Iron Lady Quotes

• I might have preferred iron - but bronze will do. It won't rust. This time I hope, the head will stay on.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Iron, Rust, Might

  "'Iron Lady' unveils her bronze statue", uk.reuters.com. February 22, 2007.

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• We will stand on principle or we will not stand at all.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Principles

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• It's the Labour Government that have brought us record peacetime taxation. They've got the usual Socialist disease - they've run out of other people's money.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Running, Government, People

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

  Margaret Thatcher

  Leadership, Business, Women

  Margaret Thatcher, Iain Dale (1997). “As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations”, Robson Book Ltd

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• Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. My father always said that... and I think I am fine.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Inspirational, Father, Character

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• 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

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Margaret Thatcher, Iain Dale (1997). “As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations”, Robson Book Ltd

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• 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

  Self, Giving, Office

  Margaret Thatcher's Speech to Small Business Bureau Conference, www.margaretthatcher.org. February 8, 1984.

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

  Margaret Thatcher

  Trying, Leeches, Disease

  "The Downing Street Years". Book by Margaret Thatcher, October 18, 1993.

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• When you've spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment, it's exciting to have a real crisis on your hands.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Real, Issues, Hands

  On the Falklands campaign, 1982, in Chris Rose 'The Dirty Man of Europe'

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• We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Fighting, Enemy, Liberty

  "National archives: Margaret Thatcher wanted to crush power of trade unions" by Alan Travis, www.theguardian.com. August 1, 2013.

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

  Margaret Thatcher

  Love, Money, Greatest Wealth

  Margaret Thatcher (1997). “The collected speeches of Margaret Thatcher”, HarperCollins

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• 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

  Friendship, Opportunity, Enemy

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• There is no week, nor day, nor hour, when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their supreme confidence in themselves, and lose their roughness and spirit of defiance. Tyranny may always enter—there is no charm or bar against it.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Country, People, Bars

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• If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Cutting, Want, Throat

  1986 Comment to Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, when he pressed for sanctions against South Africa. Quoted in Time, 7 Jul.

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• There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.

  Walt Whitman

  Country, Tyrants, People

  Walt Whitman, Edward F. Grier (2007). “Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts, Volume VI: Notes and Index”, p.2148, NYU Press

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• To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only this to say, ‘You turn if you want; the lady’s not for turning.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Media, Waiting, Want

  Speech at Conservative Party Conference, Brighton, England, 10 Oct. 1980 See Christopher Fry 1

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• I am not immortal, but I've got a lot left in me yet.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Immortal, Left

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• I have made it quite clear that a unified Ireland was one solution that is out. A second solution was a confederation of two states. That is out. A third solution was joint authority. That is out-that is a derogation of sovereignty.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Two, Government, Politics

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• Gentlemen, if we don't cut spending we will be bankrupt. Yes, the medicine is harsh, but the patient requires it in order to live. Should we withhold the medicine? No. We are not wrong. We did not seek election and win in order to manage the decline of a great nation.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Cutting, Winning, Medicine

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• There is no such thing as society, there is a living tapestry of men and women 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 to turn round and help, by our own efforts, those who are unfortunate. There's no such thing as entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation

  Margaret Thatcher

  Responsibility, Men, Effort

  "Thatcher funeral address prompts Tory praise for bishop of London" by Patrick Wintour, www.theguardian.com. April 17, 2013.

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• I like Mr Gorbachev, we can do business together.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Business, War, Together

  The Times 18 Dec. 1984

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

  Margaret Thatcher

  Military, History, Nuclear Missiles

  Margaret Thatcher's speech at Soviet official banquet at St George's Halls, The Kremlin, www.margaretthatcher.org. March 30, 1987.

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• My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day's work for an honest day's pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Mean, Rainy Day, Eggs

  "Cameron harks back to Thatcher over tax cuts" by Jenny Percival and Nicholas Watt, www.theguardian.com. May 19, 2008.

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• There are dangers in consensus: it could be an attempt to satisfy people holding no particular views about anything. ... No great party can survive except on the basis of firm beliefs about what it wants to do.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Party, Views, People

  Margaret Thatcher (1997). “The collected speeches of Margaret Thatcher”, HarperCollins

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• All attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail. It must be business as usual.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Democracy, Usual, Terrorism

  Margaret Thatcher (1989). “The revival of Britain: speeches on home and European affairs, 1975-1988”

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