David Lange

"Winston Peters: "the only member of Parliament named after a concrete block, and I can understand that."

"I went in a round of the Domain on Saturday morning in a rally car. At the start of it, I was asked if I felt scared. I said, 'certainly not, I have been working with Roger for years'."

"Our military forces are an arm of government, just like the Department of Social Welfare, although probably less able to inflict widespread harm."

"He viewed humour as a relaxing introduction to many situations. "It is, of course, completely inappropriate in some... but in the end, you know, if you were serious in this job you'd go mad."

"After a very long year we've got a very short knight."

"Lange was hosting a reception at Vogel House for the Chinese politician Hu Yao Bang when the lights went out. Lange immediately asked all the guests to raise their hands because "many hands make light…"

"I agreed with the prevailing opinion in the Labour Party about nuclear weapons; I went on ban-the-bomb marches in the 1960s and I have not changed my mind about nuclear deterrence since. But I found i…"

"a man whose life is so boring that if it flashed past he wouldn't be in it"