Margaret Thatcher quotes
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“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 -
“You do not achieve anything without trouble, ever.”
-- Margaret ThatcherSource : "Thatcher Put the "Great" Back in Great Britain" by Jack Kelly, www.realclearpolitics.com. April 14, 2013.
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“The price of freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.”
-- 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 -
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“A man may climb Everest for himself, but at the summit he plants his country's flag.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.”
-- Margaret ThatcherSource : "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.
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“Socialists cry “Power to the peopleâ€, 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 -
“That nations that have gone for equality, like Communism, have neither freedom nor justice nor equality, they've the greatest inequalities of all, the privileges of the politicians are far greater compared with the ordinary folk than in any other country. The nations that have gone for freedom, justice and independence of people have still freedom and justice, and they have far more equality between their people, far more respect for each individual than the other nations. Go my way. You will get freedom and justice and much less difference between people than you do in the Soviet Union.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“It may be the ***** that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't.”
-- Margaret ThatcherSource : Margaret Thatcher, Iain Dale (1997). “As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations”, Robson Book Ltd
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“Why in the world anyone in America is allowing another language (other than English) to be his first... I don't know”
-- 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 ThatcherSource : "Thatcher Put the "Great" Back in Great Britain" by Jack Kelly, www.realclearpolitics.com. April 14, 2013.
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“No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Good Conservatives always pay their bills. And on time. Not like the Socialists who run up other people's bills.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“If you set out to be liked, you will accomplish nothing.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“The spirit of envy can destroy; it can never build.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Let us never forget this fundamental truth: the State has no source of money other than money which people earn themselves. If the State wishes to spend more it can do so only by borrowing your savings or by taxing you more. It is no good thinking that someone else will pay - that 'someone else' is you. There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers' money.”
-- Margaret ThatcherSource : Margaret Thatcher (1989). “The revival of Britain: speeches on home and European affairs, 1975-1988”
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“Being prime minister is a lonely job... you cannot lead from the crowd.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Home is where you come to when you've got nothing better to do.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“People from my sort of background needed grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Consensus is the absence of leadership.”
-- 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 -
“It used to be about trying to do something. Now it's about trying to be someone.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Most women defend themselves. It is the female of the species-it is the tigress and lioness in you which tends to defend when attacked.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“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 -
“Yet the basic fact remains: every regulation represents a restriction of liberty, every regulation has a cost. That is why, like marriage (in the Prayer Book's words), regulation should not "be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly"”
-- 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 -
“Many of our troubles are due to the fact that our people turn to politicians for everything.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Don't follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“You turn if you want to. The Lady's not for turning.”
-- 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 -
“Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Let our children grow tall and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Consensus is the negation of leadership.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“The woman's mission is not to enhance the masculine spirit, but to express the feminine; hers is not to preserve a man-made world, but to create a human world by the infusion of the feminine element into all of its activities.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Marxists get up early to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“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.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“I don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“During my lifetime most of the problems the world has faced have come, in one fashion or other, from mainland Europe, and the solutions from outside it.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Do you think you would ever have heard of Christianity if the Apostles had gone out and said, ‘I believe in consensus?’”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Europe will never be like America. Europe is a product of history. America is a product of philosophy.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“If a Tory does not believe that private property is one of the main bulwarks of individual freedom, then he had better become a socialist and have done with it.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“If you have a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, I believe people will follow you. Democracy isn't just about deducing what the people want. Democracy is leading the people as well.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“The desire to win is born in most of us. The will to win is a matter of training. The manner of winning is a matter of honour.”
-- Margaret ThatcherSource : Margaret Thatcher, Iain Dale (1997). “As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations”, Robson Book Ltd
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“Constitutions have to be written on hearts, not just paper.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Women have plenty of roles in which they can serve with distinction: some of us even run countries. But generally we are better at wielding the handbag than the bayonet.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“The larger the slice taken by government, the smaller the cake available for everyone.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“The European single currency is bound to fail, economically, politically and indeed socially, though the timing, occasion and full consequences are all necessarily still unclear.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“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.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“The Third World is very much like the First World - just poorer: what works for the West will work for the rest as well.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“I was asked whether I was trying to restore Victorian values. I said straight out I was. And I am.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim.”
-- Margaret ThatcherSource : "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.
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“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 -
“How very popular to say, 'spend more on this, expend more on that.' And of course, we all have our favorite causes; I know I do. But someone has to add up the figures. Every business has to do it, every housewife has to do it, [and] every government should do it.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become Prime Minister”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“There is a nonsense about intelligent women not being beautiful.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime is crime, it is not political”
-- 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 -
“To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Our children need strong families raising them with sturdy virtues, not to be smothered in the cold arms of the state.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“It pays to know the enemy - not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Nothing is more obstinate than a fashionable consensus.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“We will stand on principle or we will not stand at all.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“The feminists hate me, don't they? And I don't blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“What? What am I 'bound to be feeling?' People don’t think anymore. They feel. 'How are you feeling? No, I don’t feel comfortable. I’m sorry, we as a group we’re feeling….' 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. Thoughts and ideas. That interests me. Ask me what I’m thinking.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Ought we not to ask the media to agree among themselves a voluntary code of conduct, under which they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists' morale or their cause while the hijack lasted.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“Gentlemen, if we don't cut spending we will be bankrupt. Yes, the medicine is harsh, but the patient requires it in order to live. Should we withhold the medicine? No. We are not wrong. We did not seek election and win in order to manage the decline of a great nation.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society -- from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“But the whole history of America is quite different from Europe. People went there to get away from the intolerance and constraints of life in Europe. They sought liberty and opportunity; and their strong sense of purpose has over two centuries, helped create a new unity and pride in being American.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“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.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“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 -
“People think that at the top there isn't much room. They tend to think of it as an Everest. My message is that there is tons of room at the top.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“...Conservatives have excellent credentials to speak about human rights. By our efforts, and with precious little help from self-styled liberals, we were largely responsible for securing liberty for a substantial share of the world's population and defending it for most of the rest.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“If it's me against 48, I feel sorry for the 48.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Young people ought not to be idle, it is very bad for them.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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“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 -
“Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“Those who imagine that a politician would make a better figurehead than a hereditary monarch might perhaps make the acquaintance of more politicians.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
“It is always important in matters of high politics to know what you do not know. Those who think that they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge.”
-- Margaret Thatcher -
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