Quotessence
Home / Authors / Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher Quotes

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Filter quotes by topic

AllIron LadyIfsPeopleGovernmentMenBelieveCountryStatesEuropeThinking

Famous Margaret Thatcher Quotes

“If 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.”

PeopleIfsMeanGovernmentPastPayGenerationsBrokenPromiseDemandTaxesBurdenExpectedSocialistBehalfVery MeanSocialist Government
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“If the Europeans truly wish to improve their NATO contribution they can show it simply enough. They can establish professional armed forces, like those of the UK. And they can acquire more advanced technology. Indeed, unless that happens soon the gulf between the European and US capabilities will yawn so wide that it will not be possible to share the same battlefield. Alas, I do not think that sharing battlefields with our American friends - but rather disputing global primacy with them - is what European defence plans are truly about.”

IfsThinkingEnoughShowsHappensForceWishTechnologyPlansShareWideContributionAcquireCapabilityAlasDefenceBattlefieldsNatoArmed ForcesPrimacyAdvanced Technology
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first, there is nothing necessarily benevolent about programmes of European integration; second, the desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom; and third, European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy.”

ShouldFirstsHas BeensPoliticalDesireFreedomHistoryPlansAchievePoliticianLessonsEuropeThirdsThreatUnityGravesOutcomesStrong WomenIntegrationUtopiaProgrammesBenevolentUtopianEuropean HistoryDesire To AchieveEuropean Integration
Book:On Europe
Create image

“The 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.”

FirstsWellsKindStillsAbleValuesEvilLostLeftSocialPartySightSpendingFoolishCoreAriseAttachmentCentreTaxationProgrammesCore ValuesSocial ServiceAuctionsNecessary EvilMuddle
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“Adam 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.”

StillsHandsKnownCreativeMovementCapitalismDestructionInvisibleCyclesAdamBubblesDisturbingBlastRecessionsLamentGaleInceptionSlumpsInvisible HandCreative Destruction
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“I would just like to remember some words of St. Francis of Assisi which I think are really just particularly apt at the moment. 'Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.”

ThinkingMayMomentsRememberDoubtDespairHarmonyErrorsDiscordSt Francis Of Assisi
Book:The collected speeches of Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“Let 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.”

MenGivingCountryStatesVisionMastersDependsEssenceLet MePropertyBritishServantInheritanceFree Country
Book:Let our children grow tall: selected speeches, 1975-1977
Create image

“In the Conservative Party we have no truck with outmoded Marxist doctrine about class warfare. For us it is not who you are, who your family is or where you come from that matters, but what you are and what you can do for your country that counts.”

CountryMatterCan DoPartyClassWho You AreConservativeDoctrineOur FamilyWarfareTruckMarxistClass WarfareWhere You ComeConservative Party
Book:The revival of Britain: speeches on home and European affairs, 1975-1988
Create image

“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.”

StatesIndividualExpressionIdealsUltimatePressureHistoricalDemocraticSocialismCommunistRegimesUnfortunateSocialistCold WarDeviationAberration
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“We who are living in the west today are fortunate. Freedom has been bequeathed to us. We have not had to carve it out of nothing; we have not had to pay for it with our lives. But it would be a grave mistake to think that freedom requires nothing of us. Each of us has to earn freedom anew in order to possess it. We do so not just for our own sake, but for the sake of our children, so that they may build a better future that will sustain over the world the responsibilities and blessings of freedom.”

ThinkingWorldMayChildrenHas BeensWould BeTodayOrderPayMistakeResponsibilityOur LivesBlessingOur ChildrenWestSakeGravesFortunateBetter Future
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“Freedom is not synonymous with an easy life. ... There are many difficult things about freedom: It does not give you safety, it creates moral dilemmas for you; it requires self-discipline; it imposes great responsibilities; but such is the nature of Man and in such consists his glory and salvation.”

MenGivingDoeWarSelfEasyDifficultResponsibilityMoralDisciplineGlorySafetySalvationSelf DisciplineDilemmaDifficult ThingsNature Of ManEasy LifeGreat ResponsibilityMoral Dilemma
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“But the whole history of America is quite different from Europe. People went there to get away from the intolerance and constraints of life in Europe. They sought liberty and opportunity; and their strong sense of purpose has over two centuries, helped create a new unity and pride in being American.”

PeopleTwoDifferentWholeAmericaPurposeOpportunityStrongLibertyCenturyPrideEuropeUnityGet AwayIntoleranceConstraints
Book:Britain and Europe: Text of the Prime Minister's Speech at Bruges on 20th September 1988
Create image

“Socialism's results have ranged between the merely shabby and the truly catastrophic - poverty, strife, oppression and, on the killing fields of communism, the deaths this century of perhaps 100 million people. Against that doctrine was set a contrary, conservative belief in a law-governed liberty. It was this view which triumphed with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. Since then, the Left has sought rehabilitation by distancing itself from its past.”

PeoplePastLawBeliefLeftResultsViewsLibertyPovertyMillionsCenturyFieldsWallKillingConservativeContrarySocialismDoctrineOppressionCommunismStrifeBerlinRehabilitationCrumblingShabbyBerlin Wall
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“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.”

IfsWorldWayWellsMadeWarFacesValuesWishHairColdFairsFundamentalsWesternDefenseWarriorEveningGentlemanTonightIronCold WarGownsWestern WorldLadies And GentlemenIron LadyEvening Gowns
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“That nations that have gone for equality, like Communism, have neither freedom nor justice nor equality, they've the greatest inequalities of all, the privileges of the politicians are far greater compared with the ordinary folk than in any other country. The nations that have gone for freedom, justice and independence of people have still freedom and justice, and they have far more equality between their people, far more respect for each individual than the other nations. Go my way. You will get freedom and justice and much less difference between people than you do in the Soviet Union.”

PeopleWayStillsCountryIndividualNationsDifferencesJusticeGoneGreaterPoliticianOrdinaryIndependenceUnionsFolksPrivilegeInequalityCommunismMy WaySovietOther CountriesSoviet Union
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image

“What? 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.”

PeopleThinkingFeelsIdeasFeelingsProblemCareAgeAsksInterestGroupsComfortableSorryBoundsAsk MeI'm SorryWho CaresThoughts And Ideas
Author:Margaret Thatcher
Create image