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

Let us never forget this fundamental truth: The State has no source of money other than the money people themselves earn.

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work.

As the former dissident Vladimir Bukovsky once remarked – referring to the Russian proverb to the effect that you cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs – he had seen plenty of broken eggs, but never tasted any omelette.

I was asked whether I was trying to restore Victorian values. I said straight out I was. And I am.

To accuse me of being too inflexible is poppycock.

I think perhaps we manage our revolutions much more quietly in this country.