The Grendel Report: Margaret Thatcher's best quotes

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Margaret Thatcher's best quotes

Tuesday, Apr 09 20139PM 4°C12AM1°C5-Day Forecast

'Defeat? I do not recognise the meaning of the word!': Margaret Thatcher's best quotes

PUBLISHED:18:51 EST, 8 April 2013| UPDATED:02:41 EST, 9 April 2013

When Margaret Roberts applied for a job with ICI in 1948, an assessment noted that she was 'headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated'. Both before and during her political career Baroness Thatcher gave the world a series of memorable quotes. Here are some of the best:

'I wasn't lucky, I deserved it' – Comment on receiving a school prize aged nine

'If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.' – Speech as an MP in 1965

'It will be years – and not in my time – before a woman will lead the party or become prime minister' – Speech in 1974

Mrs Thatcher gives her closing speech at the Conservative Party Conference following the IRA bombing of a Brighton hotel in 1984

'It's the Labour Government that have brought us record peacetime taxation. They've got the usual Socialist disease – they've run out of other people's money.' – Tory Party Conference, 1975

'Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.' – Election campaign, 1979

'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.' On winning 1979 election

'Pennies don't fall from Heaven – they have to be earned here on Earth.' – Speech at Lord Mayor's Banquet, 1979

'To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.' Speech at Conservative Party Conference, 1980

'I don't mind how much my ministers talk, as long as they do what I say' – Interview, 1980

'No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.' – TV interview, 1980

Pugh cartoon

'My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: An honest day's work for an honest day's pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.' – Interview, 1981

'Defeat? I do not recognise the meaning of the word.' – at the start of the Falklands War, 1982

'Oh, I have lots of human weaknesses. Who hasn't?' – Interview, 1983

'This attack has failed. All attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail.' – At Tory Conference in Brighton after the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel, 1984

'We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty.' – Reacting to the 1984-85 miners strike

'I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.' – Interview, 1989

'We have become a grandmother.' – On the birth of her first grandchild, 1989

'I fight on, I fight to win.' – After failing to win enough votes to avoid a second round in the Conservative leadership contest. She resigned the following day. 1990

'It's a funny old world...' – Comment on her decision to resign, November 1990

'On my way here I passed a local cinema and it turns out you were expecting me after all, for the billboards read "The Mummy Returns".' – Conservative election rally, 2001

'I might have preferred iron, but bronze will do. It won't rust.' – Unveiling of statue to herself in the House of Commons, 2007

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