffered discomfort of the Sixties bra, she opined vigorously, was a hideous symbol of male oppression."

"But I’m just someone who always wants to just play football, so I try not to let the external noise get into me. I like to stay grounded."

"The only thing I have in my armoury is that I know I'll fight. Whatever it takes, I'll fight. Even if I'm tired, I'll fight."

"You can't change a child's life, but those are the small things that can motivate them, give them a little push to keep them going."

"I just want these kids to have a mental frame of mind that is open to work as opposed to being people who just sit around and wait for things to be done. So that's why I do it."

"But there are things you get from participating in sport that will give you more substance. That's the message we need to be bringing out: you'll be healthy and happy. This is far better than anything else."

"The highs are easy to celebrate, but it's the tougher moments that you need each other for."

"You can feel like the new kid at school when you come into a new team, but everyone has been incredibly welcoming. You've just got to put yourself out there and have the conversations to get to know each other."

"Obviously, times can be tough but I think what's special in team sports is that you have each other's backs through the good times and the bad."

"I want every girl to feel like football’s a place for them, whether they want to coach, play, referee."

"Football has always been about having fun and that’s why I got into it when I was a young girl. You learn lessons about yourself and how you react in different situations."

"When you’re on the pitch, it’s easy to focus. But when you’re away from it, the noise can get quite loud sometimes. It’s just about staying focused and locked in and obviously listening to the people you trust and care about. And not letting it affect you, especially on the pitch."

"Yeah, we’re in the 21st century now – whoever you fall in love with, that’s OK as long as you’re happy."

"I always say that for when I hopefully have kids one day: as long as my kids are happy, I’m happy."

"In terms of diversity in the game, I want to be there front and centre and helping with that."

"Sometimes, don't believe everything you read."

"It's a tough process. It is emotionally and physically draining, and I get all aspects for people, but for me, you can't help who you fall in love with and if you are happy at the end of the day."

"You've just got to be happy. Life can be very short."

"I was brought up never to expect people to say no to me, because if I said I wanted to do something, then I was pushed forward and given as many resources as possible to do it by my family."

"When I was younger, I felt I had to be a rebel to pursue what I wanted to."

"If you want to become a woman footballer you don’t have to be a rebel these days. You can just follow your feet."

"Kids are never the problem; it’s nearly always the parents."

"The boys were embarrassed. There was pressure because they’d been taught that they shouldn’t be beaten by a girl."

"I’ve always been very opinionated. But I was dismissed as being angry."

"When you see somebody that looks like you, you think it’s achievable. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. So that starts with us being women at the top, but obviously then it’s about being a diverse group of women."

"I was never interested in politics at school, but the more you see the injustice in the world, how can you not have an interest in what’s going on if you care about the community you live in?"

"I can only speak on this as a woman, because that’s my group, but every single woman who has got herself to the point of playing, especially professionally, has had to face misogyny."

"So once you come into our game, there’s no way we would alienate anybody. I don’t think you would say anything in a woman’s changing room that would shock anybody because it’s so open. It’s, be who you are, celebrate who you are, because this is a safe space for you."

"In the book, I speak about, find what you love, then do it, and do it till you’ve got nothing left to give it. If I’m telling people to follow their passions and to be the best versions of themselves, how could I give my life to something that wasn’t along those guidelines?"

"I’m still waiting to find that thing that really sparks something in me."

"I like it because when you think back to key moments, you always remember the music that was playing."

"I didn’t want to be them, and I didn’t want to do what they did. But they still inspired me to be me. And I think that’s the point: that little girl doesn’t have to want to be a footballer, she just has to grow up knowing that she can do what she wants."

"I don’t want to use the word oppression, because it’s really, really harsh. But we’ve been banned, we’ve been constantly told ‘you can’t do this, you can’t do that’. But the one thing that we can be is whoever we want – whether you are gay, or you aren’t."

"The split second that they say something can affect you forever. So you’re basically making a choice: do I want to live and just be happy in my bubble and be who I am, safely? Or do I want to stand up and be open about it, but then have to be strong enough to repel all of that negativity?"

"Nothing makes me feel the way football or music do. But you choose which song you want to put on… football is out of your control."

"We know how well sport has served us…the health benefits, the self-confidence…we want to make sure that’s accessible and provided as an opportunity to these younger people because it’s slowly, slowly being put backwards on the priority list."

"Being so heavily involved in sport was the best thing that ever could have happened to me going through school."

"When I look back now, when I look at the insecurities of girls that weren’t active, I never had those worries, I never had the worry of getting changed in the changing room and not liking my body, because I knew I was strong and powerful."

"Even if someone else might not have liked the way I looked, to me I was fit, I was healthy, and I looked a way that I was happy with because I knew what I was doing made me happy."

"'Love is love' - I say it all the time and people are starting to get a bit annoyed I think. It's very transferable to a lot of situations."

"But it's true, being a woman in this life is hard."

"The Indy 500 made me realize that life and racing careers are too short not to go for it"

"My interest and passion is to continue to break new ground in motorsports. I’ve been proactive over the last year in thinking about what I want to do in my career and how I can accomplish those things."

"Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by what’s demanded of me as an actor, The selfie phenomenon has taken us down a route where our identity and our values are lost."

"I remember being a youngster, running around and not having a phone and not having any kind of labeling in my mind and just free-playing … It felt timeless."

"With these reels that are 3 seconds, everything is timed and everything has an expiration, and I think that’s where social anxiety comes in."

"We’re migrating from our selfies to what we stand for, she says. I’m very, very grateful that we’re moving toward art, creativity, and community, and that’s where I think the solution lies for all of our younger generations"

"I’m telling you, I’m guaranteeing you, you are not alone. If you have a trusted contact, you [can] feel an instant where you’re not being judged. That is the doorway to your own liberation – and that is the doorway to freedom, freedom from your mind."

"A good script is a good script. I want three-dimensional, truthful characters that the audience will care about and a script that has something to say. Even if the script is just for pure entertainment and escapism it can have something to say. I look now for roles that are different from what I have done before. I want to challenge myself and people’s perceptions of me. If we challenge ourselves, we grow."

