Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920's and 1930's when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother's keeper.

If I can get you to laugh with me you like me better which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.

Travel which was once either a necessity or an adventure has become very largely a commodity and from all sides we are persuaded into thinking that it is a social requirement too.

It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree but smiles.

We are not directly involved in Syria. But we will be working with our partners in the European Union and at the United Nations to see if we can persuade the Syrian authorities to go as I say more in that direction of respect for democracy and human rights.

First President Reagan was not enthusiastic. But I built up a relationship with him in other areas and then persuaded him that this was important to us and to me and that we had to at least be in the process of looking at this seriously.

He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.

I came into politics because I wished to change things. You can't do that by lying to people you have to educate and persuade and carry them with you - and it's often a long haul.

If terror groups are to be defeated it is national governments that will have to do so. In nations like India governments will have to call on the patriotism of citizens to fight the terrorists. In a nation like Pakistan the government will have to be persuaded to deal with those in their midst who are complicit.

There's a very big gulf between the black civil rights leadership in America and the black middle class in America. The black middle class are conservative. Many of those minorities can be persuaded to be members of the Republican Party.