When my job was attempting to predict future economic developments for the Shell oil company, I was frequently reminded of an Arabic saying: Those who claim to foresee the future are lying, even if by chance they are later proved right. – Vince Cable
And humility in politics means accepting that one party doesnt have all the answers recognising that working in partnership is progress not treachery. – Vince Cable
For wide swaths of training and education there are valuable spillovers which mean that the private sector needs support from the government. That is why I have been so determined to protect and grow apprenticeships and put higher education on a sustainable footing. – Vince Cable
My time at Shell was a most valuable experience because it taught me to look at the world in a long-term way. Shell takes a 20-year view on events and plans for different scenarios. It makes you see the world as a kind of large matrix. – Vince Cable
It is a mistake to imagine that potentially great men are rare. It is the conditions that permit the promise of greatness to be fulfilled that are rare. What is so difficult to achieve is the cultural background that permits potential greatness to be converted into actual greatness. – Fred Hoyle, Of Man and Galaxies