Margaret Thatcher Quotations

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money.

Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.

If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.

I love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job.

Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.

People think that at the top there isn't much room. They tend to think of it as an Everest. My message is that there is tons of room at the top.

It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.

If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim.

No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.

The spirit of envy can destroy; it can never build.

The battle for women's rights has been largely won.

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.

Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.

I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.

Nothing is more obstinate than a fashionable consensus.

If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.

You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel on infrastructure.

A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.

There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.

You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.

To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.

Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

I've got a woman's ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it.

Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.

If... many influential people have failed to understand, or have just forgotten, what we were up against in the Cold War and how we overcame it, they are not going to be capable of securing, let alone enlarging, the gains that liberty has made.

Every family should have the right to spend their money, after tax, as they wish, and not as the government dictates. Let us extend choice, extend the will to choose and the chance to choose.

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

Ought we not to ask the media to agree among themselves a voluntary code of conduct, under which they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists' morale or their cause while the hijack lasted.

I just owe almost everything to my father and it's passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.

Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.

Platitudes? Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.

It's passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.

Being prime minister is a lonely job... you cannot lead from the crowd.

I like Mr Gorbachev, we can do business together.

If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary - not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn't want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it.

There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.

I don't mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.

To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches.

It pays to know the enemy - not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.

Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.

Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.

One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

We were told our campaign wasn't sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment.

must be allowed to return to his own country forthwith.

On my way here I passed a local cinema and it turned out you were expecting me after all, for the billboards read: The Mummy Returns.

One only gets to the top rung of the ladder by steadily climbing up one at a time, and suddenly all sorts of powers, all sorts of abilities which you thought never belonged to you--suddenly become within your own possibility and you think, ''Well, I'll have a go, too.''

No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions - he had money too

Most women defend themselves. It is the female of the species -- it is the tigress and lioness in you -- which tends to defend when attacked.

Most women defend themselves. It is the female of the species / it is the tigress and lioness in you / which tends to defend when attacked.

If it is once again one against forty-eight, then I am very sorry for the forty-eight.

Her guidance and advice are always most acute and as prime minister I was privileged to benefit from both enormously.

He will be missed not only by those who knew him and not only by the nation that he served so proudly and loved so deeply, but also by millions of men and women who live in freedom today because of the policies he pursued,

It is only when you look now and see success that you say that it was good fortune. It was not. We lost 250 of our best young men. I felt every one.

We have lost a great president and a great man, and I have lost a great friend,

That nations that have gone for equality, like Communism, have neither freedom nor justice nor equality, they've the greatest inequalities of all, the privileges of the politicians are far greater compared with the ordinary folk than in any other country. The nations that have gone for freedom, justice and independence of people have still freedom and justice, and they have far more equality between their people, far more respect for each individual than the other nations. Go my way. You will get freedom and justice and much less difference between people than you do in the Soviet Union.

The price of freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.

Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.

We didn't have to do the minuets of diplomacy. We got down to business.

Why do you climb philosophical hills? Because they are worth climbing. There are no hills to go down unless you start from the top.

To Ronnie: Well done, thou good and faithful servant,

This is not the first such Europe-wide attempt to bully national electorates.

If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.

I'm not quite sure of his place in history. History will determine that.

I'm extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.

I'm fine, I'm fine. I feel fine. The doctors assessed her this morning and say she is OK.

The battle for women's rights has largely been won

If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.

a great loss not only to Jordan, not only to the Middle East, but I think to the world as a whole.

It was sheer professionalism and inspiration and the fact that you really cannot have people marching into other people's territory and staying there.

I don't mind how much my ministers talk - as long as they do what I say.

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first, there is nothing necessarily benevolent about programmes of European integration; second, the desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom; and third, European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy.

(A unified) 'Europe' is the result of plans. It is, in fact, a classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure: only the scale of the final damage done is in doubt.

Terrorism thrives on a free society. The terrorist uses the feelings in a free society to sap the will of civilization to resist. If the terrorist succeeds, he has won and the whole of free society has lost.

In my work, you get used to criticisms. Of course you do, because there are a lot of people trying to get you down, but I always cheer up immensely if one is particularly wounding because I think well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. That is why my father always taught me: never worry about anyone who attacks you personally; it means their arguments carry no weight and they know it.

For every idealistic peacemaker willing to renounce his self-defence in favour of a weapons-free world, there is at least one warmaker anxious to exploit the other's good intentions.

Socialists cry “Power to the people”, and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean - power over people, power to the State.

The truths of the Judaic-Christian tradition, are infinitely precious, not only, as I believe, because they are true, but also because they provide the moral impulse which alone can lead to that peace, in the true meaning of the word, for which we all long. . . . There is little hope for democracy if the hearts of men and women in democratic societies cannot be touched by a call to something greater than themselves.

We will stand on principle or we will not stand at all.

Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited.

Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.

Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. My father always said that... and I think I am fine.

The government has no money of its own. It's all your money.

If you set out to be liked, you will accomplish nothing.

Do you think you would ever have heard of Christianity if the Apostles had gone out and said, ‘I believe in consensus?’

Remember the 'Parable of the Talents' in the New Testament? Christ exhorts us to be the best we can be by developing our skills and abilities, by succeeding in all our tasks and endeavors. What better description can there be of capitalism?

History has taught us that freedom cannot long survive unless it is based on moral foundations. You can get the economics right, but in addition liberty must be cultivated as a moral quality.

The Labour Party believes in turning workers against owners; we believe in turning workers into owners.