Michael Gove Quotes

I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris [Johnson] cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead.

A coalition with Tories and Liberal Democrats together is a golden opportunity to create the sort of planning reform that means not only can we have more environmentally sensitive planning, but we can have more homes and more schools.

My parents adopted me, and then, by the age of four or five, I was asking all sorts of questions, and they found themselves with a son who was interested in the sorts of things that they valued but weren't natural to them.

I don't think there will be a recession as a result of a vote to leave.

They [British people] told us to restore democratic control of immigration policy and to spend their money on national priorities such as health, education and science instead of giving it to Brussels.

I'm not interested in defending the position of those who already have money, power and privilege.

Barack Obama would never accept a court in Mexico decreeing what the law in the United States would be.

Whether we vote to leave or remain, there are risks to our future; there are challenges in the global economy.

I notice that the number of cosmetic-surgery operations has risen by 34 per cent in the past year. Once we subtract Jordan, Jodie Marsh and Michael Jackson from those figures, we can see that demand overall may have stabilised.

I believe that there are better opportunities to keep people safe if we are outside the European Union.

At the moment, I'm afraid that the discipline system doesn't give teachers the support that they need. One thing that I've been struck by is that the number of violent assaults on teachers increased last year. We need to be clear that teachers have the power they need in order to impose discipline.

In this fallen world, I suspect we will never achieve perfection. But that won't stop me trying.

The economic basis on which Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish nationalists made the case for separation was based on an oil price much higher than it is at the moment, so there will be no case for it.

I will ensure we honour the instructions the British people have given us. I argued for specific changes in the referendum campaign, I believe in them, I will deliver them.

It was a tough choice [of PM]. I voted for a Scotsman.

It's the invincible arrogance of Europe's elites that gets me. These are people who have seen the euro collapse. These are people who are presiding over a migration crisis on their borders, and yet do they ever acknowledge that they need to change? No. They say they need more integration, more of our money, more control over this country.

Unfortunately, the real achievements of children on the ground became debased and devalued because Labor education secretaries sounded like Soviet commissars praising the tractor production figures when we know that those exams were not the rock-solid measures of achievement that children deserve.

We need to face the fact that we need more money in order to deliver Jeremy Hunt's absolutely correct drive to guarantee even better standards of care.

When we vote to leave, I think a majority of people in Scotland will also vote to leave as well.

I prefer to take the view of businesspeople who are actually generating jobs and creating wealth.

It's often the case that successful people invite criticism.

Teachers themselves know if there's a colleague who can't keep control or keep the interest of their class, it affects the whole school.

In order to be able to reduce migration we need to be outside the European Union.

I have a different starting premise from those 100 academics who are so heavily invested in the regime of low expectations and narrow horizons which they have created.

I was very lucky in that I had a couple of teachers who were particularly supportive.

You wouldn't tolerate an underperforming surgeon in an operating theatre, or a underperforming midwife at your child's birth. Why is it that we tolerate underperforming teachers in the classroom?

The ability to choose who governs us, and the freedom to change laws we do not like, were secured for us in the past by radicals and liberals who took power from unaccountable elites and placed it in the hands of the people.

I believed and hoped that we would be able to secure a deal with Europe which would enable us to amend free movement.

A lot of schools benefit from parents who are first- or second-generation immigrants, who expect the best for their children.

In my view, our immigration policy means that we have some people who can come into this country - who we might want to say no to - and others, who we might want to attract, who can't currently come in.

I don't want to have anyone else as Prime Minister other than David Cameron, and if people spend their time thinking about some of this stuff, then they are getting in the way of two things: one, a fair, open, fact-based referendum debate; and two, the Conservative government continuing afterwards in a stable and secure fashion.

The common fisheries policy unfortunately led to the devastation of fishing in Scotland. My dad had to close his business. As a result something that he been built up by by grandfather and maintained by my dad disappeared. So my dad suffered.

I don't think I'm a revolutionary, and I'd certainly be an unlikely one.