"It doesn’t matter what angle you approach a character from (because that varies) ultimately my process is the same regardless of the medium. A human approaching another human. What does this person want or rather think they want?"

"Female education in the world – every girl should have the right to education – and gender equality, hence lending my face and support to Plan UK’s ‘Because I am A Girl’ campaign. And you should watch ‘Girl Rising’ too. I also feel very strongly about supporting charities for vulnerable children. That’s why I ran the London Marathon in 2014 for Barnardo’s. Whether affected by poverty, abuse, disability, addiction or isolation, no child should ever feel that they are alone and life isn’t worth living."

"I do some conventions and that’s always really nice because you get to meet fans, But at the same time, a lot of people, they might have a favorite character, but it’s more that they’re not really thinking about you. They’re thinking about the world and I think the world is what everyone’s obsessed with, really."

"I think Harry Potter works so well because at the core of it, if you think about it, it’s about a kid that is suffering child abuse and finds his family not in family, but in friends. I think that’s such an amazing message and, obviously, it’s coupled with magic, which we all want to want to be real, all of us. And it’s coupled with really trying to process death as well, which is why I think it’s such a successful thing. Because it does all those things for children, but for adults as well."

"I know that on my day I can be unstoppable. But it’s important to do that every single week without fail."

"I do put a lot of pressure on myself to perform. I think that’s only natural."

"I’m my own worst critic and I can recognise that."

"It’s important to focus on getting better and trying not to add pressure because ultimately, when I’m enjoying it I play my best football week in, week out."

"I still need to remind myself that I’m still so young. Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself to perform when there’s still so much time."

"I’ve said to myself, Lauren, if you do pick up trophies you do need to take a moment to remember how far you’ve come, because those moments don’t come around too often."

"Having the opportunity work alongside the Roses in an off-court capacity is a very exciting prospect"

"My passion for the squad and it’s success remains the same as when I was a player. I’m looking forward to positively contributing in whatever way I can."

"Continuing to harness Jo’s experience of playing internationally over an extended period of time and of this Roses team and environment feels like not only the right thing for us to do but also helps to give us a competitive advantage heading into this World Cup"

"Her aptitude for wanting to help others perform at their best and her love for the Roses is clear for all to see and she will be a real asset for us through Cape Town"

"As a player, Jo has always managed to strike the balance of being both demanding and light-hearted. People want to listen when she speaks, such is her credibility in the global game and I have no doubt she will support the team selflessly.(Roses coach Jess Thirlby)"

"I’ve always been an active child – I was the one on school trips clambering up rocks and getting stuck while others complained about blisters and heavy bags – but more adventurous climbing was never on my radar"

"In September 2009 I climbed Mount Manaslu, the world’s eighth-highest mountain. It was, without a doubt, my toughest climb to date. I was so far out of my comfort zone. There were moments when I thought I just couldn’t do it. Each day was the hardest day of my life. I’ll always look back at that trip and remember the pain, the fear."

"To be honest, I don’t have the best memories of the summit. When I think of my successes on Everest, I don’t think of getting to the summit, I think of other scary moments, working together as a team. By that point, I’d had all the experience I needed. The summit has been hyped up by the media – there’s so much more to Everest than reaching the peak."

"One of the key things is to understand there are no limits to your knowledge (and) understanding what you can do."

"Very difficult thing to do. If you look at performance record of managers, being human hurts you and 80% of managers under-perform benchmark over short- and long-term period, it's tough game."

"I think you need to be able to focus on the secular, i.e. focus on big trends because there is so much noise that various issues bring that clearly influence the price movement in the near-term but ultimately doesn't shift the needle."

"But it's difficult, we are humans, that's why maybe machines at some point will be better at optimizing the information flow, optimizing for judgment and crowding of the market and may come up with better portfolios."

"It's having this trust in people around you; when you're thrown an opportunity - embracing it, though it may be really scary, because at the end of the day, you can do it - you have a toolbox being a professional. It's all about just breathing deeply and having allies, so having a team, you can never do stuff like that on your own"

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

"Mentally commit 100%. Redpointing requires a different approach to onsighting and you need to change your mindset. I am not a natural redpointer as I want things to happen quickly: I’m not particularly patient. But I’ve learnt that the routes do come if you persist and train appropriately. Once you can do all the moves on a project, it’s a case of trying to link them together in longer overlapping sections. It’s surprising how quickly this stage can come together."

"On one hand you know you can hang around and recover to work things out, but hanging around too long and half-trying a move over and over again depletes your power levels."

"Climbing is such a natural thing as human beings. It’s part of how we used to survive"

"They’re climbing within their comfort zone, and mitigating these risks, and choosing to do something that keeps them fit, active, healthy and happy."

"There is so much more freedom and enjoyment in a very different way. When you make your passion your job, it’s difficult to stay in love with that. This stage has brought it all back, fulfilled me again"

"It is very important for female footballers that we are role models."

"It makes you understand who we are. We fought during our work to change the mind."

"I've always had a voice, I just haven't had the courage to use it."

"But now, I think that if you believe in something or can help make a change for the better then it is important to speak up."

"As footballers, we are in a position of great opportunity. People look at us. We need to make sure that we deliver the main message."

"You have to stand there against people who are probably not supporting women's football and tell them you need more money. That, in itself, takes a lot of guts. At that point, it wasn't easy to win people over."

"Expectations and perceptions have changed around women's football, but they will know that they'll have to play their part in increasing the popularity of the game."

"How that will inspire so many young girls and boys to talk about women's football and make it the norm."

"It's looking positive, but it's probably a similar thing with both the men and women's team, they need to have a stronger mentality of knowing they have to win."

"For players of my generation – and before – there wasn’t money in the game. You were doing it because of your passion."

"I think every female footballer can relate to a woman working in a male-dominated area and championing it. We need to make sure that we support each other."

"I’ve been trying to encourage both boys and girls to get involved in football. There are so many life skills you can learn from football… I want kids to understand the game is for everybody."

