Margaret Thatcher Quotes

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

I have a woman’s instinct and it’s always a good one.

No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions.

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.

Margaret Thatcher Quotes part 2

I am not a consensus politician. I’m a conviction politician.

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

I might have preferred iron, but bronze will do.

What Britain needs is an iron lady.

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.

To me, politics is not about personalities, it’s about ideals.

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work.

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

Consensus is the negation of leadership.

There’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families.

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

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

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.

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

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

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

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

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

If you want to change the world, you have to be prepared to change your mind.

There is no such thing as society – only individuals and families.

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

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

Mediocrity always measures itself against the highest peaks.

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

I wasn’t lucky, I deserved it.

Defeat? I do not recognize the meaning of the word.

I am a conviction politician. I used to be a consensus politician, and I’m not any more.

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

There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.

Economics are the method; the object is to change the soul.

Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.

Pennies don’t fall from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.

People with grit and inner strength don’t whinge.

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

When you’ve spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment, it’s exciting to have a real crisis on your hands.

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.

You turn if you want; the lady’s not for turning.

I do know that the harder I practice, the luckier I get.