Following his death, Lord Trimble has been remembered as "a man of courage and vision".

But former BBC political editor Mark Devenport says this is a commendation which would be debated by Lord Trimble himself.

"I noted that a couple of newspapers today have used the quote, I can see why you would do it, a man of courage and vision", Mr Devenport told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback.

"Courage absolutely encapsulates David Trimble because of the enormous political and personal bravery that he showed, when he decided to do the deal and stick with it despite the intimidation that he faced."

Mr Devenport pointed out that Lord Trimble regularly rejected the term vision as "being far too vague for his extremely literal mind."

He recalled a line from Lord Trimble's 1998 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

"He said instinctively, 'I identify with the person who said that when he heard a politician talk of his vision, he recommended him to consult an optician'.

"That was David Trimble through and through."

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Former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Peter Hain has said David Trimble played an "outstanding and courageous" role in Northern Ireland's peace talks.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, he said that Lord Trimble showed "amazing leadership" during discussions.

"He was the first unionist leader to really step across the divide and be prepared to work with one's bitter enemies, especially Sinn Féin," Lord Hain said.

He added that Lord Trimble's "enormous contribution" was rightfully acknowledged through receipt of the Nobel Peace prize in 1998.

When asked whether Lord Trimble was difficult to work with at times, Lord Hain added that this should not diminish his legacy.

"We've all got personal characteristics that could be improved," he said.

"But we should focus on what was most important about his legacy which is the huge historic contribution he made."

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A book of condolence will be opened in Belfast today in memory of Lord Trimble.

Belfast Lord Mayor, Tina Black, will open the book at 2pm.

It will then be available for those who wish to pay tribute to the former first minister in the reception of City Hall.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane, Sandra Duffy, will also open a book of condolence at the Guildhall later today.

Separately, the Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Paul Greenfield, has opened an online book of condolence for residents to extend their sympathies to the family of Lord Trimble.

Chair of Mid Ulster council, Cora Corry, also opened an online book of condolences for Lord Trimble earlier today, saying that he leaves "a legacy for us all".

Former US Senator George Mitchell said Lord Trimble’s “willingness to take very difficult decision” was central to Northern Ireland’s peace process.

Mr Mitchell, who chaired the talks that led to the 1998 peace deal, said the people of Northern Ireland, the UK and Ireland owe David a heavy debt of gratitude”.

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Lord Trimble had made sacrifices, both personally and politically, Mr Mitchell said.

“There would have been no agreement on April 10, 1998, without the courage and determinations of David Trimble.

“He will be remembered as a major political leader whose courage and determination saved hundreds of lives and changed for the better thousands more,” he said.

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The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has offered its sympathy to the family circle of Lord Trimble.

"It was with great sadness that the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland learned of the death of David Trimble, former First Minister of Northern Ireland, at the age of 77," the organisation said in a statement.

"Lord Trimble, a member of Bangor Abbey LOL 726 in Bangor District LOL No. 18, was a loyal and dedicated Orangeman and had recently passed 50 years membership of the Orange Institution."

Denis Murray, the BBC's former Ireland correspondent, shared his "own little historic moment" with Lord Trimble.

He said he had a lovely photograph from the day of the referendum result on the Good Friday Agreement.

"I was waiting to go onto BBC Two, and behind me on the BBC NI set were John Hume, Gerry Adams and David Trimble and that was the first time any unionist leader had sat on any television set with the leader of the republican movement."

Mr Murray said Lord Trimble was "a unionist leader who realised the future of Northern Ireland was in power-sharing and that it had to be done in some ways to secure the Union".

"If you want to do that you have to share power with your nationalist Catholic neighbours," Mr Murray said.

"And he did it, rather more uncomfortably I suspect, than Brian Faulkner with Sinn Féin.

"But it was a big step".

Mr Murray added: "A lot of people talk about all the peace awards that John Hume got. You very rarely hear people refer to David Trimble’s Nobel Peace Prize.

"I can’t think of any other British politicians or UK politicians, or on these islands, who have won the Nobel Peace Prize and that puts him in a very high pantheon of politicians from these islands."

Fr Aidan Troy, who was based in north Belfast during the 2001 Holy Cross school dispute, has praised the contribution of Lord Trimble and former deputy first minister Mark Durkan in preparing a path for its resolution.

The school was thrust into the international spotlight at the start of term in September 2001, when hundreds of loyalist protesters tried to block the main route taken by the children and their parents on their walk to class.

The three-month protest was sparked by a local dispute between Catholic and Protestant residents in Ardoyne, north Belfast.

As former security editor for BBC News NI, Brian Rowan met and interviewed Lord Trimble many times.

"The easy thing for David Trimble at Easter 1998 would have been to walk away as others did," he said.

"He didn't do that, he carried the weight of the Good Friday Agreement, the heavy weights of power-sharing".

Mr Rowan said he "had his moments" with the politician, who he said could be "difficult".

"But you put that to one side when you consider the huge step that he took, not just in 1998 but in 1999 when he went into government ahead of decommissioning," he said.

He added: "Being angry was an indication of the pressure they were all under at that stage and that was something we didn't understand".

