Lord Acton's aphorism: only a foolish conservative would judge the present by the standards of the past, but only a foolish liberal would judge the past by the standards of the present. There are many foolish liberals in the socialist camp; we can do without them in ours.

It is one of the great paradoxes of history that Socialism, which has done so much harm - was born of a great humanitarian urge - the desire to give people dignity and security. The trouble is that too much security removes a man's dignity by attenuating his freedom.

Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.

Safe Socialism? If it's safe, it's not Socialism. If it's Socialism, it's not safe. Signposts of Socialism point downhill to less freedom, less prosperity, more muddle, more failure. If we follow them to their destination, they will lead this nation into bankruptcy.

The Russians put guns before butter. We put just about everything before guns.

Nobody, not even the most hardened Labour apologist, can wish to see a repetition of the cruelty and callousness of this winter. None of us can be content with a society where such things happen without check or penalty. In that sense I am a reformer and I am offering a change.

No drunken sailor, no shrunken Socialist fleet of drunken sailors, could have spent more money less wisely or less well [than this Labour government].

Unless we change our ways and our direction, our greatness as a nation will soon be a footnote in the history books, a distant memory of an offshore island, lost in the mists of time like Camelot, remembered kindly for its noble past.

Governments can animate industry but they should not seek indefinitely to sustain it.

I have enormous admiration for the Jewish people, inside or outside Israel. There have always been Jewish members of my staff and indeed my Cabinet. In fact I just wanted a Cabinet of clever, energetic people - and frequently that turned out to be the same thing.

I am an undiluted admirer of American values and the American dream and I believe they will continue to inspire not just the people of the United States but millions across the face of the globe.

It seems like cloud cuckoo land... If anyone is suggesting that I would go to Parliament and suggest the abolition of the pound sterling - no! We have made it quite clear that we will not have a single currency imposed on us.

What strikes me is the shameless appeal to voters to accept our national decline as inevitable, and simply to make the best of it. Labour's campaign slogan should be: 'Coast downhill with Labour'.

I don't believe they [the voters] want a Government to be so flexible it becomes invertebrate. You don't want a Government full of flexi-toys.

Socialists often start by distributing wealth. They forget it first has to be created.

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This election [1979] offers the choice - and that choice may not occur again - between the path of freedom and self-respect and the slow but certain route to national suffocation under a blanket of bureaucracy and State control.