I drove my mum and dad mad.

Taxing people for having a spare bedroom and forcing them into rent arrears or the possibility of losing homes they have lived in for years has always been a cruel and heartless measure, and so it is good that the Scottish Parliament has been able to step in.

Sometimes things happen in life, sometimes they don't. Don't get me wrong: I have no regrets - if I could turn the clock back 10 or 20 years, I wouldn't want to fundamentally change the path my life has taken.

One of Ed Miliband's shadow ministers has said he would never vote for the renewal of Trident.

Voting Labour in the past hasn't protected Scotland against Tory governments.

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.

Any politician or campaigner trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public won't get very far.

There can be no greater privilege in life than to be chosen to lead your country.

When I was growing up, I was lucky to benefit from a first class education.

An independent Scotland - like all countries - will face challenges, and we will have our ups and downs. But the decisions about how we use our wealth will be ours.

Social media is natural to me, and it's a very immediate way of saying something. It's the way politics are done these days. In modern politics, you can't ignore that even if you wanted to. I can't imagine doing politics without it.

Scotch beef, salmon and shellfish are recognised the world over for their excellence and Scottish provenance. People recognise the Scottish brand. They associate the country with quality food and drink, and clearly other Scottish sectors, such as dairy, can benefit from that, too.

American companies based in Scotland employ large numbers of people - in fact, we are the best performing part of the U.K., outside London and the southeast of England when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment.

Glasgow is a great city.

It still annoys me when I read really derogatory things about how a woman looks because you would usually not read these things about a man, and that still has the potential to put women off public life.

Instead of an end to austerity, Labour has made clear that it wants to impose more austerity cuts.

Labour long ago realised it could no longer automatically assume that it would win elections in Glasgow and other places where it has taken people's votes for granted for decades - as we have seen across Scotland at local council and Holyrood elections.

I'm not going to do anything that heralds in a Tory government.

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.

For parents - women in particular - good quality, affordable childcare is vital.

Twitter's probably my bad habit.

Politics is a very male-dominated, male-driven profession. I was not just a woman but a young woman, and I suppose you end up trying to behave in a way that you think is expected of you.

I believe we should support people to live, and I am therefore in favour of good quality palliative care.

True gender equality in Scotland - and elsewhere - is still some way off.

Some of the brightest and best women in our society are stifled in their ambitions.

The decision on whether there is another referendum is down to the Scottish people.

The fact is Scottish Labour has lost its way.

Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, it is possible for other parties to change the direction of a government without bringing a government down.

I and Alex Salmond are not in competition - we are on the same side; we are on the same team, working together.

The total impact of the Tory/Liberal tax, welfare and public spending changes has hit the poorest 10% in society disproportionately hard - and women have been affected even more badly than men.

For the Scottish government, the practice of having meetings in different parts of the country is well established, but for the U.K. government, it is a much rarer event.

People in Scotland don't take too kindly to being lectured by a Tory Chancellor.

Many hard working people in low paid jobs get housing benefit.

The Scottish Government will continue to do all it can to get people into work.

I do not want to see, for any reason, the Tories resurgent in any way.

I came into politics because of my opposition to what a Tory Government was doing to the community I grew up in.

I think the fact that people are even talking about the prospect of the Tories coming second is less about anything the Tories have done and more about the failures of Labour to set out, in any kind of coherent sense, what it's for anymore.

Vote SNP for a party that always stands up for Scotland, that is stronger for Scotland, and a government that will keep the country moving in the right direction.

I won't say I've never felt in Alex Salmond's shadow, but latterly, when Alex was leader, I didn't. It's more about my awareness of the fact I became First Minister during a parliamentary term. That means you're First Minister, but you haven't been elected in your own right as First Minister.

I'm not a scientist. If there is a risk to our environment, there will be no fracking.

My pledge to you is that the SNP will put women and gender equality right at the heart of the Westminster agenda.

I stand here today as the first woman first minister of our country. Every day I hold this office, I will work to ensure that every woman, every wee girl across this country, gets a chance to do what I've done and follow their dream.

There was nothing in my childhood that said, 'She's going to be first minister of the country one day.'

I was studious and bookish. Not just as a child but also as a teenager. I took myself too seriously.

Talent is really important in politics, but experience is also really important.

My political awakening, if I can be as grand as to call it that, was all about what was happening around me. It wasn't some romantic, patriotic vision of Scotland going back to what it had been 300 years previously.

I was fascinated, long before I joined the SNP, in the world around me; current affairs really interested me.

I've got absolutely no desire or intention of damaging England.

I am the granddaughter of an English woman. I love England and her people and, regardless of politics, consider you to be family... and always will.

I hope nobody in England is afraid of the SNP - there is absolutely no need to be.