Quotes from Nicola Sturgeon

There is nothing in your background that inherently holds you back or means you can't achieve what others can achieve. You are the master of your own fate, and if you work hard, you can do what you want.

Tax credits are designed to help people who work hard but who, through no fault of their own, don't earn enough to keep their families out of poverty.

I don't feel we need to be independent for me to feel confident in my Scottish identity. I think Scotland is pretty comfortable in its identity. We won't need independence to preserve it... if we don't become independent, it won't disappear; it isn't under existential threat.

Men - the colour of their tie is the most difficult decision they have to make every day.

Scotch beef, salmon and shellfish are recognised the world over for their excellence and Scottish provenance. People recognise the Scottish brand. They associate the country with quality food and drink, and clearly other Scottish sectors, such as dairy, can benefit from that, too.

The decision on whether there is another referendum is down to the Scottish people.

The fact that healthier lifestyles and advances in medicine mean that we are living longer is actually something to be celebrated.

I love talking to the public, I love hearing what people have got to say.

Literally every time I'm on camera, as well as there being commentary on what I've said, there'll be commentary on what my hair looked like, what I wear. Often it's written in the most hideous and quite cruel way.

Because of lower life expectancy in Scotland - something that we are working hard to improve - the average woman will get £11,000 less in pension payments than counterparts in the rest of the U.K., even though she will pay exactly the same in contributions.

Many hard working people in low paid jobs get housing benefit.

I and Alex Salmond are not in competition - we are on the same side; we are on the same team, working together.

I think Scotland will become an independent country. I've always believed that. It means that if I'm right on that, there has to be another referendum at some stage. But the timing and circumstances of that will require careful judgment.

If there is a 'Leave' vote in England and across the U.K. as a whole, then we see the reins of power being seized by politicians who are on the right of the Conservative party.

If something can be proven to work, we should try it... Making sure that our young folk get the best education is the only thing that matters to me, and if something can be shown to work in doing that or if something's worth trying to do that, then I'll certainly be in the market for it.

I do not want to see, for any reason, the Tories resurgent in any way.

It is clear that my predecessor as First Minister is frightening the life out of the Tories and the Labour Party. Long may it continue.

I think the fact that people are even talking about the prospect of the Tories coming second is less about anything the Tories have done and more about the failures of Labour to set out, in any kind of coherent sense, what it's for anymore.

I think the Tories are doing - and are intent on doing - damage to things I hold dear.

I'm not going to do anything that sees a Tory government be likely.

I'm not going to do anything that heralds in a Tory government.

People in Scotland don't take too kindly to being lectured by a Tory Chancellor.

Tory governments are bad for Scotland.

Our opposition to Trident is very clear, very firm, very long-standing, very principled, and we would seek to build an alliance to prevent the renewal of Trident.