Quotes from John Key

I guess I'm reasonably confident in all honesty. But I definitely don't think I'm arrogant. I'm pretty down to earth, I mean I'm genuinely down to earth.

I was really fascinated by politics. It always has been part of my view that politics really is a calling or you wouldn't go into it, because it's demanding and potentially has a toll on you and your family.

Let's just get a deal done then let's worry about expanding it.

I think it is only natural that people have anxiety about the economy because the economy is real. It is their job, their ability to service their mortgage and look after their family. And in the final analysis, nothing is more important than your capacity as a breadwinner or an earner to provide for those that rely on you.

My mother had an incredibly strong accent - although I couldn't hear it - and she was the main person there, so I'll have learnt to speak English from her.

We have been given the trust and goodwill of New Zealanders. I do not take that trust for granted, and I never will.

We don't tell New Zealanders we can stop the global recession, because we can't. What we do tell them is we can use this time to transform the economy to make us stronger so that when the world starts growing again we can be running faster than other countries we compete with.

Investment is crucial. Because the truth is, you only get jobs and growth in the economy when people invest money, at their own risk, in setting up a business or expanding an existing business.

You get out of life what you put into it. I think you need a bit of luck but you also make a bit of luck. I think that if you're a pretty decent person you'll get back what you put in.

I think for the most part people are proud of the bicultural foundation New Zealand is built on and the fact that we are a multicultural society.

New Zealand as a whole needs to save more, spend less and reduce our reliance on foreign debt.

Bronagh looks after the kids and without her the family would disintegrate... there are some things you can't discuss with anyone other than your wife. There has to be a strong bond of trust.

Sure I can sit around and do absolutely nothing for the next nine years and I might survive that long but it's not going to take New Zealand anywhere.

I want to leave New Zealand in better shape than I found it. I know the job of prime minister is not forever and I'm going to do the best I can every day to make that difference.

I have more engagement with New Zealand than people might think. Unlike the impression I have of the American president, who sits in the Oval Office and people come to them.

The Government has to stop borrowing as much money; if we don't, quite frankly New Zealand will be downgraded and interest rates will go up for all New Zealanders.

We are a small, open economy, highly dependent on global flows. It is inevitably a demand that dramatically alters and that is reflected in what we feel here in New Zealand. So there is at its most basic level a limit to what we can do and that is true everywhere.

New Zealand needs to balance its environmental responsibilities with its economic opportunities, because the risk is that if you don't do that - and you want to lead the world - then you might end up getting unintended consequences.

The world, whether we like it or not, will become more and more borderless.

I've always been a glass-half-full as opposed to a glass-half-empty, and the day that changes is the day I should leave.

I have always thought, genuinely thought, that elections are like world cups. They sometimes look easier from the outside and they are very difficult when you are in the middle of them.

The public talk colloquially, the public's grammar's not perfect. They kid around and I don't think they overly mark me down for that. They just see me as a normal guy.

I used to think... that people would think badly of me for various stuff they read. But now I accept it's just part of the deluge of stuff that comes every day.

We live in a world where equality is pretty important.