William Hague Quotes

Britain does not normally these days play a huge part in peacekeeping.

Ambition is best tempered with self-knowledge!

Iran's continued, widespread persecution of ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and political prisoners is a disgrace and stands as a shameful indictment of Iran's leaders.

Obviously a Conservative government will always leave taxes lower than they have been under Labour. Those things go with the territory of the Conservative Party.

Let's not be afraid to speak the common sense truth: you can't have high standards without good discipline.

There's only one growth strategy: work hard.

I'm not, nor is anybody I know in government part of a nasty right wing clique.

Where defining foreign policy as 'ethical' went wrong was that it implied that all decisions would be exclusive in every respect of any dealings with unethical regimes.

We have to face the reality of climate change. It is arguably the biggest threat we are facing today.

I know people are fickle.

Egypt is a sovereign nation.

The EU should be concentrated on adapting to globalisation and global competitiveness, not building more powerful centralised institutions in Brussels.

If some of the people who write about mojo came with me for a week, they would drop dead on their feet.

I described the euro as a burning building with no exits and so it has proved for some of the countries in it.

Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.

I believe we should reframe our response to climate change as an imperative for growth rather than merely being a way of being green or meeting environmental commitments.

Syria should not belong to one family, to one coterie, or to one party. It belongs to all the people of Syria equally, in all their religious and ethnic diversity.

You can gain in your effectiveness as a politician from a wide acquaintance with the world and from a degree of independence that having some outside interests gives.

I have always thought that foreign-policy idealism has to be tempered with realism.

People feel that the EU is a one-way process, a great machine that sucks up decision-making from national parliaments to the European level until everything is decided at that level.

Wouldn't it be better to have a watertight law designed to catch the guilty, rather than a press release law designed to catch the headlines?

I have found that I get a better reaction from people once I am less bothered about their reaction.

As far as I'm aware, everybody in the shadow cabinet accepts that there's a compelling case on climate change and a strong scientific case.

We're not getting involved in terms of sending ground forces into Libya. Let's be clear about that. And indeed the UN Resolution forbids that. It says no foreign occupation of any part of Libya.

I think Britain would be alright, if only we had a different Government.

It's not too late to stop the Lisbon Treaty.

Turning away Turkey from the EU would be a great, long-term - a century-long - error by Europe.

Whatever happens in Mogadishu, in Somalia, will happen in Great Britain. We have interlocking interests.

To the teacher weighed down with paperwork, I say: you've been messed around too often. You came into teaching to spend your time teaching children not filling in forms.

I don't deny that there are problems in the intelligence world, but I would argue that in the UK we try to uphold the highest standards in the world.

Spending only what the country can afford, rewarding savings, encouraging independence, supporting marriage: people know that these things are common sense.

The EU is not a country and it's not going to become a country, in my view, now or ever in the future. It is a group of countries working together.

I don't think my principles change. I think the way in which you apply those principles to modern society changes.

It's really necessary for the United States to continue to give strong leadership to the Middle East peace process, supported by European countries at the same time.

There is no budget for travel for a Shadow Foreign Secretary.

To the hard-working people who set a little bit aside each month, to provide for their children, or to fund their own retirement, I say: you should be rewarded not punished.

The total economy of Latin America is bigger than China.

Very few conflicts in the history of the world have been satisfactorily concluded according to a published timetable, because you lose all flexibility in dealing with your opponents.

A generation of children has been betrayed.

Someone once claimed I was not really a Yorkshireman!

The low carbon economy is at the leading edge of a structural shift now taking place globally...

You can see over time whether people are prepared to differ or not.

When you reduce taxes on higher earners it's vital to be reducing them on lower earning people as well so the nation shares in the approach.

You do have to do business with and to try to influence people you don't agree with, or find disagreeable, so it's important to stress that balance.

At a time of such hope and optimism in the Middle East, we cannot let the Libyan government violate every principle of international law and human rights with impunity.

Yes, I've never inherited a penny!

Those who back the Syrian regime from now on will find themselves in an even more isolated and indefensible minority.

I gave up lots of things I love doing: writing, and business, and playing the piano and so on.

It was inevitable the Titanic was going to set sail, but that doesn't mean it was a good idea to be on it.

We are making progress militarily, there is no doubt about that. You've seen the reports from Misrata, although reports of the Gaddafi forces completely pulling out of Misrata seem to be exaggerated.