Alex Salmond on Time

"The future strength of our rural economies and communities will depend upon the availability of a sufficient and appropriate supply of housing."

"I don't stand before you as the First Minister of an independent Scotland - that must wait for another day perhaps."

"While we might always have enjoyed self-expression, we have perhaps at times lacked a little bit of self-belief."

"We are a country weighing the options for our future. We do so positively, and with the highest ideals."

"Gaelic language and culture is inseparable from the future success of the Scottish economy."

"As we look to secure our ambitions for this nation's future, we must recognise that a vibrant Gaelic language and culture are central to what it means to be Scottish in the modern world."

"It is easier for us to talk of sacrifice and of change than it is to achieve them. Both can be difficult, sometimes painful. But we have guidance on this new path. We have ourselves, we have each other."

"Cardinal O'Brien has told me that his elevation proves that - in one respect at least - Scottish Cardinals are like buses. One has to wait for four hundred years, only to have three arrive in succession!"

"The coup was timed to avoid Corbyn calling for Blair’s head next Wednesday from the. Indeed many would say that when Corbyn stated that he would be prepared to see a former Labour Prime Minister tried for then he sealed his fate as leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party."

"A study only last year by the showed that young people from white families placed less importance on their Scottishness than young people from Indian, Pakistani and Chinese families. These new and newer Scots see much more clearly and appreciate the values and qualities that make this nation great. And it is right that, as we consider the future of Scotland, as a people we also look at ourselves afresh and take pride in who we are."

"It can be argued that the lack of accountability about Iraq led Cameron on to committing many of the same blunders on a smaller scale in Libya in 2010. In Libya the UK spent thirteen times as much bombing the country as reconstructing it and the human chaos and bloody carnage of a failed state now moves like the tide across the Mediterranean."

"Scots have also for these past three hundred been part of a political union - the United Kingdom. Some of you may argue this is three hundred years too long. Others may disagree. But Scotland has played its full part in the Union - meeting our obligations and advancing the common good, without ever losing sight of our distinctive identity and values. And our destiny."

"Is the time for Scotland to assume our obligations and responsibilities to help mould the world around us. This must be an era of renewed Scottish internationalism - both as a tribute to the past and a statement of who we are today. It is not just that we are a nation interested in Europe, but rather that it is fundamentally in our national interest that we understand what it is to be European."

"Ten years ago, alongside the return of the, I was arguing strongly for the return of the to Scotland. Sadly this campaign is as yet incomplete. Of the ninety-three pieces known to us today, the holds only eleven. The other eighty-two remain in the in London. I still find it utterly unacceptable that the Lewis chessmen are scattered around Britain in a bizarre parody of the. And you can be assured that I will continue campaigning for a united set of Lewis chessmen in an independent Scotland!"