QUOTE UNQUOTE

Violence is not a knife in the hand. It grows, like a poison tree, inside people who, unlike yourselves, have not learnt to value other human beings - Frances Lawrence, widow of murdered headmaster Philip, in a letter to his pupils

I hope you won't think I am being a nuisance but I have changed my mind as to what I want for Christmas. I wanted to have a telescope but now I want to have my daddy back because without my daddy I will not be able to see the stars anyway - Lucien Lawrence, eight, writing to Father Christmas

My government is taking part in this agreement without enthusiasm ... will this truly materialise or remain a piece of paper? - Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian president, signing the peace treaty in Paris

The Brixton police are killers and they will not understand what they have done until one of them has been killed - Rudy Narayan, Civil Rights UK campaigner, in a speech just before the Brixton riot

It wasn't Brixton that rioted, it was a small minority of thugs and criminals who as ever look for an opportunity to embark on criminal exercises - Sir Paul Condon, Metropolitan Police Commissioner