When you've spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment, it's exciting to have a real crisis on your hands.
Margaret ThatcherI remain totally convinced that when children are young, however busy we may be with the practical duties inside the home, themost important thing of all is to devbote enoughh time and care to their needs and problems.
Margaret ThatcherYes, the Commission wants to increase its powers, Yes, it is a non-elected body and I do not want the Commission to increase its powers at the expense of the House, so of course we differ. The President of the Commission, Mr Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community. He wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No! No! No!
Margaret ThatcherLet our children grow tall and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so.
Margaret ThatcherSocialists cry “Power to the people”, and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean - power over people, power to the State.
Margaret ThatcherI am an ally of the United States. We believe the same things, we believe passionately in the same battle of ideas, we will defend them to the hilt. Never try to separate me from them.
Margaret ThatcherNo one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.
Margaret ThatcherAs 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.
Margaret ThatcherWe are not in politics to ignore peoples' worries, we are in politics to deal with them.
Margaret ThatcherI usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.
Margaret ThatcherAs a motive for terror, religion has more often than not required a good deal of lubrication by lucre.
Margaret ThatcherIf I were a German today, I would be proud, proud but also worried. I would be proud of the magnificent achievement of rebuilding my country, entrenching democracy and assuming the undoubtedly preponderant position in Europe. But a united Germany can't and won't subordinate its national interests in economic or in foreign policy to those of the Community indefinitely. Germany's new pre-eminence is a fact - and its power is a problem - as much for Germans as for the rest of Europe.
Margaret ThatcherWhat great cause would have been fought and won under the banner 'I stand for consensus'?
Margaret ThatcherWe're saying to anyone who dares to attack us, Do not do it, you couldn't win, the result would be devastating! I think you're saying the same.
Margaret ThatcherI applaud strong government, but not overweening government sustained by cronies, ciphers and a personality cult.
Margaret ThatcherAny leader has to have a certain amount of steel in them, so I am not that put out being called the Iron Lady.
Margaret ThatcherI have very strong views about Europe. We're quite the best country. We rescued them. We're not going to get entangled with them. We've got to keep our own independence. Is that clear?
Margaret ThatcherLadies 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.
Margaret ThatcherBoth the President and Mr Gorbachev have said that they want to see a world without nuclear weapons. I cannot see a world without nuclear weapons. Let me be practical about it. The knowledge is there to make them. So do not go too hard for that pie in the sky because, while everyone would like to see it, I do not believe it is going to come about.
Margaret ThatcherThe European single currency is bound to fail, economically, politically and indeed socially, though the timing, occasion and full consequences are all necessarily still unclear.
Margaret ThatcherBut because we accept the sanctity of life, the responsibility that comes with freedom and the supreme sacrifice of Christ expressed so well in the hymn: 'When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died. My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.'
Margaret ThatcherFrom my experience let me say this: in today's world it is no bad thing for a politician to have had the benefit of a scientific background. And not only politicians. Those who work in industry, in commerce, in investment. Indeed, so important has it become that I believe we are right to make science a compulsory subject for all schoolchildren.
Margaret ThatcherThat is what capitalism is: a system that brings wealth to the many, not just the few.
Margaret ThatcherIt is no exaggeration to describe plain English as a fundamental tool of government.
Margaret ThatcherWe should not underestimate the enormity of the task which lies ahead. But little can be achieved without sound money. It is the bedrock of sound government.
Margaret ThatcherI'm either the witch or Lady Macbeth of English politics, but someone gotta wear the pants in England when others wearing kilts
Margaret ThatcherIf... many influential people have failed to understand, or have just forgotten, what we were up against in the Cold War and how we overcame it, they are not going to be capable of securing, let alone enlarging, the gains that liberty has made.
Margaret ThatcherOur judgement is that the presence of the Royal Marines garrison is sufficient deterrent against any possible aggression.
Margaret ThatcherAny attempts by any government to change Community legislation to its own wishes are doomed to failure following the extension of policy areas now subject to majority voting... In our opinion, this must have serious implications for the traditional view of Parliament as a legislative body sovereignty.
Margaret ThatcherAdam Smith's 'invisible hand' is not above sudden, disturbing, movements. Since its inception, capitalism has known slumps and recessions, bubble and froth; no one has yet dis-invented the business cycle, and probably no one will; and what Schumpeter famously called the 'gales of creative destruction' still roar mightily from time to time. To lament these things is ultimately to lament the bracing blast of freedom itself.
Margaret ThatcherWe are very fortunate to have someone else's weapons stationed on our soil, to fight those targeted on us.
Margaret ThatcherIf someone is confronting our essential liberties, if someone is inflicting injuries and harm, by God I'll confront them!
Margaret ThatcherA bully has no respect for a weakling and the way to stop a bully is not to be weak. The way to stop a bully from ever being a bully is to say: "I'm as strong as you. Anything you do to me, I can do to you." We are going for nuclear and conventional disarmament but we're going about it in the right way.
Margaret Thatcher