Quotes By Charles Kennedy

I'm a fully paid-up member of the human race.

Yes, you need substance in politics - but I think your style also says something about how you arrive at some of your conclusions.

Further Education should be about the ability to learn, not the ability to pay - everyone who is able should have the opportunity, regardless of their family background. I don't want to see students struggling with huge debts or frightened off even going to university in the first place.

I can hardly think of an occasion when I've got into a stand-up fight with any political opponent. I've got my views, people know what they are, they can agree or they can choose to disagree. I'm not going to waste time just rubbishing everybody else.

We should have high expectations of our children, but politicians should not tell teachers how to meet them.

We Liberal Democrats believe in dialogue. We believe in cooperation with both sides of industry and between both sides of industry. And we believe in the language of cooperation. We reject the language of confrontation.

Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.

I want to see far more decisions taken far closer to the patients, the passengers and the pupils. Far more power for locally and regionally elected politicians who understand best the needs of their areas. And far more say too for the dedicated staff at all levels in health and education.

Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.

It is true that I entered parliament at the age of 23, and have now been representing the people of my constituency for over twenty years.

I'm a lifelong believer in trade unionism.

I think that former leaders are best seen occasionally and not too often heard - particularly on the subject of their successors!

There is no satisfaction to be derived from having had many of our arguments borne out by events.

The one thing we can all be sure about in politics is you are as well to expect the unexpected.

Politicians are good at saying how Government must do more, but we must also think carefully about where Government should do less.

You won't catch Liberal Democrats describing trade unionists as wreckers.

To run an effective political party you need a degree of tribalism, it's the glue that holds everyone together.

With 24-hour news... the story moves on with the media.

I do think there is a great deal of caricature around the House of Commons. It is just that kind of place.

My health is good and it's up to me to keep it that way.

The quicker we get rid of the lobby system the better for all of us. I don't think in this day and age it is tenable to have these nods and winks, and on-the-record and off-the-record briefings.

I'm not someone who dwells upon past events, taking the view that life is too short.

There stands no contradiction between giving voice to legitimate anxiety and at the same time, as and when exchange of fire commences, looking to the rest of the country, as well as all of us in the House, to give full moral support to our forces.

The point never to lose sight of is to be guided by the correct thing, as you see it. It's the only way to approach such profound matters and retain your integrity.

There are hard choices to be made in balancing the country's security and an individual's liberties. But it is a choice that has to be faced.

Politics is much too serious to be taken too seriously; equally, there are many aspects of it so laughable as to be lamentable.

For any new leader of any party at any given time it takes time if you are not in government to establish yourself.

Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.

I couldn't imagine a day without music. It relaxes and stimulates me in equal measure and I hate the sound of silence - the concept, I mean, not the track by Simon and Garfunkel.

People are not stupid.