Margaret Thatcher quotes

Margaret Thatcher, prominently known as the "Iron Lady," was a British political figure and the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. With a career spanning over 11 years, she left an indelible mark on British politics and society. Thatcher is remembered for implementing conservative policies that revolutionized the nation's economic landscape. Her doctrine of free-market capitalism, known as Thatcherism, aimed to reduce state intervention, promote privatisation, and reshape labour unions. Although often polarizing, her reforms revitalized the British economy and spurred widespread prosperity. While critics viewed her as a divisive leader, supporters laud her staunch determination, leadership, and unwavering commitment to her principles. Margaret Thatcher's political legacy continues to shape the socio-economic landscape of the United Kingdom.

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

- 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

You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel on infrastructure.

- 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 like Mr Gorbachev, we can do business together.

- 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

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

- Margaret Thatcher

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

- Margaret Thatcher

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

- 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

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

- Margaret Thatcher

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

- 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

There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean 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

I'm extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.

- Margaret Thatcher

It's a funny old world.

- Margaret Thatcher

A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.

- Margaret Thatcher

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

- 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

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

- 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

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

- 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

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

- Margaret Thatcher

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

- 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

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

- Margaret Thatcher

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

- 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