The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.

All war represents a failure of diplomacy.

The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.

It's the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you're mad, then dangerous, then there's a pause and then you can't find anyone who disagrees with you.

I am on the right wing of the middle of the road and with a strong radical bias.

Britain today is suffering from galloping obsolescence.

The Marxist analysis has got nothing to do with what happened in Stalin's Russia: it's like blaming Jesus Christ for the Inquisition in Spain.

Broadcasting is really too important to be left to the broadcasters.

Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.

If you file your waste-paper basket for fifty years, you have a public library.

We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values.

A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world.

Age does take it out of you, and I haven't the energy I had before. Sometimes I have breakfast and sit in this chair, and I wake up and it is lunchtime. In the past, the idea of sleeping through a morning would have horrified me, but you have to accept the limitations that old age imposes on you.

I believe the more difficult the circumstances, the more people will be inclined to trust those in charge at the moment.

I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the most important thing you can be in politics.

I'm not frightened about death. I don't know why, but I just feel that at a certain moment your switch is switched off, and that's it. And you can't do anything about it.

I've been a member of the Labour Party sixty five years, and I remain in it, but I think it's all about campaigning for justice and peace, and if you do that, you get a lot of support.

I've got four lovely children, ten lovely grandchildren, and I left parliament to devote more time to politics, and I think that what is really going on in Britain is a growing sense of alienation. People don't feel anyone listens to them.

I've had a very full life, and I've enjoyed it very much. I've learned a great deal and feel indebted to all the people who have worked so hard.

I've made every mistake - but mistakes are how you learn.

Making mistakes is part of life. The only things I would feel ashamed of would be if I had said things I hadn't believed in order to get on. Some politicians do do that.

My day rotates around my family. I am very lucky.

My filing system is messy but orderly.

Normally, people give up parliament because they want to do more business or spend more time with family. My wife said 'why don't you say you're giving up to devote more time to politics?'. And it is what I have done.

Someone comes every morning at nine o'clock to see if I am still alive. I do get lonely, yes, but I have the children who come and see me. I see all my children every week, and there are the grandchildren, too.

The exhaustion of old age is something people who are younger don't fully appreciate.

The uncut diaries are 16 million words. It's very tiring to do your diary every night before you go to bed.

Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.

Encouragement is the most important thing in the world for young people rather than league tables which demoralise everyone.

Marxism is now a world faith and must be allowed to enter into a continuous dialogue with other world faiths, including religios faiths.

Calculating how much carbon is absorbed by which forests and farms is a tricky task, especially when politicians do it.

If politicians continue to promote separatism in Australia, they should not continue to hold their seats in this parliament. They are not truly representing all Australians, and I call on the people to throw them out.

Both politicians and journalists face situations which strain their honesty and humanity. My opinion is that politicians on the average stand up somewhat better than journalists.

There are actually very few US politicians who have integrity and vision.

It seems to me that politicians ought to use the same words as other people.

It is normal for politicians in all countries to profess themselves the pupils of history, anxious to draw the right lessons from her teaching.

I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.

Three groups spend other people's money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision.

And I think there is too much bloviating around from politicians.

Politicians trim and tack in their quest for power, but they do so in order to get the wind of votes in their sails.

A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power.

Politicians like to tell people what they want to hear - and what they want to hear is what won't happen.

The future is not Big Government. Self-serving politicians. Powerful bureaucrats. This has been tried, tested throughout history. The result has always been disaster. President Obama, your agenda is not new. It's not change, and it's not hope.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

It's wherever business rules, business is going to get the politicians they want because they control the money and money controls the power.

Politicians are masters of the art of deception.

I don't think politicians should be allowed into power who are not familiar with their bodies, because that's where our bottom line is. And I know that they would make totally different decisions if they felt responsible simply for their own bodies.

The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces.

Nations are born in the hearts of poets, they prosper and die in the hands of politicians.