Chris Patten

“The plain fact is that we are not going to be able to cut our way to prosperity.”

“My definition of an optimist is someone who believes the future is uncertain.”

“Politics is about the reconciliation of the irreconcilable.”

“What is the point of being a politician if you cannot speak out against what you think is wrong?”

“Hong Kong has created one of the most successful societies on this earth.”

“You can't have a university without having politics.”

“The purpose of a university is to be a critic and conscience of society.”

“Freedom of the press is not an optional extra. It is the bedrock of our freedoms.”

“The values that have made Hong Kong a success are universal values.”

“Populism is the politics of the shortcut, the easy answer, the snake oil.”

“I want to be remembered as the governor who loved Hong Kong.”

“There's a temptation for governments to fudge and fiddle at the margins, to tinker with the machinery.”

“If we believe in democracy, we must believe in it everywhere.”

“It is a brave and honourable thing to be a politician.”

“You don't prepare for the future by turning your back on the past.”

“You can't have a free society without a free press.”

“The truth is, of course, that history is not a straight line, let alone one of ever-onward-and-upward progress.”

“Now I am a man of peace. I am very, very, very much a man of peace.”