John Bercow

I said that if I hadn't been a politician, I'd have liked to be a barrister, or an academic. My beloved wife said: 'You'd be a very good barrister and a hopeless academic.' I said 'Why?' She said: 'Because you're not an original thinker.'

For far too long the House of Commons has been run as little more than a private club by and for gentleman amateurs.

A legislature cannot be effective while suffering from public scorn.

Even youngish men can acquire wisdom as time goes by.

There is no denying or hiding the fact that over the years I moved from well on the right of the Conservative Party, much much more to its left, and therefore to the centre of the poltical spectrum.

When I first started out in politics I was, what you might describe as, a hard right Conservative.

I never aspired to be Speaker simply so I could say, 'I am the Speaker of the House of Commons,' and tell my children that.

There are people who are just very, very sniffy and snobby and have always sort of looked down their noses at me.

I don't want to crawl over the entrails of past disputes.

If someone is being very cheeky, it can be quite fun to deal with that situation.

I'm supremely uninterested as to what is written in many of the newspapers.

The prime minister's job is to captain his team, his party and his government.

I pride myself on being courteous to people, and trying to fashion good relations.

Fairness is not about statistical equality.

If you asked me if I'd rather be Speaker or a very senior minister, I'd say Speaker.

One consistent thing in an otherwise inconsistent career is that I've always been passionate about parliament.

I'm not psychic. I cannot know what is in the mind of particular public figures.

Sally is my wife, but not my chattel or my property.

I think the record shows that as Speaker, I have taken the lead in cleaning up politics.

The Conservatives must realise that being sceptical is different from being phobic in what is an interdependent world.

It's a cowardly form of politics to use my spouse to beat me.

It is quite wrong for party conferences to be used as an excuse for the Commons not to sit. Conferences could be held at weekends.

Possibly the fact that I was physically quite feeble, a relatively short little fellow, attracted me to that idea of a very authoritative and aggressive version of Conservative politics.

I've never been much given to little social cliques.

I was proud to be a Tory Member of Parliament for twelve years, proud to represent Buckingham as a Tory, proud to have voted with my party 99% of the time as the record shows.