Margaret Thatcher - Life in Quotes

"I don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime." – as education secretary in 1973

"People from my sort of background needed grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn." – as Conservative leader in 1977

"Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope." – on her election as prime minister in 1979

"We are not asking for a penny piece of community money for Britain. What we are asking is for a very large amount of our own money back, over and above what we contribute to the community, which is covered by our receipts from the community." – when negotiating the European community budget rebate in 1979

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning." – to the Conservative conference in 1980

"Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces and the marines. Rejoice." – announcing the liberation of South Georgia during the Falklands war in 1982

"They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." – in an interview in Women's Own in 1987

"It is ironic that just when those countries such as the Soviet Union, which have tried to run everything from the centre, are learning that success depends on dispersing power and decisions away from the centre, there are some in the community who seem to want to move in the opposite direction. We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them reimposed at a European level with a European superstate exercising a new dominance from Brussels." – in the "Bruges speech", 1988

"The president of the [European] commission, Monsieur [Jacques] Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European parliament to be the democratic body of the community, he wanted the commission to be the executive and he wanted the council of ministers to be the senate. No. No. No." – in a debate in the Commons in 1990

"I fight on. I fight to win." – after the inconclusive first ballot in the Tory leadership election, 1990

“In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.”
― Margaret Thatcher


“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.”
― Margaret Thatcher


“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's a day you've had everything to do and you've done it.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“If you just set out to be liked, you will be prepared to compromise on anything at anytime, and would achieve nothing. ”
― Margaret Thatcher

“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.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“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.”
― Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher


“Don't follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.”
― Margaret Thatcher


“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.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it will get you pretty near.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“When I'm out of politics I'm going to run a business, it'll be called rent-a-spine”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Consensus: “The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner: ‘I stand for consensus?”
― Margaret Thatcher

“I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.”
― Margaret Thatcher

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

“I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation

Socialism”
― Margaret Thatcher

“It used to be about trying to do something. Now it's about trying to be someone.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Being democratic is not enough, a majority cannot turn what is wrong into right. In order to be considered truly free, countries must also have a deep love of liberty and an abiding respect for the rule of law.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only this to say, ‘You turn if you want; the lady’s not for turning.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan”
― Margaret Thatcher

“Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends."
~ (1925- ), English political leader. ”
― Margaret Thatcher

“If you set out to be liked, you will accomplish nothing.”
― Margaret Thatcher

“There are significant differences between the American and European version of capitalism. The American traditiionally emphasizes the need for limited government, light regulations, low taxes and maximum labour-market flexibility. Its success has been shown above all in the ability to create new jobs, in which it is consistently more successful than Europe.”
― Margaret Thatcher, The Path To Power