Hong Kong's people will get what they want, despite China's objections. Freedom invariably wins in the end.

In a democracy everybody has a right to be represented, including the jerks.

Hong Kong represents the kind of Asia with which both West and East are comfortable... It offers, in that sense, a vision for the future of Asia.

I don't think that capitalism should be unbridled, if by "unbridled" you mean unregulated.

In democracy everyone has the right to be represented, even the jerks.

So, what I say to people is that politics has got to be about principle and values above all. Of course, there are times when you have to make accommodations.

I suppose I've always carried what is regarded as a bit of unnecessary baggage in Britain. I've always carried the charge that I am an intellectual in politics.

Green politics at its worst amounts to a sort of Zen fascism; less extreme, it denounces growth and seeks to stop the world so that we can all get off.

Anyone who supposed that when Margaret Thatcher left Number Ten she was going to take a Trappist vow did not know that formidable politician.

I think that if politics is just about getting your backside on important seats, then it's a pretty worthless endeavor.

I think that what most surprises anybody who goes into politics from even a modestly cerebral background is the vulgarity of much of the cut and thrust of politics.

All kinds of people read poetry: revolutionaries, scholars, sentimentalists etc. But above all else, lovers read poetry. Why? Because we fell in love. And then we fell in love with love.

The Confederate flag is one of those things that should only be seen on t-shirts, belt buckles and bumper stickers to help the rest of us identify the worst people in the world.

Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power...it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits.

My right to be me is tied with a thousand threads to your right to be you.

I try to not listen to all the girls I admire musically - like Nina Simone - just so I don't find myself imitating them, even if it's subconsciously.

For me writing has always felt like praying even when I wasn't writing prayers.

Each social formation, through each of its material activities, exerts its influence upon the civic whole; and each of its ideas and ideals wins also its place and power.

Truth must be the foundation stone, the cement to solidify the entire social edifice.

A resignation is a grave act; never performed by a right-minded man without forethought or with reserve.