Quotes Of The week

He had the ability to radiate unusual warmth and charm - when he chose to.

Ex-president of South African F W de Klerk on Nelson Mandela

I end up, as so often when I have tried to get it right, feeling I've slightly made a fool of myself.

Alan Bennett on refusing an honorary degree from Oxford University on the grounds of its association with Rupert Murdoch

I find people are so conscious of not talking directly to my chest that they can be too nervous even to look at my boobs.

Broadcaster and former model Melinda Messenger

The only animals we are in harmony with are the ones we failed to knock on the head.

Researcher Colin Tudge on Stone Age man's murderous behaviour

Even those of us who fear that our prayers are not always answered have little doubt that providence will not allow the whole Royal Family to be massacred simultaneously.

Labour peer Lord Hattersley

I only saw Harold Wilson really squiffy on one or two occasions, roughly as often as I saw George Brown completely sober. To compare Wilson's drinking to Brown's is to liken a dripping tap to Niagara Falls.

Joe Haines, Harold Wilson's press secretary at 10 Downing Street

I am fed up with these women wanting me for my mind when they should be wanting me for my body.

Author Will Self

Mr Clinton does not have the strength of character to be a war criminal.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

I love Scotland. It's a loony sort of place.

Screaming Lord Sutch, on Monster Raving Loony Party plans to contest seats for the Scottish Parliament

God is not to be imagined as an old man with a flaring white beard.

The Pope, on 'patriarchal' images of God

I find this concentration on language totally bizarre.

Former ambassador Sir David Gore-Booth, who was criticised for making reference to 'company wives'

St Tony, Angel of Islington.

William Hague's nickname for the PM after the latter's visit to St Thomas' Hospital