Literally every time I’m on camera, as well as there being commentary on what I’ve said, there’ll be commentary on what my hair looked like, what I wear. Often it’s written in the most hideous and quite cruel way. – Nicola Sturgeon
English businesses would face massive transaction costs if Scotland, their second biggest export market, used a different currency. – Nicola Sturgeon
One of the attributes Glasgow is best known for all over the world is the friendliness of her people. – Nicola Sturgeon
A whole range of things are done to ensure services remain safe and sustainable because that is the absolute paramount duty of the health board. – Nicola Sturgeon
Thatcher was the motivation for my entire political career. I hated everything she stood for. – Nicola Sturgeon
Scotland has been re-energized, and people all over the country have become involved in – and informed about – politics and government in a way that I have never known before. In short, we have put ourselves firmly in control of our country. – Nicola Sturgeon
The oil and gas sector in the North Sea does have a strong future if we do the right things now, but we’ve got to make sure that the infrastructure is right to support the sector, but also to support, over the next few years, diversification as well. – Nicola Sturgeon
This government and the party that I lead will continue to argue an alternative to the Tory-Labour austerity. – Nicola Sturgeon
We already know that social security is more affordable in Scotland than it is in the rest of the U.K. – spending on social protection takes up a smaller share of our economic output and our tax revenues than is the case in the U.K. as a whole. – Nicola Sturgeon
It’s very much the currency of discourse on social media where political disagreements very quickly become very personalised. – Nicola Sturgeon
I want there to be another independence referendum at some stage. I want Scotland to be independent, but I wouldn’t choose to have it happen because England votes to come out of the E.U. – Nicola Sturgeon
It would be a very serious mistake for the U.K. to vote to leave the European Union, and I think it would be democratically indefensible for Scotland, if we had voted to stay in, to face the prospect of being taken out. – Nicola Sturgeon
If there are healthy – and growing – numbers of people working and paying taxes, we are better able to pay the costs of people living longer. – Nicola Sturgeon
The fact is that co-operation between independent countries – to our mutual advantage – is the way of the modern world. – Nicola Sturgeon
It is hard to overstate the economic importance of the U.S.A. to Scotland, and that makes it essential that we engage with companies and potential investors and get the message across that we are open for business. – Nicola Sturgeon
Personally, I can think of no greater privilege than to lead the party I joined when I was just 16. – Nicola Sturgeon
An independent Scotland could afford pensions full stop – after all, it is our taxes and national insurance contributions that fund them now. – Nicola Sturgeon
The decision on whether there is another referendum is down to the Scottish people. – Nicola Sturgeon
For me, personally, it has been humbling since I became First Minister to speak to women and girls and have them tell me how much it means to them to have a woman in the top job in politics in Scotland. – Nicola Sturgeon
It is clear that my predecessor as First Minister is frightening the life out of the Tories and the Labour Party. Long may it continue. – Nicola Sturgeon
Ed Balls has made it crystal clear that, left to its own devices, a Labour government would simply carry on with the same budget policies as the Tories. – Nicola Sturgeon
I and Alex Salmond are not in competition – we are on the same side; we are on the same team, working together. – Nicola Sturgeon
I feel comfortable in a position of leadership, but that’s not to say I feel complacent about it. I take it incredibly seriously. – Nicola Sturgeon
Scotland almost invented the modern world. I mean, all of these televisions, telephones, penicillin, we all – all of these things were invented in Scotland. – Nicola Sturgeon
Clearly, any issues about breaching of expenses rules should be properly investigated. – Nicola Sturgeon
The assumption that people sometimes make is that I have made a cold, calculated decision to put my career ahead of having family, and that’s not true. – Nicola Sturgeon