Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
People who think of a nationalist party sometimes think 'inward-looking and parochial.' The kind of nationalism I represent is the opposite of that.
I am the granddaughter of an English woman. I love England and her people and, regardless of politics, consider you to be family... and always will.
Tax credits are designed to help people who work hard but who, through no fault of their own, don't earn enough to keep their families out of poverty.
The assumption that people sometimes make is that I have made a cold, calculated decision to put my career ahead of having family, and that's not true.
Ed Balls has made it crystal clear that, left to its own devices, a Labour government would simply carry on with the same budget policies as the Tories.
Many people from many different walks of life have marriages that break up, and those are deeply personal, deeply painful but ultimately private matters.
I hope Donald Trump doesn't become president of the United States and I expect the people of the United States will have the good sense not to elect him.
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.
I do struggle to identify an occasion when I was held back because I'm a woman... You don't think about it at the time, but looking back at it, of course.
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.
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.
At these big set-piece events like the leaders' debates, that exterior of calm and serenity is nothing compared to what's going on inside most of the time.
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.
Scotland almost invented the modern world. I mean, all of these televisions, telephones, penicillin, we all - all of these things were invented in Scotland.
The U.K. needs a strong opposition, and Labour shows no signs of being capable of being that. The SNP is filling that void and will go on seeking to do that.
So after a lovely family Xmas day, this 80s teen is off to bed feeling a bit sad, but listening to this masterpiece [George Michael: I can't make you love me].
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.
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.
Vote SNP for a party that always stands up for Scotland, that is stronger for Scotland, and a government that will keep the country moving in the right direction.
People don't want to go back to the days, pre-referendum, when the Westminster establishment sidelined and ignored Scotland. They want Scotland's voice to be heard.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If there is a 'Leave' vote in England and across the U.K. as a whole, then we see the reins of power being seized by politicians who are on the right of the Conservative party.
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.
I should say that being independent in the modern model means independent in a very interdependent world. An independent Scotland is not apart from the rest of the United Kingdom.
Of course, aid is only one small part of international development. Some of the greatest benefits to the world's poorest can be achieved through policy changes by developed countries.
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.
I want there to be another independence referendum at some stage. I want Scotland to be independent, but I wouldn't choose to have it happen because England votes to come out of the E.U.
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.
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.
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.'
Most people would agree that the E.U. is too bureaucratic, not transparent or democratic enough and that it often interferes too much in matters that are best left to national governments.
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.
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.
The total impact of the Tory/Liberal tax, welfare and public spending changes has hit the poorest 10% in society disproportionately hard - and women have been affected even more badly than men.
Not once in my life has the Tory Party come anywhere close to winning an election in Scotland, and yet, for more than half my life, we have had a Tory government. That is wrong and undemocratic.
For me, personally, it has been humbling since I became First Minister to speak to women and girls and have them tell me how much it means to them to have a woman in the top job in politics in Scotland.
It still annoys me when I read really derogatory things about how a woman looks because you would usually not read these things about a man, and that still has the potential to put women off public life.
There is nothing in your background that inherently holds you back or means you can't achieve what others can achieve. You are the master of your own fate, and if you work hard, you can do what you want.
The truth of the matter is that countries the world over have deficits. Let us remember this about Scotland's deficit: it was not created in an independent Scotland; it was created on Westminster's watch.
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.
Sometimes things happen in life, sometimes they don't. Don't get me wrong: I have no regrets - if I could turn the clock back 10 or 20 years, I wouldn't want to fundamentally change the path my life has taken.
Literally every time I'm on camera, as well as there being commentary on what I've said, there'll be commentary on what my hair looked like, what I wear. Often it's written in the most hideous and quite cruel way.
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.
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.
I thought if people were going to talk about what I wear, wouldn't it be good if they were talking about who designed it, who made it and if that's a Scottish company, so teaming up with Totty Rocks has been fantastic.
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.