Nick Clegg – Quotes Crazy

You have a political and media elite who have an idiom by which they describe politics. Its highly, highly polarised. Its right, left, red, blue, up, down, victorious, crushed. – Nick Clegg

I didnt become leader to transform the Liberal Democrats into an enlarged form of the Electoral Reform Society. Its not the be all and end all for us. There are other very, very key ambitions in politics, not least social mobility and life chances, that I care about as passionately if not more. – Nick Clegg

I have got instincts that, I think, are very much in tune with peoples very keen sense to see something different. I did not dream of being in politics since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I was not involved in student politics, or not in that partisan way. – Nick Clegg

When I became leader, I made very clear I was not going to choose the easy life. I have always taken risks. I dont like comfort-zone politics. – Nick Clegg

One thing Ive very quickly learned is that if you wake up every morning worrying about whats in the press, you would go completely and utterly potty. – Nick Clegg

What I hope is in five years time, I can go to the British people in the election and say: Lots of you doubted that coalition politics worked, but it has worked. – Nick Clegg

Im very lucky. I am one of those people who is able to go home, shut the front door and completely focus on the kids. – Nick Clegg

If you scratch below the surface and ask what really makes me tick, its the liberalism of trying to promote freedom and opportunity. Promoting social mobility is one of the keys to that. – Nick Clegg

I dont watch a huge amount of telly. I read a lot. Im reading at the moment Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen, a great big brick of a book, and Im loving it. – Nick Clegg

I am quite strict as a dad but I dont want to be censorious. – Nick Clegg

My dads side of the family had lots of artists and musicians. Theres an emotional, quite sentimental quality to Slavic culture. Its very open, it loves art, it loves music, it loves literature. Its very warm, its very up, its very down. I would celebrate that. – Nick Clegg

I say this as a young dad seeing children going into primary school: I dont think we should underestimate the formative effect on a child of those first years in primary school. – Nick Clegg

I dont want to clip on the armour every morning. Ive seen some politicians do this and they get a bit mangled and bitter. I just refuse to do that. I refuse to be angry or bitter or complain, and I remain open. I may sometimes be a bit too open but Im not going to change that one bit. – Nick Clegg

Most of what needs to be changed in the euro zone can be done without treaty changes. The demand for treaty change is as political as it is legal and I dont think its going to happen soon. – Nick Clegg

The British political system and the whole clapped out Westminster architecture, and the language that we use about politics, its completely unsustainable. You either decide to be part of that transition to do something different. Or you cling to old certainties. – Nick Clegg

Politics is a highly tribal business. – Nick Clegg

Do I get up every morning and ask: am I doing the things that I believe in and am I doing them for the best possible motives? Yes. Unambiguously yes. – Nick Clegg

The UK is not going to leave the European Union. Of course not. We are inextricably wound up with Europe. In terms of culture, history and geography, we are a European nation. – Nick Clegg

I am a passionate believer in freedom of speech. I would not support anything which would impinge on aggressive robust freedom of the British press, but when things go wrong and there has been outright illegality, there should be proper accountability. – Nick Clegg

We need to teach our kids, because there is such a celebrity culture at the moment, that however rich you are, however famous you are, however glamorous you are, everyone has to live by the same rules. – Nick Clegg