If I'm the British prime minister I won't be dictated to on the timetable or the manner of the negotiations.

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.

It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning.

Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children.

For a few spotty years, I was that tragic geek

Proper history teaching is being crushed under the weight of play-based pedagogy which infantilises children, teachers and our culture.

I'm a decentralizer. I believe in trusting professionals.

It's often the case that successful people invite criticism.

I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris [Johnson] cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead.

I have a different starting premise from those 100 academics who are so heavily invested in the regime of low expectations and narrow horizons which they have created.

I will take all the steps necessary to give the NHS at least another £100million per week by 2020.

I had to philosophize. Otherwise, I could not live in this world.

Meditation is the alchemist of the soul. It transforms disappointment into acceptance

Success is not measured by who you are, only by the perception of what others think you are

The real difference between men is energy.

No one knows how to write a novel until it's been written

Once Celtic got their equaliser, they played a sort of anti-football.

Photography is humbling, it really is, and it really allows for me to atone for some of the missteps I've made throughout the course of my life.

How Cable survived Second Coming and what his responsibility is to his daughter, Hope, may have something to do with the Avengers.

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That's how you know you're still alive.

Your torch of consciousness should be burning continuously; then there will not be any darkness.