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Margaret Thatcher

347 quotes

• “[The Community Charge is] the flagship of the Thatcher fleet.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: David Butler, Andrew Adonis and Tony Travers, "Failure in British government: the politics of the poll tax" (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994)

• “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Party Conference (9 October 1987)

• “There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When the ANC says that they will target British companies, this shows what a typical terrorist organisation it is. I fought terrorism all my life and if more people fought it, and we were all more successful, we should not have it and I hope that everyone in this hall will think it is right to go on fighting terrorism. They will if they believe in democracy.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Press Conference (17 October 1987), in answer to Alan Merrydew of BCTV News who asked what her response was "to a reported ANC statement that they will target British firms in South Africa?

• “Every prime minister needs a Willie.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Quoted by Ian Aitken in "Points of Order" The Guardian (29 January 1988).”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Attributed statement made at the retirement party of her deputy Lord Whitelaw (known as Willie). A page on the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website "MT's private files for 1989 - (6) Life at No.10" states: "'Every Prime…

• “There is no way in which one can buck the market.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Prime Ministers' Questions (10 March 1988)

• “Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers—visible or invisible—giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the world's wealthiest and most prosperous people. Bigger than Japan. Bigger than the United States. On your doorstep. And with the Channel Tunnel to give you direct access to it. It's not a dream. It's not a vision. It's not some bureaucrat's plan. It's for real.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech opening Single Market Campaign" Margaret Thatcher archive (18 April 1988)

• “I can't help reflecting that it's taken a Government headed by a housewife with experience of running a family to balance the books for the first time in twenty years—with a little left over for a rainy day.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Women's Conference (25 May 1988)

• “For generations, we have assumed that the efforts of mankind would leave the fundamental equilibrium of the world's systems and atmosphere stable. But it is possible that with all these enormous changes (population, agricultural, use of fossil fuels) concentrated into such a short period of time, we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself...the increase in the greenhouse gases...has led some to fear that we are creating a global heat trap which could lead to climatic instability.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to the Royal Society (27 September 1988)

• “The Government espouses the concept of sustainable economic development. Stable prosperity can be achieved throughout the world provided the environment is nutured and safeguarded. Protecting this balance of nature is therefore one of the great challenges of the late Twentieth Century.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to the Royal Society (27 September 1988)

• “A man may climb Everest for himself, but at the summit he plants his country's flag.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Party Conference (14 October 1988)

• “There is nothing new or unusual about the Tory commitment to protect the environment. The last thing we want is to leave environmental debts for our children to clear up...It's we Conservatives who are not merely friends of the Earth—we are its guardians and trustees for generations to come. The core of Tory philosophy and for the case for protecting the environment are the same. No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy—with a full repairing lease. This Government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Party Conference (14 October 1988)

• “In this country and in other democracies, the enemies of civilisation and freedom have turned to the gun and the bomb to destroy those they can't persuade. The terrorist threat to freedom is worldwide. It can never be met by appeasement. Give in to the terrorist and you breed more terrorism. At home and abroad our message is the same. We will not bargain, nor compromise, nor bend the knee to terrorists.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Party Conference (14 October 1988)

• “Marxism has had it.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Press Conference for Washington Post and Newsweek (17 November 1988)

• “I think male Prime Ministers one day will come back into fashion!”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: TV Interview for TV-AM (30 December 1988)

• “We have become a grandmother.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Statement to the press on the birth of her first grandchild (3 March 1989)

• “The Delors report is aimed at a federal Europe, a common currency and a common economic policy, which would take many economic policies, including fiscal policy, out of the hands of the House, and that is completely unacceptable. It would also require a treaty amendment, which we do not believe would ever be passed by the House because of the lack of sovereignty that it would imply.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Prime Ministers' Questions (27 April 1989)

• “You know, if you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything, wouldn't you, at any time? And you would achieve nothing!”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Interview for Press Association (3 May 1989)

