In the future there cannot be room for ambiguity. They have to make their position absolutely clear before they can expect anyone to respond to it.

There are two traditions in Northern Ireland. There are two main religious denominations. But there is only one true moral denomination. And it wants peace.

Politics can be likened to driving at night over unfamiliar hills and mountains. Close attention must be paid to what the beam can reach and the next bend.

As we take stock of this century of achievement, Ulster Unionists have every reason to feel proud.

I knew what I had to do as party leader had to be sensible and relate to the real situation we were in, rather than a situation you would like to have.

We had the IRA ceasefire in August 1994 and a lot of people assumed that a deal had been done - which wasn't right.

It wasn't too difficult to see that [Ian] Paisley would never do anything positive.

I had read an early profile of [Tony] Blair by Frank Millar in which he said that Blair was very keen on the 'consent principle'.

There are still substantial areas of disagreement, .. you simply have to look at the public statements to see there is a significant gap.

The one thing I can assure you is that I'm not going to do a Prescott.

The decision to give an indicative date for a return is a mistake. It degrades the process. It degrades human life.

Sure, stories can be like a fire on a cold night. But they can burn too. There ain't nothin' can cut deeper or sting with more poison than words can.

Death is just one more Path. One you'll come to in time.

The pits and tangles are more than blemishes distorting the classic shapes of Euclidian geometry. They are often the keys to the essence of a thing

Though smooth be the heartless prayer no ear in heaven will mind it And the finest phrase falls dead if there is no feeling behind it.

Teach [our girls] that there is a race with special needs which they and only they can help; that the world needs and is already asking for their trained, efficient forces.

When the rights of any individual or group are chipped away, the freedom of all erodes.

A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the most joyous day of the week.

This oration will be read five hundred years hence with as much rapture as it was heard. It ought to be read at the end of every century, and indeed at the end of every year, forever and ever.

Arrest me for sitting on a bus? You may do that.

All the big words -virtue, justice, truth, ...- are dwarfed by the greatness of kindness