Scottish politics, U.K. politics, is not really like American politics in this respect. Not everybody is absolutely obsessed with image. I'm not saying the United States is obsessed with image.
— Nicola Sturgeon
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.
The truth of the matter is that countries the world over have deficits. Let us remember this about Scotland's deficit: it was not created in an independent Scotland; it was created on Westminster's watch.
A whole range of things are done to ensure services remain safe and sustainable because that is the absolute paramount duty of the health board.
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.
I am quite driven. I know what I think, and I know what I want to achieve, but I also hope that people who are asked to describe me would describe me as pretty down-to-earth, loyal, friendly. The more experience I have got in politics, I think the more I have allowed me to shine through.
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've got absolutely no desire or intention of damaging England.
Sometimes things happen in life, sometimes they don't. Don't get me wrong: I have no regrets - if I could turn the clock back 10 or 20 years, I wouldn't want to fundamentally change the path my life has taken.
I was studious and bookish. Not just as a child but also as a teenager. I took myself too seriously.
My pledge to you is that the SNP will put women and gender equality right at the heart of the Westminster agenda.
I won't say I've never felt in Alex Salmond's shadow, but latterly, when Alex was leader, I didn't. It's more about my awareness of the fact I became First Minister during a parliamentary term. That means you're First Minister, but you haven't been elected in your own right as First Minister.
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.
If you have a Tory government at Westminster that takes us out of Europe against our will, there may be people in Scotland who think, 'You know what, we might be better off independent.'
Many hard working people in low paid jobs get housing benefit.
English businesses would face massive transaction costs if Scotland, their second biggest export market, used a different currency.
One of the attributes Glasgow is best known for all over the world is the friendliness of her people.
I have said repeatedly I do want to take longer to eliminate the deficit than the other parties. Because I want to see us have the ability to invest more in our economy, in our public services, and in lifting people out of poverty.
This government and the party that I lead will continue to argue an alternative to the Tory-Labour austerity.
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.
I think the first decision I took when I became a government minister was to reverse the planned closure of Monklands Accident and Emergency. It's an issue close to my heart.
I worry about the direction of the U.K. and U.K. politics and governance in the event of a Brexit.
Politics is a very male-dominated, male-driven profession. I was not just a woman but a young woman, and I suppose you end up trying to behave in a way that you think is expected of you.
I hope nobody in England is afraid of the SNP - there is absolutely no need to be.
I was fascinated, long before I joined the SNP, in the world around me; current affairs really interested me.
The assumption that people sometimes make is that I have made a cold, calculated decision to put my career ahead of having family, and that's not true.
There was nothing in my childhood that said, 'She's going to be first minister of the country one day.'
As First Minister, I will always act in the best interests of the country. As party leader, I will always act in the best interests of the party, and if that sometimes means taking difficult, unpalatable decisions, I will never shy away from that.
Vote SNP for a party that always stands up for Scotland, that is stronger for Scotland, and a government that will keep the country moving in the right direction.
I came into politics because of my opposition to what a Tory Government was doing to the community I grew up in.
The Scottish Government will continue to do all it can to get people into work.
Taxing people for having a spare bedroom and forcing them into rent arrears or the possibility of losing homes they have lived in for years has always been a cruel and heartless measure, and so it is good that the Scottish Parliament has been able to step in.
People in Scotland don't take too kindly to being lectured by a Tory Chancellor.
Trespass, the outdoor clothing company based in the South Side, is run by two of the nicest guys and proudest Glaswegians you could meet, Afzal and Akmal Khushi.
Would I love to think that one day I would be First Minister of an independent Scotland? Of course.
Is it not typical that we have a Tory Government that wants, just like its pals in the Labour Party, constantly to talk down Scotland's prospects?
I think it is important the communities are listened to and that their voice is heard, particularly with local government boundaries more than parliamentary boundaries, because you are talking very much about communities. It can be a very emotive thing.
I desperately want Scotland to be an independent country. I cannot, though, sit here and tell you definitively that it will happen, and that it will happen on this timescale, because I have to respect the opinion of the people of Scotland.
It would be a very serious mistake for the U.K. to vote to leave the European Union, and I think it would be democratically indefensible for Scotland, if we had voted to stay in, to face the prospect of being taken out.
I like Indian takeaway.
I am the granddaughter of an English woman. I love England and her people and, regardless of politics, consider you to be family... and always will.
My political awakening, if I can be as grand as to call it that, was all about what was happening around me. It wasn't some romantic, patriotic vision of Scotland going back to what it had been 300 years previously.
Talent is really important in politics, but experience is also really important.
I stand here today as the first woman first minister of our country. Every day I hold this office, I will work to ensure that every woman, every wee girl across this country, gets a chance to do what I've done and follow their dream.
I'm not a scientist. If there is a risk to our environment, there will be no fracking.
Polls can change; people's opinions can change. Voting intentions can change, and I think it would be a silly leader, a silly political party, that would assume that we have it sewn up.
I do not want to see, for any reason, the Tories resurgent in any way.
I bow to no one in my ambition to see Glasgow be as successful as it possibly can be.
The U.K.'s debt belongs legally to Westminster, so Scotland, by definition, can't default on it.
For the Scottish government, the practice of having meetings in different parts of the country is well established, but for the U.K. government, it is a much rarer event.
