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

I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.

— Margaret Thatcher

Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.

— 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

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

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

I owe nothing to Women's Lib.

— 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

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— 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

You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.

— Margaret Thatcher

One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex.

— Margaret Thatcher

The cocks may crow, but it's the hen that lays the egg.

— Margaret Thatcher

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.

— 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 it is once again one against forty-eight, then I am very sorry for the forty-eight.

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— 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

This lady is not for turning.

— Margaret Thatcher

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 cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

I shan't be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

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

I don't mind how much my ministers talk -- as long as they do what I say.

— Margaret Thatcher

Of course, it is the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.

— 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

Pennies do not come from heaven -- they have to be earned here on earth.

— Margaret Thatcher

I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it will get you pretty near.

— Margaret Thatcher

Democracy isn’t just about deducing what the people want. Democracy is leading the people as well.

— Margaret Thatcher

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

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

— Margaret Thatcher

Graciousness has been replaced by surliness in much of everyday life.

— Margaret Thatcher