I wasn't lucky. I deserved it.

Leadership is about having principles. A leader must have a vision and principles that will endure for all time and must always be true to these principles, applying them to changing circumstances

Don't follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.

If it's me against 48, I feel sorry for the 48.

[When asked how it felt to be a female prime minister:] I don't know: I've never experienced the alternative.

Communist regimes were not some unfortunate aberration, some historical deviation from a socialist ideal. They were the ultimate expression, unconstrained by democratic and electoral pressures, of what socialism is all about. ... In short, the state [is] everything and the individual nothing.

They [Federalist European Politicians] divide their time between court room, prison and debating chamber - giving a whole new meaning to the term 'conviction politician'.