A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and
more dangerous for all of us.
Any woman who
understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the
problems of running a country.
Being powerful
is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.
Being prime
minister is a lonely job... you cannot lead from the crowd.
Democratic
nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the
oxygen of publicity on which they depend.
Disciplining
yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the
highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
Europe was
created by history. America was created by philosophy.
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.
I am
extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.
I am in
politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in
the end good will triumph.
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.
I don't know
what I would do without Whitelaw. Everyone should have a Willy.
I don't mind
how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.
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.
I just owe
almost everything to my father and it's passionately interesting for me that the
things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the
things that I believe have won the election.
I like Mr
Gorbachev, we can do business together.
I love
argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with
me, that's not their job.
I owe nothing
to Women's Lib.
I seem to smell
the stench of appeasement in the air.
I shan't be
pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.
I usually make
up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.
I'm
extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.
I'm not a good
butcher but I've had to learn to carve the joint. People expect a new look.
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.
If my critics
saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim.
If you go into
what I call a bubble boom, every bubble bursts.
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.
If you set out
to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and
you would achieve nothing.
If you want
anything said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.
If you want
something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.
If you want to
cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.
In politics, if
you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.
It is only when
you look now and see success that you say that it was good fortune. It was not.
We lost 250 of our best young men. I felt every one.
It may be the
cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.
It pays to know
the enemy - not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn
him into a friend.
It was sheer
professionalism and inspiration and the fact that you really cannot have people
marching into other people's territory and staying there.
It's a funny
old world.
It's
passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town,
in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.
Mr. Clarke
played the King all evening as though under constant fear that someone else was
about to play the Ace.
No one would
remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions - he had money,
too.
No woman in my
time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary - not the top
jobs. Anyway, I wouldn't want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself
100 percent.
Nothing is more
obstinate than a fashionable consensus.
Of course it's
the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.
On my way here
I passed a local cinema and it turned out you were expecting me after all, for
the billboards read: The Mummy Returns.
One hopes to
achieve the zero option, but in the absence of that we must achieve balanced
numbers.
Ought we not to
ask the media to agree among themselves a voluntary code of conduct, under which
they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists' morale or
their cause while the hijack lasted.
Pennies do not
come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.
Platitudes?
Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.
Power is like
being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't.
Standing in the
middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from
both sides.
Success is
having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that is not enough,
that you have got to have hard work and a sense of purpose.
The battle for
women's rights has been largely won.
There are still
people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as
Quislings, as traitors... I mean it.
There can be no
liberty unless there is economic liberty.
There is no
such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are
families.
This lady is
not for turning.
To cure the
British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches.
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.
To wear your
heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it
functions best.
Unless we
change our ways and our direction, our greatness as a nation will soon be a
footnote in the history books, a distant memory of an offshore island, lost in
the mists of time like Camelot, remembered kindly for its noble past.
We didn't have
to do the minuets of diplomacy. We got down to business.
We were told
our campaign wasn't sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment.
What Britain
needs is an iron lady.
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.
Why do you
climb philosophical hills? Because they are worth climbing. There are no hills
to go down unless you start from the top.
You don't tell
deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
You may have to
fight a battle more than once to win it.
You turn
if you want to. The Lady's not for turning.
