Alex Salmond Quotes

A visible police presence on the streets is the best means we have of reassuring communities throughout Scotland. We know too that high visibility policing deters criminals.

Trust is a precious quality. An essential quality. Once lost it is not quick or easy to rebuild.

It is the very stuff of politics that parties like to have a go at each other - a vibrant democracy demands no less.

The unionist parties are giving ground. The status quo is indefensible, confidence in the nation is rising, the case for consulting the people is unanswerable. That debate on our future is more than conceptual, or philosophical. It must also be about practical steps.

I believe that all of us - whether native Scots or our friends abroad - should strive for a shared understand of our heritage and origins.

That sense of an inclusive Scottishness - one which does not simply tolerate diversity but rather celebrates it - is at the heart of what I want St Andrews Day to become.

[T]o get to a position where you say to a majority of our people that you cannot have single-sex spaces – prized and worked and strived for – because of some daft ideology imported from elsewhere and, as we’ve seen, imperfectly understood by its proponents in Scotland, borders on the totally absurd.
And the six per cent decline in independence vote over a month – think about that.
Thirty years of gradually building, building, building until we get independence over 50 per cent and then thrown away with some self-indulgent nonsense, which even if it was right, which it is nae, would hardly be tactically the most astute manoeuvre when we're meant to be taking Scotland to its next date with destiny."

We cannot take Gaelic's future for granted, particularly when the number of speakers continues to diminish. As the stewards of Gaelic in Scotland, we are responsible for ensuring that the language is able to flourish.

Many American presidents believe they are Irish by descent. Some believe themselves to be Scottish by descent. Actually, most of them are Scots-Irish by descent - certainly the good ones!

Gaelic is not a regional language - it is a truly nationwide language. And the future success of Gaelic depends on attracting new speakers to the language here as much as its does on fostering Gaelic in its traditional heartland.

She is the living memorial as to why Scots want their own parliament.

About my approach to law making. Despite waiting a long time - a very, very long time - to govern, it is not my position that legislative change is always or often the best way to effect change.

The people of Scotland want a Government based on principle but able to move with mainstream opinion to build consensus in the public interest.

It is about much more than the constitution. It is about how we create the vibrant economy, the healthy society and the socially and environmentally just society in which we - all of us - believe.

It would be much easier if we had the full powers of an independent country. Therefore I was anticipating being in that position by 2017.