My biggest ambition is to bring together what happens in the real world with what politicians talk about.
Scotland is my country, the nation that shaped me, that taught me my values. A nation whose achievements inspired and inspire me, a community whose failings drive me - drive my overwhelming desire to fight for social justice and equality.
I will not promise what I cannot deliver. And I will never hide the cost of what I propose.
What I will say will not always please you, but what I say will always be honest and true and how I genuinely see it.
Maybe I was just born to argue with men.
My working life has always been wrapped up in doing my job to the best of my abilities and doing the best for my family. It is not a contest between the two.
The government don't want to talk about the consequences of the choices they make. They pretend there aren't any consequences.
Our task is a great one, not just because of how far we have fallen. Our task is a great one because of the challenges facing the people we seek to serve.
While I'm leader, nothing will be off limits - there will not be one policy, one rule, one way of working which cannot be changed.
Telling the truth, and confronting the challenge, is what politics is about.
Progressive politics is not something to be bolted on to another cause.
The Scottish Labour Party, while I have breath in my body, will listen to the views of trade unionists.
I'm pretty proud of having completed a marathon myself, so I can only imagine the pride that real athletes feel when they are picked for the Olympic or the Paralympic Games.
We shall seek debate without division or rancour.
Schools are not exam factories for the rat race.
It's true across the U.K. that those who had least to do with causing the economic crisis are carrying the heaviest burden. That's unacceptable.
We do students a great disservice by implying that one set of students is more important than another.
I got a very strong sense from my mother, in particular, that we are all equal in the sight of God.
I love hard political debate and I love beating somebody on a political point but what I'm more frustrated by is the politics where you play the man not the politics.
I've taught fifth-year Christmas leavers last thing on a Friday afternoon. Basically, if you can face that you can face anything.
