Margaret Thatcher
» Achievement » “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.”
» Agreement » “I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.”
» America » “Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.”
» Cheerfulness » “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.”
» Consensus » “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.”
» Enemies » “It pays to know the enemy — not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.”
» Equality » “The battle for women’s rights has been largely won.”
» Feminism » “I owe nothing to Women’s Lib.”
» Hard Work » “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.”
» Heart » “To wear your heart on your sleeve isn’t a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.”
» Home » “Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.”
» Intentions » “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he only had good intentions. He had money as well.”
» Leaders and Leadership » “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.”
» Lies and Lying » “You don’t tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.”
» Men and Women » “The cocks may crow, but it’s the hen that lays the egg.”
» Opinions » “I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.”
» Opportunity » “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.”
» Opposition » “If it is once again one against forty-eight, then I am very sorry for the forty-eight.”
» Patience » “I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.”
» Perseverance » “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
» Perseverance » “This lady is not for turning.”
» Perseverance » “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.”
» Politicians and Politics » “I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.”
» Power » “I shan’t be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.”
» Power » “It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.”
» Power » “Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”
» Society » “There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.”
» Success » “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.””
» Talkativeness » “I don’t mind how much my ministers talk — as long as they do what I say.”
» Truth » “Of course, it is the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.”
» Work » “Pennies do not come from heaven — they have to be earned here on earth.”