"There are many things you can get out of football that you can take into the world of work."

"I don’t think we give kids enough respect for what they understand."

"When you let children lead, you see their minds work in a way that’s different to ours because we’re moulded to think a certain way as we get older."

"I hope people will look at women’s football as the norm."

"Confidence is key for any footballer."

"To be honest, everybody thought that I was a boy."

"We all have fears. And it takes a lot to be brave, be confident, and talk about it. And you never know what it may lead to."

"Well, if I had campaigns and images like these as a young girl, my journey might have been somewhat different, and I’d have felt more empowered to simply be myself."

"I think one of the most frightening statistics is that one in three women don’t want to participate in sports because of how their skin looks. When you’re faced with that statistical reality, it would make you want to be a part of anything that can help change that."

"Everything today is so visual and forced upon us – girls and women especially – that we feel as if we have to accept and apply a standardised version of what’s ‘beautiful’."

"It’s important that they feel like they can be who they’d like to be and move how they’d like to move."

"Yeah, I think there are a lot of tangible barriers that you see regarding women’s sport, especially football. But, I feel what’s often overlooked are the intangible ones; the societal barriers that have been plaguing us for years for example."

"We’re often told to be quiet or be careful, which as a way of growing up, I find to be quite unhealthy. So, already being able to talk about your skin with other people allows you to celebrate it, as you’re all in the same boat. That’s really important to me."

"As athletes, too, you’re prone to thinking about your physical appearance because of how much you’re in the public eye. You question whether you should post one picture instead of another because of how you might look, and those pressures come from wider societal perceptions and expectations of how women should look."

"People don’t realise how much football can do beyond on the pitch."

"Having females and people of multi ethnic and minority groups in higher-up positions will give young people the hope that they can reach the top too."

"I want people to see that women are capable and accepted. I want to see people like me in powerful positions to know they’re looking out for women like me too."

"Some of us play sport as a living, and we’re really privileged to do so. But for the majority of people across the world, sport is a vehicle for keeping healthy and active."

"By accepting that there are barriers to women’s participation in particular, we are accepting that there isn’t a level playing field. That’s not a sustainable position to be in."

"Under participation in women’s sport is a global concern. There are plenty of factors that contribute to the problem – a lack of facilities, a lack of real and genuine opportunities, and a perception of being less valued than our male counterparts."

"As an athlete myself, we went through loads of psychological training and exercises, When you get to the very top level, the difference does come down to what goes on between your ears - technically, tactically - it’s very, very close and the margin for error is tiny"

"I’m working with the team individually to help them to understand themselves better, how to get to their performance mindset and create consistency within their game, as well working with the full squad and developing a whole, solid team culture that people want to be a part of, so they are also getting the best out of themselves and each other."

"It is incredibly important that people can be themselves, whatever it is and the more that people are able to welcome that and encourage and celebrate our difference the greater our team’s success will be. It goes hand in hand, if someone feels comfortable and is able to be themselves, the more successful that team will be."

"The first thing as an Olympic athlete if you get selected to go to Paris, as soon as you are selected, not as a reserve, in the starting team, everything else goes out the window. Then you can breathe and focus on the job."

"We were constantly, analysing and thinking, maybe overthinking. But you learn to control what you can control. The run-up to the Olympics is not nice. You thrive under pressure, that’s what you do, but there nothing is in your control."

"When it came to deciding where I should apply for university, the reputation of LJMU’s sports offering was second to none and was something I was keen to experience and be a part of. I was aware that the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences had a history of nurturing world-class athletes and I knew I’d be getting an excellent quality of teaching and support."

"It’s been massively beneficial for me to be able to play football professionally and still continue with my studies at the same time. The support the university has given me has been great, in particular from my tutors and the rest of the Sports Scholarship staff who really go out of their way to guide you. In my case, being part of the Scholarship scheme and getting so much guidance from staff definitely helped me to strike the right balance, and commit to both my studies and professional endeavors to the very best of my ability."

"The teaching curriculum on the Sport and Exercise Science course was also massively applicable to my career. Everything I learned in lectures could be related back to myself as an athlete. It also provided me with a valuable opportunity to continue to progress in my career, while still obtaining an education. It was certainly a challenging experience but it’s one that definitely enabled me to better myself as a person, improve my time-management skills and further develop qualities that I hope will continue to set me up for future success."

"Before February, I hadn’t really thought about an international call-up for a number of years, to be quite honest, Not that I didn’t want it to happen, but I just thought maybe that time had been and gone."

"I think you always need some timing and luck in your career, I think that did come together [with] more game time, scoring some goals and I just felt like I was in a good place."

"I was really proud to be out there and to be called upon was great. When [the coaching staff] shouted me, I thought ‘Oh wow. There’s a lot I need to remember over the next couple of minutes!’ I was just trying to soak it all in. It was amazing to get out there."

"I think you never want to be playing on someone else’s misfortune, but luckily we found out that Keira’s injury obviously wasn’t too long-term or serious, so that is brilliant news."

"To be honest when I found out I wasn’t picked for the April camp I actually thought that was my World Cup dream over."

"I think for a couple of days I really thought I’ve worked so hard all season, and it’s just not meant to be, but we had some really important games at Manchester United, obviously fighting for the league title and the FA Cup final."

"We’ve got players that can come on now and change the game. And we believe that our team’s very talented, it’s a close knit group and it’s amazing to be a part of"

"We’re definitely playing better and hopefully, we need a big win and hopefully that happens against Belgium."

"I think maybe people look at the results, but I think we’ve definitely improved. What we’re doing on the ball, what Pedro is encouraging us to do – close connections – everyone feels confident now."

"We are in a good place; we have had a good couple of weeks of training and it’s up to us to go and get the three points. We need to see it as an opportunity to put things right and show what we can do."

"I think it’s an advantage that there’s a few familiar faces for me, so I know what I’m going to be up against."

"It’s so important we keep up our unbeaten run at home and the fans have been massive for us, you can always hear them they really are like the 12th player for us"

"Or does the Prime Minister's advice to women simply consist of following her example and finding herself a wealthy husband?"

