It is a belief in human potential that has guided me through my time in Government.

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.

Evolving is not arrogance. It is confidence that won't be pulled backwards, by those that feel left behind.

A gift can never be cheap or insignificant because of the heart and love it carries.

My secret for success? I don't know what the hell success means.

Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat the eleventh grade.

Well you can't believe everything you read. After all, by definition, fiction writers lie for a living.

My idea of walking into the jaws of death is marrying some woman who has lost three husbands.

This insistence on "having his say upon the universe" is the profoundest motive of William James thinking as well as of his filial gratitude.

My parents had always preached the virtues of hard work. But hard work is one thing; economic struggle is another.

I believe in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. I believe it is possible — I saw this guy do it once in Cirque du Soleil. It was magical.