I think that's not a question that one can answer accurately. I read a whole range of books, quite a lot of history at the time, and still do read a lot. I read very widely.

My father was unemployed and I was the eldest of seven children. We were very poor. And when you ask how did we support ourselves, the only funding that we had was unemployment payments.

I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.

In my opinion, what changed the situation eventually - and, of course, it took a lot of time to change it, things like that don't change in a week or a fortnight - was the new educational system.

The basis of peace and stability, in any society, has to be the fullest respect for the human rights of all its people.

If the word 'No' was removed from the English language, Ian Paisley would be speechless.

Total ghettoization, because they were in charge of public housing, the local council, and they deliberately located people in a ghetto situation in order to ensure that they maintained control.

All conflict is about difference; whether the difference is race religion, or nationality.

Before the arrival of the Credit Union, people who were from the poor background or a working class background couldn't borrow from banks.

Difference is of the essence of humanity.

I was grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. The political violence really started in 1970-1971. The political difficulties start a little bit beyond that.

Society has a herd psychology, so until we have more good shepherds we are lost.

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them.

Doubt is the first ray of illumination

In the rural South, you have a town of 30,000 people and everybody's pretty much thrown on the same pile of doo-doo. You just learn to make the best of it and live with one another.

Even if a government can be constitutional without being democratic, it cannot be democratic without being constitutional.

I think the millions of people who had been able to renegotiate their mortgages so they are paying lower interest rates are better off.

Sire, there is no royal road to geometry.

Those who cannot remember clearly their own childhood are poor educators.

I love the opportunity to just let my imagination run riot! Non-fiction can be very restrictive.

I need one of those baby monitors from my subconscious to my consciousness so I can know what the hell I'm really thinking about.