"What is this National Marriage Week? [...] I don't know why my colleagues are suddenly so fond of the word."

"[Primarolo was married to her second husband] [So] you could say I'm into the institution. When I was a single mother my son happily described our family as me, him, our dog and our cats."

"[On her earlier membership of the Campaign Group of left-wing MPs] I was hell-raising. I'm not saying I haven't made my mistakes but I don't regret anything: it's all been part of my learning curve."

"If I were a politician who said, I've never learnt anything and I don't look around me and see that circumstances change [...] then people would say, this person does not deserve to be a Member of Parliament. How can you be responsive to people and allow your own politics and ideas to develop if you don't take on change."

"We used to go in the chamber and sit next to each other when one of us spoke to support the speaking member, because the catcalls across the chamber were designed, as they always are, to undermine you and put you off."

"[On dealing with sexism from male MPs] One of our colleagues from the northern group had complained about Mo [Mowlam]'s swearing, and he was in the tea room when we got there. So she said: "Oh, it's all right, I won't swear today. But you need to understand the real problems I'm having with my period." I've never seen anybody run faster out of the tea rooms."

"If a family can walk out of the hospital having lost their child and say that they couldn't have been better supported, then I can go home and feel OK."

"It is really difficult to spot a sick child."

"Children are well one minute and very sick the next. So you have much less time than you have with adults."

"Half the kids in A&E outpatients need not be in hospital and, if you come to hospital, you are more likely to be admitted."

"Someone will bring in a baby because the baby has green poo, but grandma could have been able to say 'that's normal'."

"I have been disappointed by the lack of evidence on the long-term impact of taking hormones from an early age; research has let us all down, most importantly you. The reality is we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress."

"We've got it locked into this focus on medical interventions. And certainly some of the young adults said to us, they wish they'd known when they were younger, that there were more ways of being trans than just a binary medical transition."

"Because of the toxicity of the debate, [children have] often been bypassed by local services who've been really nervous about seeing them. So rather than doing the things that they would do for other young people with depression or anxiety, or perhaps undiagnosed autistic spectrum disorder, they’ve tended to pass them straight on to the Gids service."

"There are many of us within the LGBT community who fully support trans rights but who do not support the trans extremism which is currently being advocated by Stonewall and others. I emphatically object to any formal association with Stonewall."

"This win demonstrated the discrimination and aggravated discrimination to which I personally was subjected by a set of barristers who define and present themselves as defenders of human rights, but it also demonstrated the institutional approaches and beliefs that cause that discrimination to arise - as is now being demonstrated in other cases brought by other women against other institutions."

"Any ideology that cannot be questioned is dangerous and yet that is how Stonewall have infiltrated so many of our institutions. In picking on Bailey they have found a woman who has fought her entire life. Is this really a good look, Stonewall? Trying to destroy a black lesbian? We watch agog. Bailey, like any other woman, gay or straight, can think what the hell she likes. Is she really your enemy, Stonewall? Seriously, who do you represent now?"

"Lesbian Visibility Week starts today in the UK. A good moment to salute the resilience and courage of my inspirational friend. #IStandWithAllisonBailey"

"That a gay rights charity stands accused of discriminating against a black lesbian illustrates how wrong it is to assume the rights and interests of all LGBTQ+ people perfectly align. Of course, that has not stopped white men telling Bailey that her concept of womanhood is not only wrong, it makes her a bigot."

"My first TV job asked me shave my legs and I refused. The cameras all zoomed in on my leg hairs and the 40-strong male crew treated me to a rendition of "Gillette, the best a man can get". I unfortunately bumped into Jim Davidson in the corridor and he shouted "Not only has she got hairy legs, she's wearing men's shoes!” as he pointed at my Doc Martens."

"I was groped by my childhood hero. I watched soap operas religiously and loved one well-known soap star, but he touched me up during my first ever rep job. He stroked my bum in the canteen queue and went, "Mmm, nice arse." The next day, I saw him in the corridor and wanted to bolt. Instead, I grabbed his crotch, and said, "Mmm, nice bollocks." He never spoke to me again. Quite awkward because we were in a play together."

"[I]t shot this two-day rape scene with a young actress and then they cut it. [...] I was in favour of them never having that rape scene but the fact she had to go through that and then the director went: "Actually I have decided I will cut it", as if he was the big hero. This kind of thing has to stop. But unfortunately you look at Netflix and you see the amount of violence against women in a lot of shows and you see we still have a long way to go."

"I guess you could say that, moving from banking, I am one of the few people entering politics to be going to a more popular profession."

"Until this government's formation just over a year ago, every generation of women has enjoyed greater opportunity. My great-grandmother was a cockle picker on the south coast of Wales, my grandmother worked in shoe factories, and my mother is a primary school teacher. But this expectation that women of the next generation will do better than the one before is now fundamentally threatened."

"Unless you take swift action in the wake of a financial crisis the problems stick around for 10 to 20 years."

"The real cause of what is happening now is a terrorist attack. If Britain or any other country was attacked by terrorists, we would believe, and rightly so, that we have every right to defend ourselves, to get back hostages and to protect our citizens. Israel is no different. It has every right to defend itself. [...] Of course, it has to abide by international rules of engagement."

"I want to see a Palestinian state existing alongside a safe and secure Israel and what frustrates me so much is that what Hamas has done over the last few days has set back the cause of peace that I am so desperate to see in the Middle East and that people across Labour are desperate to see in the Middle East. But terrorism is not the way to get there and I am appalled by what we have seen."

"I also know that many of you have concerns closer to home, about the antisemitism, the anti-Zionism and the anti-Israeli feeling that is allowed to flourish in some communities in Britain. And so we stand alongside you here at home as well and will ensure that the police do everything within their powers to hold responsible anybody who behaves in that way here at home. And we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community here in Britain, not just today but every single day."

"“I feel like in many ways, I’m standing on their shoulders… I believe the biggest impact that I can make to the lives of ordinary women, women who go out to work, is to close the gender pay gap once and for all.”"

