Top 100 Nicola Sturgeon Quotes
#1. Poverty is on the increase - due to welfare cuts - and demand for food banks has rocketed.
Nicola Sturgeon
#2. I am quite driven. I know what I think, and I know what I want to achieve, but I also hope that people who are asked to describe me would describe me as pretty down-to-earth, loyal, friendly. The more experience I have got in politics, I think the more I have allowed me to shine through.
Nicola Sturgeon
#4. My pledge to you is that the SNP will put women and gender equality right at the heart of the Westminster agenda.
Nicola Sturgeon
#5. One thing we've learned is that there's not anything that Nigel Farage won't blame on foreigners.
Nicola Sturgeon
#7. Equality and prosperity shouldn't be seen as enemies of each other, but as partners. One reinforces the other.
Nicola Sturgeon
#8. English businesses would face massive transaction costs if Scotland, their second biggest export market, used a different currency.
Nicola Sturgeon
#9. I'm the leader of the SNP. I think you would expect me to say I would vote SNP in whatever constituency I lived in.
Nicola Sturgeon
#10. I think it is important the communities are listened to and that their voice is heard, particularly with local government boundaries more than parliamentary boundaries, because you are talking very much about communities. It can be a very emotive thing.
Nicola Sturgeon
#11. Do I look like one of the most dangerous women in Britain? Come on!
Nicola Sturgeon
#12. Scottish politics, U.K. politics, is not really like American politics in this respect. Not everybody is absolutely obsessed with image. I'm not saying the United States is obsessed with image.
Nicola Sturgeon
#13. As a young woman in politics, with few women around, you start to subconsciously behave like men in politics. That comes across as quite hard, tough and humorless, but you're trying to be taken seriously.
Nicola Sturgeon
#14. If something can be proven to work, we should try it ... Making sure that our young folk get the best education is the only thing that matters to me, and if something can be shown to work in doing that or if something's worth trying to do that, then I'll certainly be in the market for it.
Nicola Sturgeon
#15. I know you've got to earn people's trust, and you've got to earn it day after day after day.
Nicola Sturgeon
#16. My message is a simple one - the E.U. is not perfect, but Scotland's interests are best served by being a member.
Nicola Sturgeon
#17. U.K. welfare cuts are pushing more children into poverty; that is beyond dispute.
Nicola Sturgeon
#18. People who think of a nationalist party sometimes think 'inward-looking and parochial.' The kind of nationalism I represent is the opposite of that.
Nicola Sturgeon
#19. It is one of the little known facts about modern Scottish politics that it is not quite as cut-throat as people think it is.
Nicola Sturgeon
#20. I'll be arguing for Scotland to vote to stay in the E.U.
Nicola Sturgeon
#21. The U.K. government sets a cap on how much can be spent on discretionary housing payments.
Nicola Sturgeon
#22. Governments in countries across the world have a duty to do everything possible to keep the public safe from terrorist attacks.
Nicola Sturgeon
#23. Clearly, any issues about breaching of expenses rules should be properly investigated.
Nicola Sturgeon
#24. One of Ed Miliband's shadow ministers has said he would never vote for the renewal of Trident.
Nicola Sturgeon
#25. I am quite a shy person. You say that to people, and they say, 'You do interviews, speeches. How can you be shy?' But, fundamentally, I am.
Nicola Sturgeon
#26. Trespass, the outdoor clothing company based in the South Side, is run by two of the nicest guys and proudest Glaswegians you could meet, Afzal and Akmal Khushi.
Nicola Sturgeon
#27. I came into politics because of my opposition to what a Tory Government was doing to the community I grew up in.
Nicola Sturgeon
#28. A whole range of things are done to ensure services remain safe and sustainable because that is the absolute paramount duty of the health board.
Nicola Sturgeon
#29. I wish we lived in a world where how you looked or what you wore wasn't an issue for men or women, and it's by and large not an issue for men, so I wish it wasn't an issue for women, but it is.
Nicola Sturgeon
#32. A minority government can't govern without support from other parties.
Nicola Sturgeon
#33. We will never vote for the renewal of Trident; that's a decision which will fall to be made in the next Westminster parliament. We will never vote for that.
Nicola Sturgeon
#34. Taxing people for having a spare bedroom and forcing them into rent arrears or the possibility of losing homes they have lived in for years has always been a cruel and heartless measure, and so it is good that the Scottish Parliament has been able to step in.
