Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero Quotations

Maybe John Kerry does not know - but I am happy to explain it to him - that my commitment to withdraw the troops goes back before the tragic, dramatic terrorist attack.

I will listen to Mr Bush but my position is very clear and very firm. The occupation is a fiasco. There have been almost more deaths after the war than during the war.

We're aligning ourselves with Kerry. Our allegiance will be for peace, against war, no more deaths for oil, and for a dialogue between the government of Spain and the new Kerry administration.

Wars such as those which have occurred in Iraq only allow hatred, violence and terror to proliferate

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

Gender equality is more successful than armed force

With a Socialist government, there will not be a national surplus whilst there continues to be inequality.

The main priority of the Socialist Party is education".

The risk of a terrorist victory is greater when in fighting terror, democracy betrays its own essence.

The more equality women have, the fairer, more civilized and tolerant society will be. Sexual equality is a lot more effective against terrorism than military strength.

I said when I came into office that I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a good democrat.

I want to increase our spending on research and development by 25%. That's something the U.S. does very well. That dynamism alongside a welfare state in the European community - that's the synthesis I want to achieve.

Democratic power is the only voice most citizens have.

Spaniards have always shown great maturity and great common sense when it comes to voting.

I don't think this debate is negative, it is enriching

...it is true that renewable energy is expensive and can't be done without public sector support, it is an important investment in the future.

Please receive in the name of the Spanish government and the people of Spain our warmest congratulations for your election as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and my best wishes for the Papacy which you begin today. [to Pope Benedict XVI]

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

Less smoking and more reading.

Discouraging smoking and drinking is a left ideal.

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.

You can be completely opposed to an ideological position, and I'm certainly not close to Aznar's ideas, however he was elected by the Spanish people and I demand that respect.

In democracy, nobody is above anybody else apart from he who is elected by the people.

Although the recession is strong and although hard times await us in the next 2 or 3 months, Spain will continue to grow in the second quarter of 2009.

The photo is the most important thing.

My commitment is my commitment.

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.

Peace needs and takes time, it needs and takes caution, it needs and takes patience after 30 years of terrorism and violence.

The Spain of today looks at the Second Republic with great appreciation and above all with satisfaction and pride for what we have been able to do in this constitutional age".

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.

In my opinion, patriotism is liberty.

The PP has spent 3 years thinking about the election (in 2008), but I think that one has to give them some advice: to prepare themselves to carry on thinking, but about the election in 2012.

Any peace process after so many years of horror and terror will be long and difficult.

Markets are very important but for the government the citizens are more so.

It's true that the war in Iraq opened a distance in relations between part of Europe and the U.S. government, but our basic ties are stronger than that. We share democracy, free markets and a commitment to Western security. We differ on how to guarantee that security.

The corporations and the media don't need power; they already have it.

No Spanish government has given into terror and no government will do that.

Were aligning ourselves with Kerry. Our allegiance will be for peace, against war, no more deaths for oil, and for a dialogue between the government of Spain and the new Kerry administration.

Europe is and will be a Union of States.

The economic, social and cultural progress of a nation depends on citizens counting for more and having more rights.

You can't bomb a people just in case.