Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, DStJ, PC, FRS, HonFRSC was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold that office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the “Iron Lady”, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As prime minister, she implemented policies that became known as Thatcherism. This Margaret Thatcher quotes will motivate you.
Best Margaret Thatcher Quotes
1. “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
2. “Let us never forget this fundamental truth: the State has no source of money other than money which people earn themselves. If the State wishes to spend more it can do so only by borrowing your savings or by taxing you more. It is no good thinking that someone else will pay – that ‘someone else’ is you. There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers’ money.” ~ Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher quotes on money
3. “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
4. “Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
5. “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
6. “If you set out to be liked, you will accomplish nothing.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
7 “Socialists cry “Power to the people”, and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean – power over people, power to the State.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
8. “I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
9. “Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
10. “There are too many people who imagine that there is something sophisticated about always believing the best of those who hate your country, and the worst of those who defend it.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
11. “Marxists get up early to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
12. “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.” ~ Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher quotes on woman
13. “There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.” ~ Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher quotes on society
14. “I went to Oxford University – but I’ve never let that hold me back.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
15. “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
16. “Many of our troubles are due to the fact that our people turn to politicians for everything.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
17. “The first step in calculating which way to go is to find out where you are.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
18. “Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
19. “What? What am I ‘bound to be feeling?’ People don’t think anymore. They feel. ‘How are you feeling? No, I don’t feel comfortable. I’m sorry, we as a group we’re feeling….’ One of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas. Thoughts and ideas. That interests me. Ask me what I’m thinking.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
20. “Communism produces neither dignity nor prosperity. It takes all power away from the people and places it in the hands of a self-appointed elite. And because it distorts and manipulates the distinctive talents of individuals rather than letting those talents flourish, it prevents progress and prosperity.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
21. “The government has no money of its own. It’s all your money.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
22. “Europe will never be like America. Europe is a product of history. America is a product of philosophy.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
23. “…Conservatives have excellent credentials to speak about human rights. By our efforts, and with precious little help from self-styled liberals, we were largely responsible for securing liberty for a substantial share of the world’s population and defending it for most of the rest.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
24. “To me consensus seems to be – the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no-one believes, but to which no-one objects – the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner “I stand for consensus”?” ~ Margaret Thatcher
25. “Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
26. “When you hold back the successful, you penalize those who need help.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
27. “You don’t win by just being against things, you only win by being for things and making your message perfectly clear.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
28. “That nations that have gone for equality, like Communism, have neither freedom nor justice nor equality, they’ve the greatest inequalities of all, the privileges of the politicians are far greater compared with the ordinary folk than in any other country. The nations that have gone for freedom, justice and independence of people have still freedom and justice, and they have far more equality between their people, far more respect for each individual than the other nations. Go my way. You will get freedom and justice and much less difference between people than you do in the Soviet Union.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
29. “Each generation has to stand up for democracy. It can’t take anything for granted and may have to fight fundamental battles anew.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
30. “What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first, there is nothing necessarily benevolent about programmes of European integration; second, the desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom; and third, European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
31. “(A unified) ‘Europe’ is the result of plans. It is, in fact, a classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure: only the scale of the final damage done is in doubt.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
32. “A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
33. “The price of freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
34.”We will stand on principle or we will not stand at all.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
35.”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
36. “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
37. “Freedom is not synonymous with an easy life. … There are many difficult things about freedom: It does not give you safety, it creates moral dilemmas for you; it requires self-discipline; it imposes great responsibilities, but such is the nature of Man and in such consists his glory and salvation.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
38. “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
39. “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 a day you’ve had everything to do and you’ve done it.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
40. “Communist regimes were not some unfortunate aberration, some historical deviation from a socialist ideal. They were the ultimate expression, unconstrained by democratic and electoral pressures, of what socialism is all about. … In short, the state [is] everything and the individual nothing.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
41. “In my work, you get used to criticisms. Of course you do, because there are a lot of people trying to get you down, but I always cheer up immensely if one is particularly wounding because I think well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. That is why my father always taught me: never worry about anyone who attacks you personally; it means their arguments carry no weight and they know it.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
42. “Leadership is about having principles. A leader must have a vision and principles that will endure for all time and must always be true to these principles, applying them to changing circumstances” ~ Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher quotes on leadership
43. “You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel on infrastructure.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
44. “When I’m out of politics I’m going to run a business, it’ll be called rent-a-spine” ~ Margaret Thatcher
45. “Socialism’s results have ranged between the merely shabby and the truly catastrophic – poverty, strife, oppression and, on the killing fields of communism, the deaths this century of perhaps 100 million people. Against that doctrine was set a contrary, conservative belief in a law-governed liberty. It was this view which triumphed with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. Since then, the Left has sought rehabilitation by distancing itself from its past.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
46. “No great goal was ever easily achieved.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
47. “For every idealistic peacemaker willing to renounce his self-defense in favour of a weapons-free world, there is at least one warmaker anxious to exploit the other’s good intentions.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
48. “Life’s greatest reward is life itself” ~ Margaret Thatcher
49. “There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors… I mean it.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
50. “The truths of the Judaic-Christian tradition, are infinitely precious, not only, as I believe, because they are true, but also because they provide the moral impulse which alone can lead to that peace, in the true meaning of the word, for which we all long. . . . There is little hope for democracy if the hearts of men and women in democratic societies cannot be touched by a call to something greater than themselves.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
51. “Individualism has come in for an enormous amount of criticism over the years. It still does. It is widely assumed to be synonymous with selfishness…But the main reason why so many people in power have always disliked individualism is because it is individualists who are ever keenest to prevent the abuse of authority.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
52. “The Labour Party believes in turning workers against owners; we believe in turning workers into owners.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
53. “Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
54. “Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
55. “I started out in life with two great advantages: No money and good parents.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
56. “The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
57. “You cannot make an omelet without breaking some balls” ~ Margaret Thatcher
58. “The desire to win is born in most of us. The will to win is a matter of training. The manner of winning is a matter of honour.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
59. “The spirit of envy can destroy; it can never build.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
60. “I’m happy as a dog with two dicks” ~ Margaret Thatcher
61. “No theory of government was ever given a fairer test or a more prolonged experiment in a democratic country than democratic socialism received in Britain. Yet it was a miserable failure in every respect… To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukemia with leeches.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
62. “In a system of free trade and free markets poor countries – and poor people – are not poor because others are rich. Indeed, if others became less rich the poor would in all probability become still poorer.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
63. “I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
64. “It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
65. “Citizenship should be based on those who have a close and real relationship with this country and its inhabitants.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
