Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight in my … chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of the Western world. Me? A Cold War warrior? … Well, yes — if that is how they wish to interpret my defense of values of freedoms fundamental to our way of life.

The European single currency is bound to fail, economically, politically and indeed socially, though the timing, occasion and full consequences are all necessarily still unclear.

I cannot imagine how any diplomat, or any dramatist, could improve on (Ronald Reagan's) words to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva summit: 'Let me tell you why it is we distrust you.' Those words are candid and tough and they cannot have been easy to hear. But they are also a clear invitation to a new beginning and a new relationship that would be rooted in trust.

You will only succeed if you know that what you are doing is right and you know how to bring out the best in people.

Socialists don't like ordinary people choosing, for they might not choose Socialism.

There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it.

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