Selected Quotes by Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher- Margaret Hilda Thatcher/ Baroness Thatcher (October 13, 1925 – April 8, 2013), was a British stateswoman and Conservative politician who ultimately became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. She is also the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990.
She was the first female British prime minister. She is also the longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century.
She implemented economic policies that became widely known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", which became a monicker associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
Quotes by 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, Government, Society
“In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“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, Government
“Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“Some Socialists seem to believe that people should be numbers in a State computer. We believe they should be individuals. We are all unequal. No one, thank heavens, is like anyone else, however much the Socialists may pretend otherwise. We believe that everyone has the right to be unequal but to us every human being is equally important.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“Left-wing zealots have often been prepared to ride roughshod over due process and basic considerations of fairness when they think they can get away with it. For them the ends always seems to justify the means. That is precisely how their predecessors came to create the gulag.
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo do not have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo do not have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“I don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“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.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government
“As Prime Minister between 1979 and 1990 I had the opportunity to put these convictions into effect in economic policy -
We intended policy in the 1980s to be directed towards fundamentally different goals from those of most of the post-war ear. We believed that since jobs (in a free society) did not depend on government but upon satisfying customers, there was no point in setting targets for 'full' employment. Instead, government should create the right framework of sound money, low taxes, light regulation and flexible markets (including labour markets) to allow prosperity and employment to grow.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government, Goals
“I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand 'I have a problem, it is the government's job to cope with it!' or 'I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!'; 'I am homeless, the government must house me!' and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society?
"There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families, and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.
"It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government, Society
“Law and order is a social service. Crime and the fear which the threat of crime induces can paralyse whole communities, keep lonely and vulnerable elderly people shut up in their homes, scar young lives and raise to cult status the swaggering violent bully who achieves predatory control over the streets. I suspect that there would be more support and less criticism than today's political leaders imagine for a large shift of resources from Social Security benefits to law and order - as long as rhetoric about getting tough on crime was matched by practice.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government, Society
“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.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government, Society
“Do you know, one of the greatest problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas? Now, thoughts and ideas, that interests me.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government, Society
“There are significant differences between the American and European version of capitalism. The American traditionally 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, Government, Business
“When I'm out of politics I'm going to run a business, it'll be called rent-a-spine.”
Margaret Thatcher, Government, Business
“Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.”
Margaret Thatcher, Life
“The facts of life are conservative.”
Margaret Thatcher, Life
“Well, there’s a lot to react against!”
Margaret Thatcher, Life
“They might have beaten us at our national sport, but we managed to beat them at their national sport twice in the 20th century. [Replying to Kenneth Clarke, who said, "Isn't it terrible about losing to the Germans at our national sport?" when England lost to Germany in the 1990 FIFA World Cup Semi-final.]”
Margaret Thatcher, Life
“I wasn't lucky, I deserved it.”
Margaret Thatcher, Life
“I'm back... and you knew I was coming. On my way here I passed a cinema with the sign 'The Mummy Returns'.”
Margaret Thatcher, Life
“Watch your thoughts, for they will become actions. Watch your actions, for they'll become... habits. Watch your habits for they will forge your character. Watch your character, for it will make your destiny.”
Margaret Thatcher, Life
“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, Life
“If you just set out to be liked, you will be prepared to compromise on anything at anytime, and would achieve nothing.”
Margaret Thatcher, Life, Success
“Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.”
Margaret Thatcher, Society
“well it used to be about trying to do something, now it is about trying to be someone.”
Margaret Thatcher, Society
“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.”
Margaret Thatcher, Society, Anger and Fighting
“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, Goals
“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 when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.”
Margaret Thatcher, Goals
“Don't follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.”
Margaret Thatcher, Goals
“I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.”
Margaret Thatcher, Goals
“If you set out to be liked, you will accomplish nothing.”
Margaret Thatcher, Goals, Success
“To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.”
Margaret Thatcher, Goals, Planning
“When people are free to choose, they choose freedom.”
Margaret Thatcher, Freedom
“More than they wanted freedom, the Athenians wanted security. Yet they lost everything—security, comfort, and freedom. This was because they wanted not to give to society, but for society to give to them. The freedom they were seeking was freedom from responsibility. It is no wonder, then, that they ceased to be free. In the modern world, we should recall the Athenians' dire fate whenever we confront demands for increased state paternalism.”
Margaret Thatcher, Freedom, Society
“In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”
Margaret Thatcher, Freedom, Society
“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, Ideas
“If you want something spoken about, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.”
Margaret Thatcher, Sex
“Of course, to be a mother and a housewife is a vocation of a very high kind. But I simply felt that it was not the whole of my vocation. I knew that I also wanted a career. A phrase that Irene Ward, MP for Tynemouth, and I often used was that ‘while the home must always be the centre of one’s life, it should not be the boundary of one’s ambitions’.”
Margaret Thatcher, Sex, Goals, Life
“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.”
Margaret Thatcher, Power
“Any leader has to have a certain amount of steel in them, so I am not that put out being called the Iron Lady.”
Margaret Thatcher, Management
“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”
Margaret Thatcher, Management
“Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.”
Margaret Thatcher, Belief
“No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.”
Margaret Thatcher, Belief, Wealth
“Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.”
Margaret Thatcher, Truth
“Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.”
Margaret Thatcher, Planning, Work
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”