Quotes from William Hague

We hope that the long darkness through which the Burmese people have lived may now be coming to an end.

Someone once claimed I was not really a Yorkshireman!

As far as I'm aware, everybody in the shadow cabinet accepts that there's a compelling case on climate change and a strong scientific case.

Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.

Syria should not belong to one family, to one coterie, or to one party. It belongs to all the people of Syria equally, in all their religious and ethnic diversity.

Those who back the Syrian regime from now on will find themselves in an even more isolated and indefensible minority.

Ambition is best tempered with self-knowledge!

I think the way things have been left after Iraq is that people won't believe the Government of the day, so they have to know that lessons have been learnt and that all political parties and people, whether they were for or against the invasion of Iraq, have learnt lessons.

The low carbon economy is at the leading edge of a structural shift now taking place globally.

Where defining foreign policy as 'ethical' went wrong was that it implied that all decisions would be exclusive in every respect of any dealings with unethical regimes.

Time is not on Gaddafi's side. People ask about the exit strategy. It's Colonel Gaddafi who needs an exit strategy because this pressure will only mount and it will be intensified over the coming days and weeks.

Elected presidents are for countries.

Today further EU targeted sanctions on Syria come into force. The message is clear and unambiguous: those responsible for the repression will be singled out and held accountable.

I don't think my principles change. I think the way in which you apply those principles to modern society changes.

I have always thought that foreign-policy idealism has to be tempered with realism.

It is the mission of the next Conservative Government to build the Responsible Society.

I described the euro as a burning building with no exits and so it has proved for some of the countries in it.

I know people are fickle.

You can gain in your effectiveness as a politician from a wide acquaintance with the world and from a degree of independence that having some outside interests gives.

Iran's continued, widespread persecution of ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and political prisoners is a disgrace and stands as a shameful indictment of Iran's leaders.

You do have to do business with and to try to influence people you don't agree with, or find disagreeable, so it's important to stress that balance.

There is no budget for travel for a Shadow Foreign Secretary.

It makes life very simple actually. You could be giving a TV interview in howling gale and it no longer matters.

I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran.