The Conservatives must realise that being sceptical is different from being phobic in what is an interdependent world.

I've never been much given to little social cliques.

Fairness is not about statistical equality.

If someone is being very cheeky, it can be quite fun to deal with that situation.

For far too long the House of Commons has been run as little more than a private club by and for gentleman amateurs.

I pride myself on being courteous to people, and trying to fashion good relations.

I am seeking every day to restore faith in Parliament - to ensure we have a House of Commons which is representative, effective and reconnected to the people we serve.

I never aspired to be Speaker simply so I could say, 'I am the Speaker of the House of Commons,' and tell my children that.

I think the record shows that as Speaker, I have taken the lead in cleaning up politics.

I don't want to crawl over the entrails of past disputes.

It's a cowardly form of politics to use my spouse to beat me.

Surround yourself with great people

Hmmm. What you’re saying is that you’ve never been kissed?” He picked at a string on the blanket under us.

Genius. It's a word. What does it really mean? If I win I'm a genius. If I don't, I'm not.

Whenever I hit a ball in the gap, I'm thinking the extra bases. I never slow down. That's the only way you're going to get triples.

I've been nominated for Emmys and Golden Globes, but I've never won one and I probably never will.

Everyone my age had written a novel and I was still having difficulty writing a paragraph.

Some runners judge performance by whether they won or lost. Others define success or failure by how fast they ran. Only you can judge your performance. Avoid letting others sit in judgment of you.

It's easy to carry the past as a burden instead of a school. It's easy to let it overwhelm you instead of educate you.

If you're gonna be free, you gotta stop caring what everyone thinks.

Everyone wants a bit of something beautiful.