Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
President of the Government of Spain.
"My grandfather asked in his will that whenever it became possible, his name should be cleared so that he would no longer be denounced as a 'traitor to patriotism'. My grandfather has had a great effect on me during my life."
"I don't want to be a great leader. I would rather be a good democrat."
"There isn't any wall, however high, however wide or however big, whatever it is made from, that can bar you from achieving a better life. There isn't any wall or pit that is in front of you to stop you from achieving a future of wellbeing."
"Given that a few days ago we had a terrible accident, a tragic terrorist attack in Barajas, in Madrid, I would like to propose to you that we show our complete condemnation, our most intense revulsion, and that we show profound solidarity with the victims."
"To every insult we receive we will offer a proposal, to every defamatory remark, an idea, and to every exaggeration, a smile."
"It's likely that the worst of the economic crisis is behind us."
"Peace needs and takes time, it needs and takes caution, it needs and takes patience after 30 years of terrorism and violence."
"We are the envy of Europe and in a few years time we are going to be one of the top countries in the world."
"I would like to admit the clear error I made in front of all Spanish citizens".
"Discouraging smoking and drinking is a left ideal."
"The strength of a culture depends on its capacity to open itself up to other cultures, to integrate itself into them and to integrate them into it. It doesn't matter how many differences there may be, Habermas pointed out, everyone shares some principles. No culture tolerates the exploitation of human beings. No religion permits the murder of innocent people. No civilisation accepts violence or terror."
"We must have a distinct vision of what employment and unemployment are. A person who is training or educating themselves is working for their country. That is what we have discovered in this recession, that training, education and innovation are fundamental.", Oslo Forum, September 2010.
"If we live together, together we must decide."
"Less smoking and more reading."
Drawing a comparison to football, it could be said that the Spanish economy has, during this legislature, into the Champions League of the world economy, however bad that may seem to some."
"In my opinion, patriotism is liberty."
"I am highly at ease and calm because we have a fairly republican king."
"Castilian Spanish speaking Spain is big, but is bigger in addition with Catalonian speaking Spain, Galician speaking Spain and Basque speaking Spain. Democratic Spain, Constitutional Spain, can not be separated from diversity and the respect to the citizenship"
"How can a governing party propose to its people a referendum that won't be binding? Is that a serious political programme? No it is not. It's the final option that will end up with upset, at a dead end, reflecting the last 4 years of the Ibarretxe Plan"
"The main priority of the Socialist Party is education".