Nicola Sturgeon
#35. I am quite hot-headed; I am quite impulsive. Fortunately, it doesn't last very long.
Nicola Sturgeon
#36. The Scottish Government will continue to do all it can to get people into work.
Nicola Sturgeon
#37. My political awakening, if I can be as grand as to call it that, was all about what was happening around me. It wasn't some romantic, patriotic vision of Scotland going back to what it had been 300 years previously.
Nicola Sturgeon
#38. For parents - women in particular - good quality, affordable childcare is vital.
Nicola Sturgeon
#39. Thatcher was the motivation for my entire political career. I hated everything she stood for.
Nicola Sturgeon
#41. A good education is the most important gift we can give our young people.
Nicola Sturgeon
#42. I'm a politician, and as you know, politicians are rarely very funny.
Nicola Sturgeon
#44. For the Scottish government, the practice of having meetings in different parts of the country is well established, but for the U.K. government, it is a much rarer event.
Nicola Sturgeon
#45. Parties that win elections should form the government, not parties that lose elections.
Nicola Sturgeon
#46. To every woman out there who thinks that they might like to get involved in politics or stand for parliament, I say go for it. If I can do it, so can you.
Nicola Sturgeon
#48. My politics are wildly different from hers, but someone who has been good for women in politics, stamped her authority on European and world affairs, is Angela Merkel.
Nicola Sturgeon
#49. I think the Tories are doing - and are intent on doing - damage to things I hold dear.
Nicola Sturgeon
#50. Would I love to think that one day I would be First Minister of an independent Scotland? Of course.
Nicola Sturgeon
#51. Polls can change; people's opinions can change. Voting intentions can change, and I think it would be a silly leader, a silly political party, that would assume that we have it sewn up.
Nicola Sturgeon
#52. An independent Scotland - like all countries - will face challenges, and we will have our ups and downs. But the decisions about how we use our wealth will be ours.
Nicola Sturgeon
#54. This is about sending a very strong message that Scotland does want to stay in the European Union and we're an open country, a good place to live, work, study and to do business and it's really important as we take forward what will be challenging work ahead of us, that we send those messages.
Nicola Sturgeon
#55. I think it is disgraceful. I think it is completely disgusting that you've got a candidate for prime minster who seems to think that human beings are bargaining chips.
Nicola Sturgeon
#56. Haggis is delicious. It is wonderful. It's spicy, it's tasty, and you get vegetarian haggis as well.
Nicola Sturgeon
#57. Men - the colour of their tie is the most difficult decision they have to make every day.
Nicola Sturgeon
#58. The fact that healthier lifestyles and advances in medicine mean that we are living longer is actually something to be celebrated.
Nicola Sturgeon
#59. Maybe its time for politicians to fight back a little bit in terms of this notion that politicians are all in it for themselves, we're all the same, we're not driven by sincere motives. Because the fact of the matter is the vast majority are.
Nicola Sturgeon
#60. The Scottish Government's international development work began in 2005 with a £3 million budget focused solely on Malawi, reflecting the historic links between our two countries.
Nicola Sturgeon
#61. American companies based in Scotland employ large numbers of people - in fact, we are the best performing part of the U.K., outside London and the southeast of England when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment.
Nicola Sturgeon
#62. The debate around the ageing population should, in my view, focus much more on how we grow the active, working population.
Nicola Sturgeon
#63. I and Alex Salmond are not in competition - we are on the same side; we are on the same team, working together.
Nicola Sturgeon
#64. Our MPs will take decisions on how they're voting on a day-to-day basis. But I'm the leader of the party, and in terms of our overall strategy and how we vote on key issues, then ultimately, those decisions will be mine.
Nicola Sturgeon
#65. Any politician or campaigner trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public won't get very far.
Nicola Sturgeon
#66. I'm quite hypercritical of myself. It's a very Scottish thing, always thinking that you've got to be that bit better than everyone else to be good enough.
Nicola Sturgeon
#67. London has a centrifugal pull on talent, investment and business from the rest of Europe and the world. That brings benefits to the broader U.K. economy.
Nicola Sturgeon
#68. Is it not typical that we have a Tory Government that wants, just like its pals in the Labour Party, constantly to talk down Scotland's prospects?
Nicola Sturgeon
#69. Labour's support in Scotland depends on their ability to be electable. If they are divided and unelectable, what's the point?
