Margaret Thatcher Quotes

262 Sourced Quotes

Defeat – I do not recognise the meaning of the word!

Margaret Thatcher
A man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the State as servant and not as master: these are the British inheritance. They are the essence of a free economy. And on that freedom all our other freedoms depend.

Margaret Thatcher
If in the 1930s nuclear weapons had been invented and the Allies had been faced by Nazi SS20s and Backfire Bombers, would it then have been morally right to have handed Hitler control of one of the most terrible weapons man has ever made? Would not that have been the one way to ensure that the thousand year Reich became exactly that? Would not unilateralism have given to Hitler the world domination he sought?

Margaret Thatcher
I can cope with nine of them, so they ought to be able to stand one of me. They could end the tiresomeness and stubbornness by giving me what I want.

Margaret Thatcher
I don't want to fight any wars; if you can get them off before we get there, you do it, but off they go.

Margaret Thatcher
Choice is the essence of ethics: if there were no choice there would be no ethics, no good, no evil; good and evil have meaning only insofar as man is free to choose.

Margaret Thatcher
They are all a rotten lot. Schmidt and the Americans and we are the only people who would do any standing up and fighting if necessary.

Margaret Thatcher
It has been suggested by some people in this country that I and my Government will be a 'soft touch' in the Community. In case such a rumour may have reached your ears, Mr Chancellor, it is only fair to advise you frankly to dismiss it, as my colleagues did long ago! I intend to be very discriminating in judging what are British interests and I shall be resolute in defending them.

Margaret Thatcher
It had the effect of cementing the Anglo-American alliance. What's the good of having bases if when you want to use them you're not allowed to by the home country. It made America realise that Britain was her real and true friend, when they were hard up against it and wanted something, and that no one else in Europe was. They're a weak lot, some of them in Europe you know. Weak. Feeble.

Margaret Thatcher
Let us, then, draw together in the name, not of jingoism, but of justice

Margaret Thatcher
This business of the working class is on its way out I think. After all, aren't I working class? I work jolly hard, I can tell you.

Margaret Thatcher
Everything a politician promises at election time has to be paid for either by higher taxation or by borrowing.

Margaret Thatcher
When will Labour learn that you cannot build Jerusalem in Brussels.

Margaret Thatcher
Just rejoice at the news and congratulate our armed forces and the Marines. Rejoice!

Margaret Thatcher
If we open our hearts to God, He has promised to work within us.

Margaret Thatcher
The messages on our banners in 1979 - freedom, opportunity, family, enterprise, ownership - are now inscribed on the banners in Leipzig, Warsaw, Budapest and even Moscow.

Margaret Thatcher
The mission of this government is much more than the promotion of economic progress. It is to renew the spirit and solidarity of the nation.

Margaret Thatcher
We shall take whatever action is necessary to contain the growth of the money supply. The government, unlike so many of its predecessors, will face up to economic realities.

Margaret Thatcher
I suppose I was about 20, and a crowd of us had been to a village hop and came back to make midnight cups of coffee. I was in the kitchen helping to dish up and having a fierce argument with one of the boys in the crowd when someone else interrupted to say: 'Of course Margaret, you will go into politics won't you?' I stopped dead. Suddenly it was crystalised for me. I knew.

Margaret Thatcher
I do not believe it is in the character of the British people to begrudge the lion's share to those who have genuinely played the lion's part. They are ready to recognise that those who create the wealth - and I mean not only material but intellectual wealth - enrich the whole nation.

Margaret Thatcher
I do wish I had brought my cheque book. I don't believe in credit cards.

Margaret Thatcher
Personal virtue is no substitute for political hard-headedness.

Margaret Thatcher
It is sometimes said that because of our past we, as a people, expect too much and set our sights too high. That is not the way I see it. Rather it seems to me that throughout my life in politics our ambitions have steadily shrunk. Our response to disappointment has not been to lengthen our stride but to shorten the distance to be covered. But with confidence in ourselves and in our future what a nation we could be!

Margaret Thatcher
We have made too much of one or two people, and we think that they can win or lose elections for us. Don't be depressed if one particular person transgresses. It doesn't lose an election unless the Party loses faith in itself.

Margaret Thatcher
Every Conservative desires peace. The threat to peace comes from Communism which has powerful forces ready to attack anywhere. Communism waits for weakness, it leaves strength alone. Britain must therefore be strong, strong in her arms, strong in her faith, strong in her own way of life.

Margaret Thatcher
If a woman like Eva Peron with no ideals can get that far, think how far I can go with the ideals that I have.

Margaret Thatcher
We need to create a mood where it is everywhere thought morally right for as many people as possible to acquire capital.

Margaret Thatcher
In the same period that the Americans have lived under one constitution our French friends notched up five. A Punch cartoon has a 19th century Englishman asking a librarian for a copy of the French constitution, only to be told: 'I am sorry Sir, we do not stock periodicals.'

Margaret Thatcher
We should not underestimate the enormity of the task which lies ahead. But little can be achieved without sound money. It is the bedrock of sound government.

Margaret Thatcher
We do not believe that if you cut back what government does you diminish its authority. On the contrary, a government that did less, and therefore did better, would strengthen its authority.

Margaret Thatcher