"We are an enemy of the nuclear threat and we are an enemy of testing nuclear weapons in the South Pacific. New Zealand did not buy into this fight. France put agents into New Zealand. France put spies into New Zealand. France lets off bombs in the Pacific. France puts its President in the Pacific to crow about it."

"I often write about the period and I do so with wistfulness rather than triumph. It is a period which was absolutely significant in New Zealand's history. It was a period which was calling out for the government we had in 1984 to 1987 and it was a chance where the social richness of New Zealand could have been enhanced because of its economic wealth and where instead the obsession for money overran any form of political, social, human sense."

"If the American global strategy is dependent on the ability of nuclear ships to come to New Zealand, then God defend the world."

"I agreed with the prevailing opinion in the Labour Party about nuclear weapons; I went on ban-the-bomb marches in the 1960s and I have not changed my mind about nuclear deterrence since. But I found it hard to accept the Labour Party’s policy that required the exclusion of nuclear-powered ships. Given that nuclear energy exists it is the intention behind its use that matters. The weapons are made to destroy and we have to learn to live without them. The rest may be useful if properly managed. The management is an environmental issue and the inevitable exclusion of nuclear-powered vessels was not an appropriate basis for our foreign policy."

"After a very long year we've got a very short knight."

"I wouldn't call the Prime Minister gutless. That's all that's left of him."

"He had more on his mind than his mind could hold."

"When asked, "Does God help you?": "He's not really in caucus lately.""

"When asked, "So, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?": "I'm going to be a jockey.""

"And I'm going to give it to you if you hold your breath just for a moment … I can smell the uranium on it as you lean towards me."

"Our military forces are an arm of government, just like the Department of Social Welfare, although probably less able to inflict widespread harm."

"On seeing a machine labelled "media steriliser", Lange quipped: "Have that sent to my office immediately.""

"On Roger Douglas: "He's like rust, he never sleeps.""

"He's gone around the country stirring up apathy."

"...an economic ignoramus unfit to oversee a fifty-cent raffle."

"What a friend we have in cheeses."