The British people rejected politics as usual and government as usual. They want and need a new approach to running this country.

The First World War may have been a uniquely horrific war, but it was also plainly a just war.

People should vote for democracy, and Britain should vote for hope.

If I'm the British prime minister I won't be dictated to on the timetable or the manner of the negotiations.

One of the things I know about the European Union is that the European Union can destroy jobs.

Now that Britain has voted to leave, I think the country deserves to have a leader who believes in Britain outside the European Union and who also has experience at the highest level of government.

My judgment about what is right for this country will always guide me.

If you vote to leave the E.U ... we will have additional flexibility to help industries who really need it.

Good schools should be left alone.

I was a union member in my youth as well and I went on strike, and I don't think it solved anything. It only made the situation worse for everyone involved.

It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning.

There are economic risks if we leave, economic risks if we remain.

The current leadership of the Labor party react to the idea that working-class students might study the subjects they studied with the same horror that the Earl of Grantham showed when a chauffeur wanted to marry his daughter.

Making promises and then saddling yourself with a political system and a political union that means that you cannot deliver those promises, I fear, doesn't contribute to an atmosphere of trust and confidence in politics.

The majority people in this country are suffering because of our membership of the E.U.

The people I admire most are those doing outstanding things for the poorest children, such as Michael Wilshaw at Mossbourne academy, Dan Moynihan and all those at the Harris academies, and those at chains such as Ark and the Haberdashers, who are driving up standards in the poorest areas.

There wasn't a Scottish nationalist MP elected at any general election when we were outside the E.U.

If we leave the European Union, yes there will be bumps in the road, inevitably, but we will be in a better position to deal with them.

I will put my heart and soul into making sure that the care your son or daughter or mum or dad receives is the same I would want for my own family.

Let me first of all congratulate both of the candidates who have made it through - both Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom are formidable politicians and they have fought great campaigns and they deserve to be in the final two.

The reason I entered politics was a belief that the people of this country - having achieved so much that was good and noble in our past - had the potential to do amazing things in the future.

It is vital that teachers can be paid more without having to leave the classroom. This will be particularly important to schools in the most disadvantaged areas as it will empower them to attract and recruit the best teachers.

I think it's time that we said to people who are incapable of acknowledging that they've ever got anything wrong: 'I'm sorry, you've had your day.' Unelected, unaccountable elites, I'm afraid it's time to say, 'You're fired. We are going to take back control.'

As long as there are people in education making excuses for failure, cursing future generations with a culture of low expectations, denying children access to the best that has been thought and written, because Nemo and the Mister Men are more relevant, the battle needs to be joined.

The people who are backing the Remain campaign are people who have done very well, thank you, out of the European Union.

In particular, I wanted to help build a team behind Boris Johnson so that a politician who argued for leaving the European Union could lead us to a better future.

One of the reasons why Australia and Canada have support for migration is because they control the numbers.

I was encouraged to stand for Parliament by David Cameron, and he has given me the opportunity to serve in what I believe is a great, reforming government. I think he is an outstanding Prime Minister.

I believe that the decisions which govern all our lives, the laws we must all obey, and the taxes we must all pay should be decided by people we choose and who we can throw out if we want change.

Labor, under their current leadership, want to be the Downtown Abbey party when it comes to educational opportunity. They think working class children should stick to the station in life they were born into - they should be happy to be recognized for being good with their hands and not presume to get above themselves.

I absolutely haven't set out to burnish a reputation as a macho figure by picking fights.

Don't belittle the hurt that has been caused by the job-destroying machine that is the European Union.

Jamie Dimon and J.P. Morgan are contributing millions to the Remain campaign because they do very nicely, thank you, out of the E.U.

My view is that those challenges will be easier to meet, those risks will be less if we vote to leave because we will have control of the economic levers; we will have control over money we send to the European Union. We will have control over our own laws, and as a result, we will be able to deal with whatever the world throws at us.

Ever since going up to university, I have accumulated new debt, and new means of becoming indebted.

