Margaret Thatcher

Every family should have the right to spend their money, after tax, as they wish, and not as the government demands.

I wasn't lucky. I deserved it.

To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.

Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money.

Pennies do not fall from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.

If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim.

I shan't be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.

The UK is not merely a European country, but also a European country.

I have to learn to say 'No'.

It is exciting to have a real crisis on your hands, when you have spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues of health, education and local administration.

I am spending far more on the elderly than I ever did on the Falklands.

We should not forget that the same moral standards apply to international relations as to personal life.

My job is to give the people what they want, not what I think they ought to have.