Quotes Library

Memorable words from and about Margaret Thatcher

Browse a curated selection of memorable quotations from Margaret Thatcher’s speeches, interviews and writings — alongside notable words spoken about her by contemporaries.

28 quotes

She is the best man in England.

US President Ronald Reagan White House Remarks, 1983
Character Leadership

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
Character Values

She has the eyes of Caligula but the mouth of Marilyn Monroe.

French President Francois Mitterrand Describing Margaret Thatcher, 1985
Character

I cannot bring myself to vote for a woman who has been voice-trained to speak to me as though my dog has just died.

Margaret Thatcher
Character

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
Leadership Values

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

Margaret Thatcher
Character Leadership

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

Margaret Thatcher National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds Conference on 20 May 1965, 1965
Character Leadership

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

Margaret Thatcher Interview in The Observer 4 April, 1989
Character

Pennies don't fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.

Margaret Thatcher Lord Mayor's Banquet , Guildhall. (12 November, 1979), 1979
Economy Values

No! No! No!

Margaret Thatcher
Europe

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

Margaret Thatcher From an interview with Llew Gardner on Thames TV, 5 February 1976 "...Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money.", 1976
Economy Socialism

You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.

Margaret Thatcher
Character Leadership

Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.

Margaret Thatcher
Leadership Values

There is no alternative.

Margaret Thatcher
Economy

There is no alternative.

Margaret Thatcher
Economy

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

Margaret Thatcher Thames TV interview, 5 February 1976
Economy Socialism

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

Margaret Thatcher
Character Leadership

The lady's not for turning.

Margaret Thatcher Speech to Conservative Party Conference, Brighton, 10 October 1980
Character Leadership

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

Margaret Thatcher
Leadership Values

I don't mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.

Margaret Thatcher Reported in The Times, 1987
Leadership Character

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

Margaret Thatcher Weekend World interview, LWT, 6 January 1980
Values Economy

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

Margaret Thatcher
Character Leadership

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

Margaret Thatcher Woman's Own interview, 23 September 1987
Values Socialism

We want a society where people are free to make choices, to make mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. This is what we mean by a moral society — not a society where the State is responsible for everything, and no one is responsible for the State.

Margaret Thatcher Speech to the Greater London Young Conservatives, 4 July 1977
Values Socialism

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

Margaret Thatcher
Values Character

We must have a Europe in which countries cooperate together more closely on a whole range of issues. But a Europe of cooperating sovereign states, not a Europe submerged in some bureaucratic conglomerate.

Margaret Thatcher Bruges Speech, College of Europe, 20 September 1988
Europe

I want my money back.

Margaret Thatcher European Council, Dublin (on the UK budget rebate), 30 November 1979
Europe Economy

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

Margaret Thatcher Speech to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 21 May 1988
Values Economy

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