I won't criticise anyone else's statements, and the public will make up their own minds. And if the public think that any side or any individual has strayed too far away from what's expected of public representatives, then they'll make that judgement.

I see education in the U.K. as a civil rights struggle.

The reason why I'm in Parliament is not really to see my colleagues win power; it is to see us at last in a position where we can give it up.

I will do everything that is required in order to bring immigration down to a level that is manageable, that the public believe is right.

You know you don't see hospital consultants going on strike, and I don't believe that teachers and head teachers should. It's within their rights, it's a civil right, but I think it is wrong in terms of the reputation of the profession.

Adopting means opening your home, and heart, to a life you've never known. But there is nothing as richly rewarding as being an adoptive parent.

With the single exception of Park Lane, every north-south route in London slows traffic to the pace of a wounded gnat with pleurisy struggling with a squaddie's backpack.

No-one is forced to stand for Parliament; no-one is compelled to become a minister. If you take on those roles, which are great privileges, you also take on big responsibilities.

Were I ever alone in the dock, I would not want to be arraigned before our flawed tribunals, knowing my freedom could be forfeit as a result of political pressures. I would prefer a fair trial, under the shadow of the noose.

Traditional Anglicans - whether in Nigeria or Nottingham - have been wary, at best, of the acceptance and welcome given to gay men and women and their sexual choices by secular society.

Too many people go to university.

I wanted to put the national interest before my personal interests.

Proper history teaching is being crushed under the weight of play-based pedagogy which infantilises children, teachers and our culture.

There are all sorts of people who will say disobliging things about me. I don't mind that. I would rather people said, 'This is a man that sticks to his principles, not a man who's worried about popularity.'

I think it's appropriate that we simplify, clarify and strengthen, so instead of this nebulousness, we have clarity and authority invested in teachers once more.

The next leader of this country needs to be someone who believes heart and soul that Britain should be outside the European Union.

I think overall our national security is strengthened if we are able to make the decisions that we need and the alliances that we believe in outside the current structures of the European Union.

If events had taken a different course, I could have been one of those children going to a school without the sorts of opportunities that I've subsequently had.

For a few spotty years, I was that tragic geek

I know myself, from my own background, the E.U. depresses employment and destroys jobs. My father had a business destroyed by the common fisheries policy.

Government has got to invest more money in our NHS. The people who work in it are heroic. They do an amazing job.

I want there to be an open and positive debate about the path the country will now take. Whatever the verdict of that debate I will respect it.

Because my parents took a risk on me not knowing a thing about me.They believed that in everyone there is potential - that by believing in someone, loving them, nurturing them, you can bring out that potential.

My sister and I know our lives could have been different - radically, unthinkably, irretrievably different - if we had not been adopted. We might have found ourselves in homes without love, stability or kindness. We might have found ourselves in care for much longer, without the secure attachment that being cradled in a mother's arms brings.

Whoever the next prime minister of this country will be, it will be a female prime minister and a female prime minister who has formidable skills and I know whichever one of the two wins they will lead this country well.

I think that what we have heard from the Remain campaign throughout this whole referendum have been dire warnings of the terrible consequences of the British people just taking control of our own destiny.And, the truth is, if we vote to Leave we will be in an economically stronger position. We will be able to take back some of the money that we currently give to the European Union and we can invest it in our priorities.

I think, instead of the pessimism of the Remain campaign, we have an opportunity to think of the next generation. If we have faith in their talent, in their generosity, in their hard work, we can, if we leave the E.U., ensure the next generation makes this country once more truly great.

I'm one of many who have seen their parents and their friends lose their jobs, lose their income, lose their livelihood because of the European Union.

I'll negotiate with toughness, and with great attention to detail to get the best possible deal for Britain. It's only when we are outside the European Union that we can at last bring those numbers [of migrants] under control in the way that the public want.

I felt we needed someone to lead this country who believed heart and soul in leaving the European Union.

My father had a fishing business in Aberdeen destroyed by the European Union and the Common Fisheries Policy, the European Union.

Scottish nationalism has grown since we entered the European Union.