Margaret Thatcher

I am not a person who is easily intimidated.

I think I have a reputation for being a bit of a battleaxe. And I don't mind that.

I believe in the dignity of work.

I am not prepared to tolerate failure.

I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand 'I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!' or 'I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!' 'I am homeless, the Government must house me!' and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing!

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.

There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.

It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.

I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.

Pennies don’t 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.

Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

You don’t achieve anything without trouble, ever.

Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.

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

I owe nothing to Women’s Lib.

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.

Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.