Charles Kennedy
Terrorism gravely threatens international peace and security, and as a solution, the power and apparent finality of force are seductive.
Terror can never be defeated by force alone.
Britain is a European power. We cannot change our geography. Our involvement in the politics of European cooperation is one of necessity. Our wealth and our security depend upon it.
I know from my own parents how important active older people are to a local community.
We'll need to revise the tired assumption that people automatically become more conservative as they grow older.
Liberal Democracy is all about extending choice. Give people the option to decide their retirement age, and you immediately extend their freedom in a very significant way.
Many people want to scale back their working hours as they near the end of their careers, but not necessarily to give up work altogether.
Fair votes - fundamentally - are about the rights and the interests of the people.
Politics means facing up to hard choices and facing down prejudice, short-termism, the easy, tempting court of knee-jerk public reaction.
I want our party to step up its efforts to reflect and champion the concerns of everybody who has reached the second half of their lives.
Of all the principles which constitute Liberal Democracy, internationalism is the clearest, the most distinctive, and the one with the longest history.
Liberals have been committed to the principles of human rights, international stability, and international justice. They have also sought international solutions to those problems which have demanded collective attention.
When human rights are systematically abused, it raises the question whether it may be legitimate in some circumstances for the international community to intervene within individual states as well as in conflicts between states.
When it comes to our public services, decentralisation means giving power back to those on the front line - our doctors, nurses, teachers and physiotherapists, and our locally elected officials.
Those who use our public services should be able to deal directly with those who manage and deliver them.
Decentralisation is controversial - but that's fine. We should be fearless about having a debate.
We actually believe in hope. But hope requires purpose. And purpose requires direction.
The way to defeat international terrorism is through international cooperation based on international law, clear intelligence, and a measured and appropriate military response.
Soon after the 1997 election, I argued that there was no inverse law of political gravity which said that everything which went down had to come back up.
When power is exercised exclusively at the centre, the result is rigidity of rules and alienation of the people subject to those rules.
New Labour needs to realise that family life and the way we raise our children are private matters.
No government body is more notorious for over-legislation than the Department of Trade and Industry.
Speaking to numerous teachers and nurses, I am consistently struck by the sense of mission they have about their work.
Valuing public servants would boost morale among those on the front line of implementing government policy.
Westminster is a jungle - and the hunter can always smell fear on its prey.
In my view, as a country we need to rediscover some of that skepticism about government and revisit that libertarian agenda.
We need a liberal agenda in which government resists the temptation to interfere in the lives of individuals but is equally determined to play an active role where creative action can advance the liberties of all.
In my view, nations together are stronger than when they are isolated. And because they are stronger, their people are more free, not less.
Useful lessons can be learned from our more successful local authorities - as you move into government, it is even more imperative to communicate speedily and persuasively with your members and your voters.
I happen to consider myself a Highlander even before a Scot; I am proud to be British yet feel comfortable as a European citizen.
I find no contradiction between being a Highlander, a Scot, a citizen of the U.K. and a citizen of the European Union at one and the same time.
Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.
If you were to describe me as teetotal, on behalf of my constituency I'd have to sue; that would lose me every vote in the Highlands.
By common consent, most European countries support the maintenance of robust welfare states and are comfortable with taxation systems that support them.
'Federalism', in the context of political and media usage in Britain, has come to mean the creation and imposition of a European superstate, one centralised in Brussels.
Like John Major in her wake, Thatcher was convinced that she understood the Scots - yet couldn't understand why we remained so stubbornly resistant towards the notion of understanding her.
A society which is liberal democratic cannot have public policy determined upon the basis of who has got the loudest voice - or who can brings things to a halt.
Quality of life actually begins at home - it's in your street, around your community.
It's our job as Liberal Democrats to be an effective opposition - and an increasingly tough one as well.
There stands no contradiction between giving voice to legitimate anxiety and at the same time, as and when exchange of fire commences, looking to the rest of the country, as well as all of us in the House, to give full moral support to our forces.
There are hard choices to be made in balancing the country's security and an individual's liberties. But it is a choice that has to be faced.
I don't want a headline saying 'Kennedy suggests this or implies that.'
My health is good and it's up to me to keep it that way.
For any new leader of any party at any given time it takes time if you are not in government to establish yourself.
With 24-hour news... the story moves on with the media.
We should have high expectations of our children, but politicians should not tell teachers how to meet them.
Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.
I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.
Politicians are good at saying how Government must do more, but we must also think carefully about where Government should do less.