In those days one advantage of being a woman was that there was a basic courtesy towards us on which we could draw - something which today's feminists have largely dissipated.

History has taught us that freedom cannot long survive unless it is based on moral foundations. You can get the economics right, but in addition liberty must be cultivated as a moral quality.

I couldn't live without work. That's what makes me so sympathetic towards those people who are unemployed. I don't know how they live without working.

If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.

Whether at home or abroad, the task of statesman is to work with human nature warts and all, and to draw on instincts and even prejudices that can be turned to good purpose. It is never to try to recreate Mankind in a new image.

I've learned one thing in politics. You don't take a decision until you have to.

It is your tax which pays for public spending. The government have no money of their own. There is only taxpayers' money.