"“I’m not going to let [critics] stop me from doing what this government’s got a mandate to do, and that is to grow the economy, to make working people better off.”"

"“In too many areas, regulation still acts as a boot on the neck of businesses, choking off the enterprise and innovation that is the lifeblood of growth.”"

"“The global economy has become more uncertain … The increased global uncertainty has had two consequences. First, on our public finances. And second, on the economy.”"

"“These fiscal rules are non-negotiable. They are the embodiment of this government’s unwavering commitment to bring stability to our economy.”"

"“We are renewing Britain. But I know that too many people in too many parts of our country are yet to feel it. This government’s task, my task as Chancellor and the purpose of this spending review is to change that.”"

"“This is going to be the most pro-growth, pro-business Treasury that this country has ever seen.”"

"“We have seen global economic uncertainty play out in the last week. But leadership is not about ducking these challenges, it is about rising to them. The economic headwinds that we face are a reminder that we should – indeed, we must – go further and faster in our plan to kick-start economic growth.”"

"“Growth … is now our national mission.”"

"“This government was given a mandate. To restore stability to our country, and to begin a decade of national renewal. … To deliver that investment we must restore economic stability and turn the page on the last 14 years"

"“The government will change its self-imposed debt rules in order to free up billions for infrastructure spending … so that we can grow our economy and bring jobs and growth to Britain.”"

"“The most recent GDP … are very positive … That is good news and does show we are beginning to turn the corner.”"

"“Without growth, we cannot cut hospital waiting lists or put more police on the streets. … Without growth, we cannot meet our climate goals… or give the next generation the opportunities that they need to thrive.”"

"“I’m confident that our plans, far from increasing poverty, will actually result in more people having fulfilling work, paying a decent wage to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.”"

"“Today I am taking immediate action to fix Britain’s economic foundations. … By growing our economy we can rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off.”"

"“That is why we on this side of the house are serious about taking the action needed to grow our economy. Backing the builders, not the blockers.”"

"I believe fundamentally in people's right to self-ID. [...] I think that crimes that are recorded should be recorded as that person wishes, having gone through that process, received support and self-identified. I think trans women are women, I think trans men are men, so I think they should be accommodated in a prison of their choosing."

"No, I don't. I care deeply about safe spaces for women. I know from personal experience there is a generation of women who fought very hard to create and protect safe spaces, that it matters. Where you have women who want to have a genuine debate about how better to protect them, it's a very welcome debate. But that has to start with the recognition that trans men are men, trans women are women and that they exist."

"The British welfare state was not simply a radical, leftist project but a warfare state, an imperial state, a conservative and patriarchal state where brown and black people were not welcome."

"Even as the substantive concerns of political philosophers have begun to shift as new subject matter enters the philosophical domain, much debate still takes place in the shadow of a set of ideas that reflect the assumptions of a different age. There are benefits to working within an intellectual tradition, but there can also be costs if the tradition struggles to shed light on changing circumstances. After all, radicals in the United States are drawing more inspiration from Marxism than from liberalism."

"Harmony, with ev'ry grace, Plays in the fair proportions of her face."

"No more to fabled names confined, To thee, supreme, all-perfect mind, My thoughts direct their flight: Wisdom's thy gift, and all her force From thee derived, unchanging source Of intellectual light! O send her sure, her steady ray To regulate my doubtful way Through life's perplexing road, The mists of error to control, And through its gloom direct my soul To happiness and good!"

"I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China. ... I don’t know who it was... . It must have been a man... a well-educated man. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing . .. And God looked down... and saw Gladys Aylward ... And God said— “Well, she’s willing!”"

"My father ... went on to a position in the mathematics department of the University of East Anglia. While I was growing up, the elementary school I attended was extremely ethnically homogeneous. I was unable to escape from heavy issues concerning race, which my mother always explained in a political context."

"My parents separated after my father resigned his university position to focus on his inventions, and my mother then finished her education and became a school mathematics teacher. We moved to a very cosmopolitan area of London, which was like a new birth for me; it was there that my interest in mathematics really began."

"I learned mathematics on my own from textbooks which is perhaps strange given that both my parents were involved in the subject. At the same time, I spent a good deal of time studying art and wanted to follow a career in that direction until I was eventually convinced by my family that I should first work for a mathematics degree to ensure that I could earn a living."

"I went to Cambridge, which represented a second major change in my life. As I learned more mathematics, I saw that it is an entire world of its own which many people choose to live in, a world in many ways more real than the real world; it feels permanent, eternal, and offers a deep sense of security because nearly everyone who understands it agrees on what is truth. By the time I had finished at Cambridge, I was very involved with mathematics and did not consider other careers."

"I would like to thank John Garnett for a lot of very helpful advice."

"I do research on a variety of problems in condensed matter physics. My primary interests are in the general field of statistical mechanics."

"My research is in the field of spectral geometry, the study of how the shape of an object affects the modes in which it can resonate. A famous question in the field is, can one hear the shape of a drum? Spectral geometry bridges different branches of science, including engineering and physics, as well as a number of different fields of mathematics. However, quite different sorts of questions are studied within each discipline. I am a mathematical analyst, which gives me an appreciation for the infinite and the infinitesimal. At the moment, one of the things I am working on understanding is the total wavelength of a surface like a sphere or something of greater complexity, such as the surface of a bagel or a pretzel. What is this total wavelength? If you strike a surface it can resonate at any one of a list of frequencies, and the wavelength of the sound produced by the vibration is inversely proportional to the frequency. In the mathematically idealized model there are infinitely many possible wavelengths. The total wavelength should be the sum of all of these individual wavelengths except that this infinite sum equals infinity. Fortunately, a finite number can be assigned to it by a slightly elusive process called regularization. (This process is also used in mathematical physics to mysteriously obtain true answers from formulas which do not really make sense!) I first became interested in the total wavelength as a model related to a question which can be roughly stated as, can one hear the shape of the universe? However, the total wavelength shows up in many quite different areas of mathematics and I am finding these connections intriguing."

