Our goal is to make finance the servant, not the master, of the real economy.

Deficits must be cut, yes, but the rush to austerity risks undermining the fragile global recovery.

On top of that, we have a healthy and stable economy and an end to the boom and bust that characterised the Tory years.

The global economy is spluttering back into life. The Tories would have left it to choke to death.

The question is not whether Scotland can survive as a separate state. Of course it could.

The economic times we are facing... are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years. And I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought.

We can't be in the business of carting fresh air around the country.

We were at the stage where in a very short period of time, one of the world's biggest banks would have to shut the door and switch off the electricity.

The key thing that went wrong was that a culture was allowed to develop where the relationship between what people did and what they got went way out of alignment, especially at the top end.

Tory plans to cut 'further and faster' would wreck recovery and roll back Labour's many successes.

As I said, there are two approaches-first, a strong economy, stability and helping families or, secondly, the Tory cuts, the undermining of stability, and a return to the boom and bust of the 1990s.

Life is not only for consumption but for contribution.

Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you someone who has never achieved much.

I was all too aware that there's an unspoken law that you should never start to cry if you have too many reasons to do so. I told myself that my tears were due tot he cold, and I believed myself.

When you've been touched by sadness and grief, it makes you vulnerable. And because I am vulnerable, I try to be positive. And when I say 'try, ' I really do mean try, because it's an effort.

If I'm about to forget my kid's birthday, I want the phone to scream at me until I do something about it.

I won't eat in a place that has suits of armor.

If you get an opportunity to work with David Simon, anybody with good taste would.

It would be easy to abuse a person when they never recognized it as abuse.

Trust is kind of this economic lubricant. When trust is high, morale is high. ... Higher trust environments produce individuals who are happier.

I think it's wonderful to save the world, but you need to be part of the world, too.