Nick Clegg Quotes

The decisive factor for the future of Europe - and before all things, for the 'restoration' of Europe - will be whether political thought and national feelings are influenced by the reality of internationalism.

In this age of growing interconnectedness, we understand that turning our backs on the world is simply not an option.

No country can be an island unto itself or world unto itself. Not even the biggest country.

I am not a British isolationist. I don't just want a better deal for Britain. I want a better deal for Europe too.

We should seek to cooperate with Europe, not to divide Europe to a fictitious new and a fictitious old.

I have long believed this interdependence defines the new world we live in.

Solidarity and competitiveness are the two sides of a European coin.

The strength of Europe at the end of the day has always been that we stuck together and that demands a great amount - probably even more so than in the past - of discussions, of balancing, of bringing along individual countries.

The age of isolation is gone. And gone are the days in which barbed wire served as demarcation lines, separating and isolating countries from one another. No country can escape looking beyond its boundaries to find the source of the currents which influence how it can live with others.

The human race has entered a stage where we are all dependent on each other. No other country or nation should be regarded in total separation from another, let alone pitted against another.

We live in an inter-dependent world. An isolated India is not in our interest. Just because we are a large country, we cannot be arrogant and think that we can ignore others. We live in a different era. Terrorism is global and can come from even remote countries. International summits and organizations like WTO take decisions which will bind us and if we are not present in such summits, we may be hurt by the decisions taken.

Among peoples who are geographically grouped together like the peoples of Europe there must exist a sort of federal link. It is this link which I wish to endeavour to establish.

To contrast national solidarity and international cooperation as two opposites seems foolish to me.

Our alliances should be understood as a means to expand our influence, not as a constraint on our power. The expansion of democracy and freedom in the world should be a shared interest and value with all nations.

Isolationism is over.

In Europe it is particularly important that we build good relations to everyone who holds political responsibility because Europe can only be build together.

I believe that national sovereignties will shrink in the face of universal interdependence.

The world before 1914 was already a world in which the welfare of each individual nation was inextricably bound up with the prosperity of the whole community of nations.

The great problem there is we have to have the cooperation of those other Asian countries.

Everyone in my country understands that Russia cannot do without Europe and that, vice versa, Europe cannot do without Russia. We depend on cooperation.

The countries that share this conception should be able to go further together, without excluding the others, since they can still live in a greater community of exchange and co-operation.

Acknowledge that a more closely integrated Europe is no longer an unqualified American interest.

Moscow would have to give up its its global aspirations and agree to obey rules that it had played no part in devising. European Commission President Romano Prodi expressed this formula best in 2002: Russia would share with the EU wvweything but institutions..... this meant Russia would adopt EU rules and regulations but would not be able to influence their development.

We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism. This is an option. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy to our fears. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. It will not douse, but inflame the fears of our citizens

In a global economy, the Bush doctrine of unilateralism - going it alone - has been disastrous. It's becoming increasingly clear that we're all in this together. Your happiness is my happiness, your suffering is my suffering, your recession is my recession.