"I am a mathematical analyst, and most of my research is in the area of spectral geometry. Problems in spectral geometry are also studied by various kinds of geometers, number theorists, applied mathematicians, mathematical physicists, and others. What is Spectral geometry? Spectral geometry most usually means the study of how the geometry of an object is related to the natural frequencies of the object. These are the frequencies at which the object can vibrate. A vibrating object often produces a sound, and the frequencies can be heard as the dominant tone and the overtones of the sound. The well known question highlighting what spectral geometry is all about is the question "Can one hear the shape of a drum?" I am a mathematical analyst, and most of my research is in the area of spectral geometry. Problems in spectral geometry are also studied by various kinds of geometers, number theorists, applied mathematicians, mathematical physicists, and others. In mathematical terms, the natural frequencies of an object (or rather their squares) are the eigenvalues of a partial differential operator called the Laplacian. This Laplacian takes each function defined on the object and differentiates it twice to give a new function. The eigenvalues of the Laplacian form an infinite sequence of numbers tending to infinity. In spectral geometry we study how these numbers depends on the shape of the object. For people who like to know the full story, I should mention that many spectral geometers (including me) who work on the Laplacian on smooth manifolds study the whole sequence of eigenvalues of the Laplacian. Now the low eigenvalues can give accurate values for the frequencies at which a real life object vibrates, but the very high eigenvalues do not correspond to genuine physical vibrations of the object because of molecular forces and damping. These effects are not included in the model where the vibration is driven by the Laplacian alone. This means that my research is rather different from that of an engineer who wishes to model precisely the vibrations of a real life object. In actual fact the questions I work on are more closely related to mathematics arising in quantum physics and string theory. In addition, I don't always study the Laplacian, but also the eigenvalues of other operators, which might represent other physical quantities than the frequencies of vibration. I mostly study spectral geometry for nice smooth objects such as spheres and tori, but some people work on rough objects and even discrete objects like graphs. In the last eight years, I have worked mostly on the spectral zeta function, which is an infinite sum of powers of the eigenvalues. In particular, I have worked on the zeta-regularised determinant, which is used in topology, quantum field theory, and string theory. Recently, I have been very interested in the sum of squares of the wavelength of a surface, which is related to all kinds of different things including vortex theory."

"Although I cannot claim to find it easy to balance my ambitions in mathematical research with the desire to be a good parent, to be an inspiring teacher, or to effect positive social change in the world, I do feel very fortunate to be able to spend my life tackling these challenges, which are extremely interesting and important to me."

"I had always had this big dream of becoming a singer but the truth is I was terrified of what everyone would think of me."

"When you don’t have an idea of where your next paycheck is coming from, it can take a toll on you."

"There was a wonderful cast for 'Alice'. Stanley Brett, 's brother, played the ; Tom Graves, brother of , played the and ; Will Bishop, himself, was the First Lobster and the Golliwog; and was played by the beautiful . The rest of the cast were: as the and ; Florrie Arnold as the ; Rita Leggerio as the ; Harry Ulph as the and the ; as the Duchess and the ; Euphan Maclaren as the Cook; Marjorie West as the ; as the Dormouse; Margaret Fraser as the Second Lobster; Alice Dubarri as the First Fairy and the Rose; Julian Cross as the and the ; Florence Lloyd as the and the ; Harold Borrett as the and the . took the parts of the Executioner, the , and ; Carmen Sylva, the Lily; Dorrit MacLaxen, the Red Knight; Leslie Bilbe, the Lion; John Hobbs, the Unicorn; Tom Jones, the Leg of Mutton; Ethel Evans, the Plum Pudding. In Act I, I emerged from a large oyster shell, dressed as a little sailor boy, and danced a hornpipe. This seemed to me slightly incongruous, as I was supposed to be the First Oyster; but nobody minded."

"The matinee witnessed the close of an era—an era which saw the birth and childhood of an English ballet. That era is past: English ballet has now reached the period of adolescence and a bright future stretches before it. How precarious its very existence was in the early days, and what a wonderful tonic the precept and example of Phyllis Bedells proved only the more elderly of us can know."

"Perhaps I should have been more persistent."

"Eliza Orme had argued more generally in the 1890s that it was necessary to break down conventional barriers, allowing “each individual to do what natural talent prompts rather than what social status demands”"

"Things look more hopeful now than ever."

"Eliza Orme’s Ambitions fills out earlier scant accounts of this intriguing life, while speculating about why it has been overlooked."

"I am aware that my application is most unusual and no doubt without precedent, but trust that the Masters of the bench will give it their serious consideration and I should, in the event of a favourable reply, be pleased to conform to any special rules they may think fit to impose."

"Cave challenged the male exclusivity of the legal profession."

"She is the model of determination and icon for anyone who is or feels like an ‘outsider’"

"Miss Cave had humble legal aspirations and sought only to provide counsel should she be allowed to pursue a legal career. She did not aspire to the Bench."

"What afflicts the church and excites the murmur of the people and diminishes their esteem for you, is that, in spite of the tears and lamentations of whole provinces, you have not sent a single nuncio. Often for matters of little importance your cardinals have been sent to remote parts with sovereign powers, but in this desperate and deplorable affair, you have not sent so much as a single subdeacon or even an acolyte. The kings and princes of the earth have conspired against my son, the anointed of the Lord. One keeps him in chains while another ravages his lands; one holds him by the heels while the other flays him. And while this goes on, the sword of Saint Peter reposes in its scabbard. Three times you have promised to send legates and they have not been sent. In fact, they have rather been leashed than sent [potius ligati quam legati]. If my son were in prosperity, we should have seen them running at his call, for they well know the munificence of his recompense. Is this the meaning of your promises to me at Châteauroux, made with so many protestations of friend-ship and good faith? Alas! I know today that the promises of your cardinals are nothing but vain words. Trees are not known by their leaves, nor even by their blossoms, but by their fruits. In this wise we have known your cardinals."

"My posterity has been snatched from me...The young king and the Count of Britanny sleep in dust. Their unhappy mother is forced to live on, ceaselessly tormented by their memory...I have lost the staff of my age, the light of my eyes."

