I think that if politics is just about getting your backside on important seats, then it's a pretty worthless endeavor.

Those of us who had a perfectly happy childhood should be able to sue for deprivation of literary royalties.

So, what I say to people is that politics has got to be about principle and values above all. Of course, there are times when you have to make accommodations.

But the ability to articulate what you are doing, to be clear about it, and to stick to it is, I think, the essence of political leadership.

I don't think that capitalism should be unbridled, if by unbridled you mean unregulated.

I believe in trying to get a balance between individual freedom on the one hand and social responsibility on the other.

I suppose I've always carried what is regarded as a bit of unnecessary baggage in Britain. I've always carried the charge that I am an intellectual in politics.

All parts of the society need to feel that the police service is their police service, and that does not happen unless all parts of society are represented in the police

It is almost always wrong that the time isn't ripe to decide something. That is always said of difficult problems.

Hong Kong represents the kind of Asia with which both West and East are comfortable... It offers, in that sense, a vision for the future of Asia.

Hong Kong's people will get what they want, despite China's objections. Freedom invariably wins in the end.

We have our own system, ... and journalists in our system are not put in prison for embarrassing the government by revealing things the government might not wish to have revealed. The important thing is that our system, under which journalists can write without fear or favor, should continue.

There is a sort of exotic preposterousness about a lot of elections, the way arguments are made even cruder.