Margaret Thatcher

"I hate feminism. It is poison."

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: you turn if you want to."

"The Falklands belong to us. There is no sort of claim that Argentina has."

"I notice that the people who argue most strenuously that the young should be educated are precisely those who have the least intention of paying for it."

"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."

"Watch your words, they become your thoughts. Watch your thoughts, they become your character."

"When you have mastered numbers, you will in fact no longer be reading numbers any more than you read words when reading a book. You will be reading ideas."

"It pays to know the enemy—not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn them into a friend."

"I do not wish to be reminded that we are living in an age of sexual permissiveness."

"The British people are not merely fond of greatness; they are rather proud to imagine it."

"I claim that the world needs leaders who understand the requirements of moral responsibility."

"Gentlemen, I stand before you tonight as someone who believes that strength is a prerequisite for peace."

"You do not achieve anything without trouble, ever."

"I've always had to work for everything I've got and nothing has been given to me."

"The person who is willing to do the job that others will not do is invariably the one who rises to the top."

"Each generation must maintain the institutions it has inherited or construct them anew."

"I believe our country's greatness lies in its people and in its culture."

"Avoid the perils of prevarication at all costs."

"The problem with making an exception is that it tends to become the rule."

"I have misgivings about institutions—churches, universities, government, and so on—which aspire to act as a conscience for the nation."

"The role of religion is not to provide emotional comfort but to provide moral truth."

"I am not a reluctant convert to free enterprise—it is my life's philosophy."

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

"The world is not governed by logic but by force, and the most important force is the force of ideas."

"My policies are based not on some economics textbook, but on an observation of human nature."

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

"One's life is more formed by books than by any other force."

"I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil."

"The price of greatness is responsibility."

"You have to earn the right to be heard in this world."