William Hague Quotes

The EU should be concentrated on adapting to globalisation and global competitiveness, not building more powerful centralised institutions in Brussels.

The EU is not a country and it's not going to become a country, in my view, now or ever in the future. It is a group of countries working together.

For the security of the UK, it matters a lot for Somalia to become a more stable place.

Governments that use violence to stop democratic development will not earn themselves respite forever. They will pay an increasingly high price for actions which they can no longer hide from the world with ease, and will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

Spending only what the country can afford, rewarding savings, encouraging independence, supporting marriage: people know that these things are common sense.

Britain does not normally these days play a huge part in peacekeeping.

There's only one growth strategy: work hard.

We hope that the long darkness through which the Burmese people have lived may now be coming to an end.

It makes life very simple actually. You could be giving a TV interview in howling gale and it no longer matters.

It's really necessary for the United States to continue to give strong leadership to the Middle East peace process, supported by European countries at the same time.

We are not directly involved in Syria. But we will be working with our partners in the European Union and at the United Nations to see if we can persuade the Syrian authorities to go, as I say, more in that direction of respect for democracy and human rights.

We're not getting involved in terms of sending ground forces into Libya. Let's be clear about that. And indeed the UN Resolution forbids that. It says no foreign occupation of any part of Libya.

I'm not, nor is anybody I know in government part of a nasty right wing clique.

There is no budget for travel for a Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Whatever happens in Mogadishu, in Somalia, will happen in Great Britain. We have interlocking interests.

I gave up lots of things I love doing: writing, and business, and playing the piano and so on.

Elected presidents are for countries.

Turning away Turkey from the EU would be a great, long-term - a century-long - error by Europe.

Yes, I've never inherited a penny!

You do have to do business with and to try to influence people you don't agree with, or find disagreeable, so it's important to stress that balance.

The British retreat is over and now the advance will begin.

The low carbon economy is at the leading edge of a structural shift now taking place globally...

People feel that the EU is a one-way process, a great machine that sucks up decision-making from national parliaments to the European level until everything is decided at that level.

The total economy of Latin America is bigger than China.

We have to face the reality of climate change. It is arguably the biggest threat we are facing today.

Those who back the Syrian regime from now on will find themselves in an even more isolated and indefensible minority.

If there’'s one thing above all that sets me apart from Tony Blair, it’s this: I’m not embarrassed to articulate the instincts of the British people.

I've always been opposed myself to prisoners having the vote.

Let's not be afraid to speak the common sense truth: you can't have high standards without good discipline.

I think Britain would be alright, if only we had a different Government.

You have to have as many defences in place as you possibly can. But even then of course - and it's important to stress this - you cannot guarantee being able to prevent every attack or every kind of attack.

I know people are fickle.

I have found that I get a better reaction from people once I am less bothered about their reaction.

To the hard-working people who set a little bit aside each month, to provide for their children, or to fund their own retirement, I say: you should be rewarded not punished.

When a Cabinet Minister who is sacked for telling lies is re-appointed, in the face of every constitutional convention, only for the same man to be sacked again from the same Cabinet for the same offence by the same Prime Minister – no wonder the public are cynical about politics.

Not all politicians are bonkers, but most of them are.

I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran.

I don't deny that there are problems in the intelligence world, but I would argue that in the UK we try to uphold the highest standards in the world.

I'm going to reduce the size of the Cabinet, cut the number of ministers, reduce the size of the House of Commons, campaign for a European Parliament with 100 fewer members, halve the number of political advisers, and abolish a huge swathe of Labour's regional bureaucracies - and agencies and their offices in Brussels.

On the question of taking credit for what goes right and blame for what goes wrong - having led the Conservative party for four years, I have never heard of this notion before.

The people of Britain want a Home Secretary who will give them back their streets. They want a Home Secretary who will speak up for the victim, not the criminal.

To the teacher weighed down with paperwork, I say: you've been messed around too often. You came into teaching to spend your time teaching children not filling in forms.

Today further EU targeted sanctions on Syria come into force. The message is clear and unambiguous: those responsible for the repression will be singled out and held accountable.

Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.

Governments that block the aspirations of their people, that steal or are corrupt, that oppress and torture or that deny freedom of expression and human rights should bear in mind that they will find it increasingly hard to escape the judgement of their own people, or where warranted, the reach of international law.

Ambition is best tempered with self-knowledge!

Time is not on Gaddafi's side. People ask about the exit strategy. It's Colonel Gaddafi who needs an exit strategy because this pressure will only mount and it will be intensified over the coming days and weeks.

At a time of such hope and optimism in the Middle East, we cannot let the Libyan government violate every principle of international law and human rights with impunity.