Mr Rowan also praised Lord Trimble's contribution to peace in Northern Ireland.

"I think in terms of history, in terms of this place, David Trimble will have his place in the league table of people who made a very serious and significant contribution to the peace that we have," he said.

Lord Trimble's death dominates the headlines on the front pages of the daily Northern Ireland newspapers this morning.

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SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Lord Trimble "doesn't often enough get credit" and without him there would be no Good Friday Agreement.

He said David Trimble's life had left an "indelible mark on our shared island's story".

"Over the course of his political career, but particularly in difficult years of the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, he demonstrated immense courage and took political risks that sustained the life of our fledgling peace process.

"The image of David and Seamus Mallon walking through Poyntzpass together in 1998 to comfort the families of Damien Trainor and Philip Allen is an enduring icon of the peace process that inspired a whole generation of people who wanted, and needed, to believe that our shared future could be different from our divided past."

The SDLP announced it will postpone its assembly recall motion scheduled for Tuesday.

Lisa McGee, the creator and writer of hit comedy Derry Girls, thanked Lord Trimble for “walking the difficult path when it mattered”.

The Channel 4 show centres on a group of teenagers growing up in Derry in the 1990s.

In the final episode of the show, events took place against the backdrop of the Good Friday Agreement referendum.

Lord Trimble was an "imperfect man", BBC’s political editor at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, Stephen Grimason has said.

However, he added: "you try living under that sort of pressure."

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Mr Grimason recalled Lord Trimble's family receiving "constant intimidation".

“David Trimble, yes, was an imperfect man but he and John Hume, who was also an imperfect man, these two imperfect men gave us an imperfect but vital piece”.

He added that Lord Trimble "set the tone of unionism for the last 25 years" and that without him the DUP's Ian Paisley could never have been first minister.

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East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell said Lord Trimble could be a “warm individual” who often masked that with a “robotic approach”.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Mr Campbell said he always had an impression of Lord Trimble as a “private, family man”.

In later years, Mr Campbell said “we always got on very well”.

But in the political arena of the 1990s Mr Campbell, whose DUP were opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, said there were “big differences” between the two men.

He said there will be differing opinions in relation to Lord Trimble’s political legacy

“Some people will attribute much of the development since the mid-1990s to David Trimble and John Hume, others will say change was coming anyway,” Mr Campbell said.

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Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said Lord Trimble's greatest legacy to his political career was the Good Friday Agreement and "the risks he took to both help achieve it, and ensuring the resulting assembly remained during its unsteady early days".

"It was at times an unenviable role," she added.

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Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said Lord Trimble made "a huge contribution to Northern Ireland, and to political life in the United Kingdom".

"Throughout some of the most difficult years of the Troubles, David was a committed and passionate advocate for the Union, at a time when doing so placed a considerable threat to his safety," he said.

"Whilst our political paths parted within the Ulster Unionist Party, there can be no doubting his bravery and determination in leadership at that time."

Sir Jeffrey said Lord Trimble was "a committed and passionate unionist who always wanted the best for Northern Ireland".

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Vice-president of Sinn Féin Michelle O'Neill said she felt "genuine regret" after learning of Lord Trimble's passing.

She offered her condolences to his wife Daphne, their four children and the wider family circle.

Ms O'Neill said: "His very significant contribution to the peace process and his courage in helping achieve the Good Friday Agreement leaves a legacy a quarter century on for which he and his family should be rightly proud."

Sir Tony Blair's former chief of staff Jonathan Powell said Lord Trimble should be remembered for his political courage.

His bravery, Mr Powell said, had led the UUP into the talks process and to signing the Good Friday Agreement.

But it was a courageousness that had a cost, Mr Powell said.

“He sacrificed his political career, he sacrificed his party to get to peace,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.

Mr Powell added: “I used to say how surprised I was that as a former hardliner he did this.

“He said to me ‘you don’t understand Jonathan, I was always committed to getting to peace and that was what I was determined to do’”.

Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan served as the Stormont Executive’s deputy first minister alongside Lord Trimble.

He told BBC Radio Foyle Lord Trimble was often “more light hearted and more humorous” in private than he appeared in public.

But politically, Mr Durkan said, he was often “a man under serious pressure”.

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“He took huge risks. The fact is he paid a personal price for some of those risks.

"While the risks were entailed for him, the benefits were ensured for the rest of us in a real and lasting way”.

Lord Trimble put huge emphasis on what was “doable”, Mr Durkan added.

“He would say something wasn’t doable and no matter what argument you were putting forward or what evidence there was, he would tell you something just wasn’t doable.

“Then the calculus would change and he would tell you it was doable – on certain terms”.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern worked with Lord Trimble during negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement.

He said he had great admiration for Lord Trimble and his work.

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The pair spent "hundreds of hours" in negotiation between 1995 and 2005.

“We got on very well. We had lots of one to one conversations," he told BBC Newsline.

"Of course we fought, of course we had differences and some of them were fiery.

"But we always kept negotiating and dealing with the issues in front of us.

“The reality is, in his time as first minister, with the up and downs and suspensions in the institutions, he stuck with it."