• “Human rights did not begin with the French Revolution...[they] really stem from a mixture of Judaism and Christianity...[we English] had 1688, our quiet revolution, where Parliament exerted its will over the King...it was not the sort of Revolution that France's was...'Liberty, equality, fraternity' – they forgot obligations and duties I think. And then of course the fraternity went missing for a long time.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On the French Revolution; quoted in '"Les droits de l'homme n'ont pas commencé en France," nous déclare Mme Thatcher', Le Monde (13 July 1989)

• “The community charge is a way of asking people to pay for what they vote for, and when they do, they will vote against Labour authorities.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Prime Ministers' Questions (20 July 1989)

• “We do not want a united Germany. This would lead to a change to postwar borders, and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Talking to Mikhail Gorbachev at a luncheon meeting in Moscow in September 1989

• “1989 will be remembered for decades to come as the year when half the people of half our continent began to throw off their chains. The messages on our banners in 1979—freedom, opportunity, family, enterprise, ownership—are now inscribed on the banners in Leipzig, Warsaw, Budapest and even Moscow...In 1979, we knew that we were starting a British revolution; in fact, we were the pioneers of a world revolution.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Party Conference (13 October 1989)

• “Advisers advise, Ministers decide!”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: TV Interview for TV-AM (Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Summit) (24 October 1989)

• “I think it is a great day for freedom. I watched the scenes on television last night and again this morning because I felt one ought not only hear about them but see them because you see the joy on people's faces and you see what freedom means to them; it makes you realise that you cannot stifle or suppress people's desire for liberty and so I watched with the same joy as everyone else and I hope that they will be a prelude to the Berlin Wall coming down.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Remarks on the Berlin Wall (10 November 1989)

• “We've beaten the Germans twice and now they're back!”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: She reportedly said on Germany's reunification, during EC-summit in December 1989, according to Chancellor Helmut Kohl in his memoirs "Erinnerungen 1982-1990" published in 2005; as reported in "Thatcher's foot stamping …

• “Socialism is a creed of the state. It regards ordinary human beings as the raw material for its schemes of social change. But we put our faith in people—in the millions of people who spend what they earn—not what other people earn. Who make sacrifices for their young family or their elderly parents. Who help their neighbours and take care of their neighbourhoods. The sort of people I grew up with. These are the people whom I became Leader of this Party to defend.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to the Conservative Central Council in Cheltenham (31 March 1990)

• “I have fought three elections against the BBC and I don't want to fight another election against it.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Remarks to Woodrow Wyatt on the Broadcasting Bill (11 June 1990), quoted in Sarah Curtis (ed.), The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt: Volume Two (Pan, 2000), p. 308

• “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 (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (24 July 1990)

• “Iraq has violated and taken over the territory of a country which is a full member of the United Nations. That is totally unacceptable and if it were allowed to endure then there would be many other small countries that could never feel safe...The fundamental question is this: whether the nations of the world have the collective will effectively to see that Security Council Resolution is upheld, whether they have the collective will effectively to do anything which the Security Council further agrees to see that Iraq withdraws and that the government of Kuwait is restored to Kuwait.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Joint Press Conference with President Bush (2 August 1990)

• “Today we are coming to realise that an epoch in history is over...For more than forty years that Iron Curtain remained in place. Few of us expected to see it lifted in our life-time. Yet with great suddenness the impossible has happened. Communism is broken, utterly broken...We do not see this new Soviet Union as an enemy, but as a country groping its way towards freedom. We no longer have to view the world through a prism of East-West relations. The Cold War is over.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to the Aspen Institute ("Shaping a New Global Community") (5 August 1990)

• “Iraq's invasion of Kuwait defies every principle for which the United Nations stands. If we let it succeed, no small country can ever feel safe again. The law of the jungle would take over from the rule of law.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to the Aspen Institute ("Shaping a New Global Community") (5 August 1990)

• “I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air—the rather nauseating stench of appeasement.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It seems like cloud cuckoo land... If anyone is suggesting that I would go to Parliament and suggest the abolition of the pound sterling – no! … We have made it quite clear that we will not have a single currency imposed on us.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Remarks to the media immediately after the EEC Rome summit meeting (28 October 1990), quoted in A Conservative Coup: The Fall of Margaret Thatcher (1992) by Alan Watkins.

