Top 350 Margaret Thatcher Quotes (2023 Update)

1. “Don't follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.”

— Margaret Thatcher

2. “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

— Margaret Thatcher

3. “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.”

— Margaret Thatcher

4. “Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's a day you've had everything to do and you've done it.”

— Margaret Thatcher

5. “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”

— Margaret Thatcher

6. “Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.”

— Margaret Thatcher

7. “I wasn't lucky, I deserved it.”

— Margaret Thatcher

8. “If you set out to be liked, you will accomplish nothing.”

— Margaret Thatcher

9. “Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.”

— Margaret Thatcher

10. “I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it will get you pretty near.”

— Margaret Thatcher

11. “Do you know that 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.”

— Margaret Thatcher

12. “I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”

— Margaret Thatcher

13. “If you just set out to be liked, you will be prepared to compromise on anything at anytime, and would achieve nothing. ”

— Margaret Thatcher

14. “We will stand on principle or we will not stand at all.”

— Margaret Thatcher

15. “I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”

— Margaret Thatcher

16. “In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.”

— Margaret Thatcher

17. “It used to be about trying to do something. Now it's about trying to be someone.”

— Margaret Thatcher

18. “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina.”

— Margaret Thatcher

19. “When I'm out of politics I'm going to run a business, it will be called rent-a-spine.”

— Margaret Thatcher

20. “Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.”

— Margaret Thatcher

21. “What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.”

— Margaret Thatcher

Featured in: Hard Work Quotes

22. “A leader is someone who knows what they want to achieve and can communicate that.”

— Margaret Thatcher

23. “The desire to win is born in most of us. The will to win is a matter of training. The manner of winning is a matter of honour.”

— Margaret Thatcher

Featured in: Desire Quotes

24. “I fight on. I fight to win.”

— Margaret Thatcher

25. “I started out in life with two great advantages: No money and good parents.”

— Margaret Thatcher

26. “No great goal was ever easily achieved.”

— Margaret Thatcher

27. “Inflation is the parent of unemployment and the unseen robber of those who have saved.”

— Margaret Thatcher

28. “The government has no money of its own. It’s all your money.”

— Margaret Thatcher

29. “The larger the slice taken by government, the smaller the cake available for everyone.”

— Margaret Thatcher

30. “If you want to cut your own throat, don’t come to me for a bandage.”

— Margaret Thatcher

31. “There is no such thing as society.”

— Margaret Thatcher

32. “If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn’t swim.”

— Margaret Thatcher

33. “Socialists 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 Thatcher

34. “I want my money back!”

— Margaret Thatcher

35. “I love argument, I love debate. I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that’s not their job.”

— Margaret Thatcher

36. “That is what capitalism is: a system that brings wealth to the many, not just the few.”

— Margaret Thatcher

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

— Margaret Thatcher

38. “Economics are the method; the object is to change the soul.”

— Margaret Thatcher

39. “The price of freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.”

— Margaret Thatcher

40. “The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.”

— Margaret Thatcher

41. “Defeat? I do not recognize the meaning of the word.”

— Margaret Thatcher

42. “Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.”

— Margaret Thatcher

43. “To wear your heart on your sleeve isn’t a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.”

— Margaret Thatcher

44. “History has taught us that freedom cannot long survive unless it is based on moral foundations. You can get the economics right, but in addition liberty must be cultivated as a moral quality.”

— Margaret Thatcher

45. “Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot.”

— Margaret Thatcher

46. “It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.”

— Margaret Thatcher

47. “You don’t win by just being against things, you only win by being for things and making your message perfectly clear.”

— Margaret Thatcher

48. “In 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 Thatcher

Featured in: Country Quotes

49. “A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.”

— Margaret Thatcher

50. “Europe will never be like America. Europe is a product of history. America is a product of philosophy.”

— Margaret Thatcher