Margaret Thatcher

I don't mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.

Nothing is more obstinate than a fashionable consensus.

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

If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary — not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn't want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.

If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.

The spirit of envy can destroy; it can never build.

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.

The battle for women's rights has been largely won.

Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

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

You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel on infrastructure.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money.

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

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.

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

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.

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