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A man may climb Everest for himself, but at the summit he plants his country's flag.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Conservative Party Conference, Oct. 14, 1988
Economics are the method; the object is to change the heart and soul.
MARGARET THATCHER, interview, The Sunday Times, May 1, 1981
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, speech to Small Business Bureau Conference, Feb. 8, 1984
When politicians speak of the need for sacrifice, they often delude themselves and other people in another way also. They pretend that if only the medicine they are offering is swallowed bravely, the result will be some kind of Utopia. Ladies and Gentlemen, Utopia is an illusion. We shall never live in a society free from material worries. We shall never live in a land which will flow with milk and honey, regardless of our skill and industry. The better and stronger Britain towards which we in the Government are striving is not Utopia. It's a land in which individuals will have a fair chance, by their own efforts, of winning happiness and security for themselves and their children and, in the process, enlarging the wealth and strength of their country.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Conservative Central Council, Mar. 22, 1980
I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together.
MARGARET THATCHER, interview, BBC television (Dec. 17, 1984)
I believe that the royal family are a focus of patriotism, of loyalty, of affection and of esteem. That is a rare combination, and we should value it highly.
MARGARET THATCHER, statement in the House of Commons, Jul. 24, 1990
The great Tory reform of this century is to enable more and more people to own property. Popular capitalism is nothing less than a crusade to enfranchise the many in the economic life of the nation. We Conservatives are returning power to the people. That is the way to one nation, one people.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Conservative Party Conference, Oct. 10, 1986
The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet politburo don't have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns. They know that they are a super power in only one sense—the military sense. They are a failure in human and economic terms.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech at Kensington Town Hall, Jan. 19, 1976
Government should create the right framework of sound money, low taxes, light regulation and flexible markets (including labour markets) to allow prosperity and employment to grow.
MARGARET THATCHER, The Path to Power
For my part, I favour an approach to statecraft that embraces principles, as long as it is not stifled by them; and I prefer such principles to be accompanied by steel along with good intentions.
MARGARET THATCHER, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
Socialists cry "Power to the people", 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, speech to Conservative Central Council, Mar. 15, 1986
It is always important in matters of high politics to know what you do not know. Those who think they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge.
MARGARET THATCHER, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
Patched-up diplomatic solutions designed to answer the needs of the moment rarely last, and as they unravel they can actually make things worse.
MARGARET THATCHER, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
I personally have always voted for the death penalty because I believe that people who go out prepared to take the lives of other people forfeit their own right to live. I believe that that death penalty should be used only very rarely, but I believe that no-one should go out certain that no matter how cruel, how vicious, how hideous their murder, they themselves will not suffer the death penalty.
MARGARET THATCHER, TV interview, A Plus 4, Oct. 15, 1984
On my way here I passed a local cinema and it turns out you were expecting me after all, for the billboards read: The Mummy Returns.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Conservative Election Rally in Plymouth, May 22, 2001
The choice facing the nation is between two totally different ways of life. And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark, divisive clouds of Marxist socialism and bring together men and women from all walks of life who share a belief in freedom.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech in Perth Scotland, May 13, 1983
All corporatism - even when practised in societies where hard work, enterprise and cooperation are as highly valued as in Korea - encourages inflexibility, discourages individual accountability, and risks magnifying errors by concealing them.
MARGARET THATCHER, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
I don't think there will be a woman Prime Minister in my lifetime.
MARGARET THATCHER, Val Meets the V.I.P.s, BBC Television, Mar. 5, 1973
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, speech to the Conservative Party Conference, Oct. 10, 1975
We are not in politics to ignore peoples' worries: we are in politics to deal with them.
MARGARET THATCHER, TV interview, Granada World in Action, Jan. 27, 1978
Business success isn't just a selfish aim. Profits spread beyond those who make them and bring jobs and prosperity.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Conservative Women's Conference, May 21, 1980
The patronage state is an arrogant state. It assumes it can spend your money better than you do. Yet it expects you to work for it in the first place.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Conservative Women's Conference, May 21, 1980
Making change tolerable is one of the duties of Government.
MARGARET THATCHER, Jul. 19, 1980
The stream of French influence, continued over many centuries and often flowing through Bordeaux, ensured that England did not become an introverted Anglo-Saxon kingdom cut off on a foggy island from the main stream of European history. Instead, French habits, fashions, words and modes of thought so penetrated English life that they now form an indissoluble part of our culture. In the centre of London stands our national shrine, Westminster Abbey. It is a building whose style is as French as any to be found in France (although I admit that down the years it has acquired an English accent). And to this day our laws have no effect until it has been signified in Parliament that "La Reine le veult".
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Franco-British Council
It's no coincidence that, despite the constant demand over the last twenty years for ever more unrealistic wages, the workers in this country are among the worst paid in the developed world. The path to prosperity lies through higher productivity, not merely higher pay.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Oct. 16, 1980
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, speech to Conservative Party Conference, Oct. 10, 1980
When government does its job properly people are free to do theirs.
MARGARET THATCHER, speech to Conservative Women's Conference, May 21, 1980
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