Nicola Sturgeon
#70. It is clear that my predecessor as First Minister is frightening the life out of the Tories and the Labour Party. Long may it continue.
Nicola Sturgeon
#71. I hope nobody in England is afraid of the SNP - there is absolutely no need to be.
Nicola Sturgeon
#72. One of the attributes Glasgow is best known for all over the world is the friendliness of her people.
Nicola Sturgeon
#73. I think Scotland will become an independent country. I've always believed that. It means that if I'm right on that, there has to be another referendum at some stage. But the timing and circumstances of that will require careful judgment.
Nicola Sturgeon
#74. I don't know Ed Miliband as a person particularly well.
Nicola Sturgeon
#75. There's nothing in my background that would have said I was destined to be a senior politician.
Nicola Sturgeon
#76. Politics is a very male-dominated, male-driven profession. I was not just a woman but a young woman, and I suppose you end up trying to behave in a way that you think is expected of you.
Nicola Sturgeon
#77. I am a social democrat - I believe in pursuing greater equality and tackling social justice - but ... you can't do that unless you have got a strong economy, unless you have got a vibrant business base earning the wealth that makes that possible.
Nicola Sturgeon
#78. If you have a Tory government at Westminster that takes us out of Europe against our will, there may be people in Scotland who think, 'You know what, we might be better off independent.'
Nicola Sturgeon
#79. What a war in Iraq will not do is bring about peace in the Middle East or end the injustices that feed resentment and breed terrorists.
Nicola Sturgeon
#80. We've chosen to stay part of the Westminster system, but we don't want to be a forgotten, sidelined part of it.
Nicola Sturgeon
#81. There can be no greater privilege in life than to be chosen to lead your country.
Nicola Sturgeon
#82. Sporting success doesn't happen by accident. It takes hard work and determination on the part of the individual athletes. And it also takes investment in facilities and training support.
Nicola Sturgeon
#83. Our opposition to Trident is very clear, very firm, very long-standing, very principled, and we would seek to build an alliance to prevent the renewal of Trident.
Nicola Sturgeon
#84. Social media is natural to me, and it's a very immediate way of saying something. It's the way politics are done these days. In modern politics, you can't ignore that even if you wanted to. I can't imagine doing politics without it.
Nicola Sturgeon
#85. As First Minister, I will always act in the best interests of the country. As party leader, I will always act in the best interests of the party, and if that sometimes means taking difficult, unpalatable decisions, I will never shy away from that.
Nicola Sturgeon
#86. Scotland is not a region of the U.K.; Scotland is a nation, and if we cannot protect our interests within a U.K. that is going to be changing fundamentally, then that right of Scotland to consider the options of independence has to be there.
Nicola Sturgeon
#87. True gender equality in Scotland - and elsewhere - is still some way off.
Nicola Sturgeon
#88. The importance of education is ingrained in Scottish history.
Nicola Sturgeon
#89. It would be a very serious mistake for the U.K. to vote to leave the European Union, and I think it would be democratically indefensible for Scotland, if we had voted to stay in, to face the prospect of being taken out.
Nicola Sturgeon
#90. I take responsibility for everything that happens in the SNP as leader.
Nicola Sturgeon
#91. I was very proud, on just my second day in office, to appoint a gender-balanced cabinet - one of only three in the developed world.
Nicola Sturgeon
#92. I think the first decision I took when I became a government minister was to reverse the planned closure of Monklands Accident and Emergency. It's an issue close to my heart.
Nicola Sturgeon
#93. An independent Scotland could afford pensions full stop - after all, it is our taxes and national insurance contributions that fund them now.
Nicola Sturgeon
#94. Instead of an end to austerity, Labour has made clear that it wants to impose more austerity cuts.
Nicola Sturgeon
#96. I've got absolutely no desire or intention of damaging England.
Nicola Sturgeon
#97. Scotland's relationship with Malawi is perhaps unique - with almost every town or village in Scotland having some connection.
Nicola Sturgeon
#98. Scotland almost invented the modern world. I mean, all of these televisions, telephones, penicillin, we all - all of these things were invented in Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon
#99. It is hard to overstate the economic importance of the U.S.A. to Scotland, and that makes it essential that we engage with companies and potential investors and get the message across that we are open for business.
Nicola Sturgeon
#100. The fact is that co-operation between independent countries - to our mutual advantage - is the way of the modern world.
Nicola Sturgeon
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