My father had a fishing business in Aberdeen destroyed by the European Union and the Common Fisheries Policy.

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.

Souls grow on bones but die beneath bankers' hours...

The tolerance power is the mother of egoism!

Seek not to understand that thou mayest believe but believe that thou mayest understand.

The greatest lessons I have every learned were at my mother's knees... All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

In those days, the early 1980s, TV and film were interchangeable.

I think [Ann Coulter] understands that, she's Pavlov's dog. She gets the corn kernel if she hits that drum once in a while.

The biggest hurdle is figuring out who your friends are. Your real friends.

The religion of the heart is as intimate as a wish breathed to the night sky.

Nothing is more important than honesty in prayer. There are no pretensions in prayer, so the best place to begin is wherever you are.

It is not enough to ask yourself, 'Does God's Word permit me to use these good things of the world?' You must also inquire, 'Will it serve the glory of God?'and, 'Will it edify my fellow Christians?'