Margaret Hilda Thatcher (1925–2013,) also identified by the title Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, was a British Conservative stateswoman who served as Britain’s prime minister 1979–90. She is celebrated as one of the greatest and the most influential politicians in British history.
For more than a decade, Thatcher enjoyed almost unchallenged political mastery, winning three consecutive general elections. Nicknamed “The Iron Lady” as early as 1976, Thatcher became known for her willpower and her emphasis on individual responsibility and enterprise. Her time in office was marked by monetarist policies, privatization of nationalized industries, and legislation of trade unions. The direction she pursued with intense energy and steadfast will brought about a transformation of Britain’s economic performance.
In retirement, Thatcher became a member of the House of Lords in 1992 and raised funds for her Thatcher Foundation. She also wrote her best-selling memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by 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
Topics: Arguments
Nothing is more obstinate than a fashionable consensus.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Fashion
The cocks may crow, but it’s the hen that lays the egg.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Nature, Men and Women, Men, Power, Women, Men & Women
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
Topics: Leaders, Leadership
One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Men
A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Weapon
Pennies do not come from heaven—they have to be earned here on earth.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Luck, Work
Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Dedication, Commitment
Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: America
I shan’t be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Power
To wear your heart on your sleeve isn’t a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Heart
This lady is not for turning.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Persistence, Perseverance
I have a habit of comparing the phraseology of communiques…noting a certain similarity of words, a certain similarity of optimism…and a certain similarity in the lack of practical results during the ensuring years.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Communication
If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.
—Margaret Thatcher
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.
—Margaret Thatcher
Home is where you come to when you have nothing better to do.
—Margaret Thatcher
I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Opinions, Opinion
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
Topics: Agreement
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
Topics: Women
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
Topics: Nation
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
Topics: Women
No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Purpose, Intentions
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
Topics: Opportunity
There are no personal sympathies in politics.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Politics
I owe nothing to Women’s Lib.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Feminism, Luck, Women
Of course, it is the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Truth
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
The battle for women’s rights has been largely won.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Equality
I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Agreement
You don’t tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Deception/Lying, Lies, Lying
People constantly requesting government intervention are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Government, Society
I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Patience
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
Topics: Work, Success, Hard Work
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
Topics: Persistence, Perseverance
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win.
—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
Topics: Cheerfulness
If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn’t swim.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Criticism
Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Home
Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Poverty, Power
One only gets to the top rung of the ladder by steadily climbing up one at a time, and suddenly all sorts of powers, all sorts of abilities which you thought never belonged to you—suddenly become within your own possibility and you think, “Well, I’ll have a go, too.”
—Margaret Thatcher
Topics: Success
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