Margaret Thatcher quotes

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— 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

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

“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.”

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— 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

“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

“There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.”

— Margaret Thatcher

“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.”

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

“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.”

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher