How thin is the crust of order over the fires of human appetite and the lust for naked power.
Margaret ThatcherWe very much hope that as we get growth that we can reduce the burden of taxation, that we can reduce income tax and increase the amount of genuine free enterprise and business enterprise... This is going... toward the restoration of the personal responsibility, the independence, with every man a property owner, every man a capitalist.
Margaret ThatcherIn a system of free trade and free markets poor countries - and poor people - are not poor because others are rich. Indeed, if others became less rich the poor would in all probability become still poorer.
Margaret ThatcherAny woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.
Margaret ThatcherMarxists get up early to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.
Margaret ThatcherPeople are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture.
Margaret ThatcherThe truths of the Judaic-Christian tradition, are infinitely precious, not only, as I believe, because they are true, but also because they provide the moral impulse which alone can lead to that peace, in the true meaning of the word, for which we all long. . . . There is little hope for democracy if the hearts of men and women in democratic societies cannot be touched by a call to something greater than themselves.
Margaret ThatcherWhen in August 1793 a British delegation showed their hosts a terrestrial globe, it turned into a diplomatic incident, for the Chinese were furious to see that their empire covered so little of it. For centuries the Chinese had thought of themselves as 'The Middle Kingdom', that is the centre of the civilized world. To see otherwise was a shock.
Margaret ThatcherTo be free is better than to be unfree – always. Any politician who suggests the opposite should be treated as suspect.
Margaret ThatcherDuring my lifetime most of the problems the world has faced have come, in one fashion or another, from mainland Europe and the solution from outside it.
Margaret ThatcherThe problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of everyone else's money.
Margaret ThatcherOne of my favourite quotations is: 'That which thy father bequeathed thee, earn it anew, if thou wouldst possess it.'
Margaret ThatcherI call the Conservative Party now to a crusade. Not only the Conservative Party. I appeal to all those men and women of goodwill who do not want a Marxist future for themselves or their children or their children's children. This is not just a fight about national solvency. It is a fight about the very foundations of the social order. It is a crusade not merely to put a temporary brake on Socialism, but to stop its onward march once and for all.
Margaret ThatcherOur first duty to liberty is to keep our own. But it is also our duty - as Europeans - to keep alive in the Eastern as well as the Western half of our continent those ideas of human dignity which Europe gave to the world. Let us therefore resolve to keep the lamps of freedom burning bright so that all who look to the West from the shadows of the East need not doubt that we remain true to those human and spiritual values that lie at the heart of European civilization.
Margaret ThatcherIf there is one instance in which a foreign policy I pursued met with unambiguous failure, it was my policy on German reunification.
Margaret ThatcherThere are too many people who imagine that there is something sophisticated about always believing the best of those who hate your country, and the worst of those who defend it.
Margaret ThatcherLet me give you my vision: A man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master. These are the British inheritance. They are the essence of a free country, and on that freedom all of our other freedoms depend.
Margaret ThatcherIf one generation is expected to carry an excessive burden on behalf of another, it will seek by every means to avoid it. It will either demand that past promises are broken, or it will not work, or it will not pay taxes, or the most talented people will leave. Socialist governments which have tried to tax 'till the pips squeak' have ample experience of that.
Margaret ThatcherAmerica, my friends, is the only country in the world actually founded on liberty - the only one. People went to America to be free.
Margaret ThatcherThe mission of this government is much more than the promotion of economic progress. It is to renew the spirit and solidarity of the nation.
Margaret Thatcher[On being asked how many Mrs. Thatchers there were:] Oh, three at least. There is the intellectual one, the intuitive one and the one at home.
Margaret ThatcherWomen have plenty of roles in which they can serve with distinction: some of us even run countries. But generally we are better at wielding the handbag than the bayonet.
Margaret ThatcherWhat? What am I 'bound to be feeling?' People don’t think anymore. They feel. 'How are you feeling? No, I don’t feel comfortable. I’m sorry, we as a group we’re feeling….' One of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas. Thoughts and ideas. That interests me. Ask me what I’m thinking.
Margaret ThatcherThe right-of-centre parties still often compete with left-of-centre ones to proclaim their attachment to all the main programmes of spending, particularly spending on social services of one kind or another. But this foolish as well as muddled. It is foolish because left-of-centre parties will always be able to outbid right-of-centre ones in this auction - after all, that is why they are on the left in the first place. The muddle arises because once we concede that public spending and taxation are than a necessary evil we have lost sight of the core values of freedom.
Margaret ThatcherWe went back on a very similar manifesto to things I believe in. The difference is that after eighteen months to two years he did the biggest U-turn on policy of all time and started to go the wrong way. In the end, that cost us the next election.
Margaret ThatcherI love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job.
Margaret ThatcherThe Iraqis had paid a terrible price for Saddam's folly (in the Gulf War). But looking at the devastation they left behind (in Kuwait), my sympathy was limited.
Margaret ThatcherI owe a great deal to the church for everything in which I believe. I am very glad that I was brought up strictly. I was a very serious child. There was not a lot of fun and sparkle in my life.
Margaret ThatcherLeadership 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
Margaret ThatcherThere are dangers in consensus: it could be an attempt to satisfy people holding no particular views about anything. ... No great party can survive except on the basis of firm beliefs about what it wants to do.
Margaret ThatcherIdeally, when Christians meet, as Christians do, to take counsel together, their purpose is not ( or should not be) to ascertain what is the mind of the majority but what is the mind of the Holy Spirit - something which may be quite different.
Margaret ThatcherWatch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. My father always said that... and I think I am fine.
Margaret ThatcherCommunism produces neither dignity nor prosperity. It takes all power away from the people and places it in the hands of a self-appointed elite. And because it distorts and manipulates the distinctive talents of individuals rather than letting those talents flourish, it prevents progress and prosperity.
Margaret ThatcherRogue states never turn out to be quite the pariahs they are deemed. They are only able to cause, or at least threaten to cause, mayhem because they enjoy the covert support - usually by means of technology transfers - of one or more major powers within the charmed circle of global 'good guys'.
Margaret Thatcher