"Femina consilio prudens, pia, prole beata, Auxit amicitiis, auxit honore virum."

"I received an Instagram DM from Maria, completely out of the blue, asking if I wanted to jump on a Zoom call with her. I was like: “Er, yes I do, you’re Maria!” I have been a fully paid up member of Beauty Pie for years and love the products. If I find something good, I want to talk about it, so I was organically chatting about a couple of their products and I guess they noticed. Marcia invited me to create a collection of nine must-have items."

"It’s still weird to call this my work. It is a hobby that became a business. I guess what I do online is the advert for the jobs that make me money."

"There are so many influencers who do so many things, and I specifically will only talk about make-up and beauty."

"I love that I can take the dogs into Jarrolds and John Lewis in Norwich, which is another of my favourite places to shop partly because it is such a nostalgic building for me, and whilst it may not be independent"

"I don’t have a lot of time to myself, but I am on my own when I go to my studio which is my thinking time. I lock the door behind me, make a coffee, sit down and think: “Right, what’s on my list for today"

"I’ve re-bought Marianne Faithfull’s autobiography Faithfull so many times, as I keep loaning it to people. I am fascinated by women who are strong but don’t hide their flaws. She forged her own path and is brutally honest about her mistakes"

"I recently discovered that I’m a Virgo after an astrologer read my chart. I always thought I was a Leo as I’m on the cusp. When I saw this ring with its tiny diamond Virgo constellation in New York, I had to buy it. It makes sense to me now why I’m so analytical"

"This photo of my siblings [Nic, now 36, and John and Jim, both 29] and I was taken in the pre-digital age when I was about 19. We’ve all gone on to have our own YouTube channels, but I love pictures like this because they captured the moment and were not polished – unlike social media today"

"There's a lot of incorrect information out there. Most of our subscribers don't have the intention of becoming makeup artists, they're just looking for daily techniques for themselves. Aspiring makeup artists may enjoy our videos, but they understand that they need proper training and on-set experience."

"Social media is this massive digital concept I can't fully wrap my head around—who knows what the future holds? I'm not pinning my livelihood on it and I'm trying to make the right decisions for myself and my family. We just want to keep producing high quality content with a credible and authentic voice that's enjoyable for our subscribers to watch."

"My advice? Stay under the radar. Keep to yourself, keep working and stay polite. Never bite! This is a small industry and people talk—your reputation can instantly be ruined with a little gossip."

"Having a glamorous mum was my first insight into changing the face with makeup. When I got a little older I found out that my aunt was a makeup artist working with superstar celebs. My mind was made up!"

"“My first beauty memory is watching my mum apply blue mascara.”"

"“Initially, I wanted to be a singer.”"

""When I started filming makeup tutorials, YouTube had only been around for one year.”"

"“I’m a makeup commitment phobe. I love trying different looks and products. I have about 1500 products and brushes I rotate based on my mood.”"

"My fiction ranges from the early 20th century to the 1970s. The 1950s and 1960s are dramatic because of the rapid changes in society that took place in just a few years. The changes were especially rapid in the Roman Catholic Church, and within the Church, none more so than in communities of nuns."

"I’ve just finished Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift, and I’m now reading Nora Webster by Colm Toibin."

"But 85 per cent of women are still wearing the wrong size - honest to God. They'll come in to Rigby & Peller and they'll be falling out of their bra, the cups are sitting on top of their breasts like nipple warmers."

"When you're passionate about an issue, you do extreme things. It was around 1970, and if Jews wanted to leave Russia, they were being arrested. I didn't want my children to grow up and ask if I knew what was happening but chose to do nothing. So while they were at school, I'd go and do all these mad things."

"It's definitely the secret to a successful relationship. Your children are very important and you do everything for them, but your husband is your priority because when they've flown the nest, it's you and him."

"People say they would kill to know what I know – and that is exactly what they would have to do."

"But it was all brilliant, we got on very well and I’ve had the Royal Warrant since 1982, so I must be doing something right"

"The [Rigby & Peller] name is known all over the world, which is so satisfying because it’s what I’ve worked for"

"Harold decided he was not interested. ‘We don’t need Rigby & Peller. I don’t want Rigby & Peller. We can’t afford Rigby & Peller."

""So we developed our own method to help." This involved ditching the measuring tape and simply assessing each customer's needs by sight."

"A tape measure doesn't say, for instance, 'she's big here with a narrow back.' It just gives you numbers. But we can look at what figure type you are and find the solution immediately."

"It’s changing the way people interact with politics"

"We are seeing a power shift — people who weren’t interested in politics or felt powerless now want to become MPs, while the politicians who are successful are those who engage with issues using digital tools,"

"We are more like Facebook or Twitter than campaigning sites"

"The openness is part of why we see MPs using the site"

"but that’s separate to my role”. Most people come to the site after seeing links on Facebook, email and WhatsApp rather than Twitter, which is “a way to communicate to decision makers than drive traffic"

"I’m torn when I’m asked to be on a panel and am the only woman. Do I need to do it to make a point or do I say I won’t participate until they find more women? I’ve done that before. Subtle sexism that goes unchallenged is a big problem that you must call out"

"Subtle sexism that goes unchallenged is a big problem that you must call out"

"I often hear people say two things about today's society – that we are powerless to do anything to change things and that it doesn't matter because young people in particular don't care about politics. That makes me really annoyed, because what I see every day through our users on Change.org is that the opposite is true."

"Petitions are just the start"

"They have to have a compelling story, a tangible ask and be mobilising the people who sign it. Rarely is a petition just going to win on its own."

"I was never defined by my working hours, I was defined by what I produced. That is what we need and we need to be respectful of the best way people work. I think businesses have to think about the best way to retain talent."

"Brands and their partners must start thinking about a future that extends beyond what fits in the palm of your hand."

"I’m Client 1 of our own transformation...""