• “The President of the Commission, M. Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community, he wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No. No. No.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (30 October 1990)

• “I am still at the crease, though the bowling has been pretty hostile of late. And in case anyone doubted it, can I assure you there will be no ducking the bouncers, no stonewalling, no playing for time. The bowling's going to get hit all round the ground. That is my style.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to the Lord Mayor's Banquet at Guildhall (12 November 1990)

• “I fight on, I fight to win.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Remarks to journalists in Downing Street (21 November 1990), following the inconclusive first ballot in the Conservative leadership election

• “Paddy Ashdown: ...this is an agreement which the right hon. Lady will be entitled to regard with a certain pride and satisfaction as she looks back on the twilight days of her premiership...”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Margaret Thatcher: ...The first eleven and a half years have not been so bad – and with regard to a twilight, please remember that there are 24 hours in a day.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: House of Commons statement on the CSCE Summit (21 November 1990)

• “Having consulted widely among colleagues, I have concluded that the unity of the Party and the prospects of victory in a General Election would be better served if I stood down to enable Cabinet colleagues to enter the ballot for the leadership. I should like to thank all those in Cabinet and outside who have given me such dedicated support.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Statement announcing her intention to resign the premiership (22 November 1990).

• “People on all levels of income are better off than they were in 1979. The hon. Gentleman is saying that he would rather that the poor were poorer, provided that the rich were less rich. That way one will never create the wealth for better social services. as we have. What a policy. Yes, he would rather have the poor poorer, provided that the rich were less rich. That is the Liberal policy.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: From her last House of Commons speech (22 November 1990); response to M.P. Simon Hughes

• “It may be inverted snobbishness but I don't want old style, Old Etonian Tories of the old school to succeed me and go back to the old complacent, consensus ways. John Major is someone who has fought his way up from the bottom and is far more in tune with the skilled and ambitious and worthwhile working classes than Douglas Hurd is.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Remarks to Woodrow Wyatt (23 November 1990), quoted in Sarah Curtis (ed.), The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt: Volume Two (Pan, 2000), pp. 401-402

• “We're leaving Downing Street for the last time after eleven-and-a-half wonderful years, and we're very happy that we leave the United Kingdom in a very, very much better state than when we came here eleven and a half years ago.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Remarks departing Downing Street (28 November 1990)

• “When people are free to choose, they choose freedom.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to the Industrial League of Orange County (14 March 1991)

• “But freedom without law is freedom only for the strong at the expense of the weak. Freedom without law is therefore no freedom, but rather anarchy or tyranny. Law is the bond of all civil society. We are not asking a favour of a man when we ask him to obey the law. Obedience of the rule of law is necessary for the continuance of liberty itself. Doubtless you will point out that laws have not always been just—indeed they have been very unjust. In South Africa that certainly has been the case. Thankfully, that is now being remedied. And alongside that, democracy has yet to be achieved.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech in South Africa (20 May 1991)

• “Our sovereignty does not come from Brussels—it is ours by right and by heritage.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (26 June 1991)

• “Member for Islwyn was going to have a single currency willy-nilly. He has already made up his mind. The argument that he uses is that, if others have it, we must. That is an argument for a flock of sheep, not for people who are sent here to analyse the problem and to use our minds and our reason to say which course we should follow.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (20 November 1991)

• “When will they [Labour] learn? You cannot build Jerusalem in Brussels.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Candidates Conference" (22 March 1992)

• “It is a great night. It is the end of Socialism.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On hearing the results of the 1992 general election (9 April 1992), as reported in The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt: Volume Two (2000) by Woodrow Wyatt.

• “The trouble with you John, is that your spine does not reach your brain.”

  Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On Conservative backbencher John Whittingdale after being summoned to her room to urge MPs to vote against the Maastricht Treaty. Whittingdale was reported to have emerged from the room in tears. (The Times 26 November …

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