"I got quite a reputation for my Lotus skills"

"Once the highest value chunks are identified we synthesize the final answer and include citations back the underlying source documents”"

"But I think the ability to be able to scale every aspect of what we do; create key partnerships with the hyperscalers in terms of what we want to develop, invest in, procure and go to market with; it sets us up very nicely.”"

"“I think the bigger challenge, which we've all had on the cloud journey, is how you train your teams to work very closely with your partners and understand the capabilities, the economics, the telemetry and make sure that we are using it and scaling as best we can.”"

"One is [being] the technology officer who is responsible for all of the technology that powers McKinsey, all of the technology that we use to enable our clients; and then all of the platforms that enable both of those things.”"

"We still have a ways to go, but at least it's providing the ability for us to understand how we should be using Gen AI to be more agile and hopefully productive in our ability to serve our clients; to understand how we need to change our ways of working and the talent set required to do so"

"We had second-hand clothes, we lived nine years in the Ukraine without running water so no showers for nine years! It was really tough to be honest with you"

"We weren't allowed to listen to music, no TV – I didn't know who Madonna was until I was 15. We actually left home when she was 12 and I was 15 to go and sing in a nightclub. And I just feel like we've been through the mill through our lives and I just feel like life's too short to sit around and be bummed out."

"You have to be positive, you have to stay happy, and we are here today because of our positive attitudes towards it."

"Our dad is very religious. He's got his own crazy ideologies of what he thinks it's all about so no"

"We were singing our whole lives but we were doing things like Christian music that my dad wrote. He's not happy about it. And he writes us these crazy emails saying, 'Repent' and that we're sinners. All in capitals with exclamation marks"

"Leaving week one was a bit of a shock, I didn't think we'd leave this soon. But we knew it was coming and week one, week six, it doesn't really make a difference."

"I'm so proud of the both of us, we desperately wanted to get into the live shows and we did. We don't care - we're just happy we got through this far."

"We took the show one day at a time and we just had fun, and that's all that matters to us. We were ourselves and we had so much fun on the show."

"And I think we nailed Kids In America with the theme. I loved the hula hoops and the dress and the green eyebrows. It was incredible and it really represented who we were!"

"“All children should by right have quick and easy access to mental health care, regardless of their circumstances or where they live.”"

"“Children who fall through the cracks will eventually make themselves heard. It should not take a child making the headlines before we help.”"

"“Gaps in our knowledge remain about who is supposed to be providing low-level mental health support.”"

"“A failure to provide care to those with lower-level mental ill-health, such as anxiety and emotional disorders, will have clear consequences.”"

"“The immediate changes that need to happen must start with the mechanisms to identify teenagers at risk of harm.”"

"“Every child at risk needs a ring of protection around them. And those in care are particularly vulnerable.”"

"“Much of this recent rise in numbers is driven by the increase in teenagers on the edge of care or entering care because their parents are unable to protect them.”"

"“All of the decisions that affect children’s lives and the services for children are so much better if you involve children … because they’re the experts in living their lives.”"

"“A lot of children who end up in real difficulties could have been had a much better experience if they’ve got help early.”"

"“It feels a very drastic step, to exclude a very young child from school. There are so many other things … you could do to help that child get on in school.”"

"“There is a misconception that these are children who can't be helped.”"

"I've been working 19-hour days ever since"

"I've been briefing Gordon Brown non-stop, he is very involved."

"We are looking at all the water treatment centres and electricity sub-stations. Then we have our waste folk - there will be a lot of gunge left"

"It dumped so much in such a short space of time - one town had six months' rain in six hours. That kind of thing is unpredictable up to the minute it happens."

"It might be better if we just built a bloody great flood defence for Upton but they don't want that because it would wreck the middle of a pretty village"

"They don't just lose their furniture, they lose their peace of mind. This has been like a mass burglary. The scale is huge and not having water is not good. We are going to start getting very smelly soon, this water is horrible."

"We have been pressing the idea of sustainable urban drainage for over 10 years. Because of the heavy, intense downpours and the fact there is more concrete, it overtops the systems very rapidly."

"When I was looking at what I was going to say during this debate, I was very worried because, when talking about climate and biodiversity decline, you can begin to sound like Private Frazer from “Dad’s Army”—“We’re doomed!”"

"We will have to change our current ways of doing things, of course, where too many developments threaten or destroy some of the most precious habitats for the storage of carbon and the support of biodiversity—vital carbon sinks such as, as the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, said"

"The story of Pilgrims is not just a historical chronicle; it is a tribute to the faith of the early pioneers, the spirit of the patients and their families who inspired its inception, and the skill and dedication of the staff, volunteers, and fundraisers who have worked tirelessly to keep the ship afloat over the past 40 years. It is a positive example of a small acorn giving birth to mighty oak trees."

"We remain the welcoming face that will guide people through some of the most difficult times, the support of the community fills our hearts with great joy as we continue our journey to help even more people each year."

"Stephen also, count of Blois, was despised and shamed by almost everyone, because in 1098 he had disgracefully fled from the siege of Antioch and deserted his glorious comrades who were suffering in Christ's martyrdom. He was so often reproached, by so many people, that he was forced to rejoin Christ's army, as much from embarrassment as from fear. His wife Adela also frequently urged him to go, and between caresses of her loving husband she would say: "Far be it from you, my lord, to deign to suffer the reproaches of such men for long. Recapture the famous vigour of your youth, and take up the weapons of the glorious army for the salvation of many thousands, so that there may be a great rejoicing arising from Christians all over the world, and terror for the heathen, and the public overthrow of their wicked law.""

"Had with mooming the gods left their willes undon, They had not so soone herited such a soule: Or if the mouth Tyme did not glotten up all, Nor I, nor the world, were depriv'd of my sonne. Whose brest Venus, with a face dolefull and milde, Dooth wash with golden teares, inveying the skies; And when the water of the goddesses eyes Makes almost alive the marble of my childe; One byds her leave styll her dollor so extreme, Telling her — it is not her young sonne Papheme! To which she makes aunswer with a voice inflamed (Feeling therewith her venime to be more bitter) "As I was of Cupid, even so of it, mother; And a woman's last chylde is the most beloved.""