“There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors… I mean it.”

“It’s passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.”

“I’m back… and you knew I was coming. On my way here I passed a cinema with the sign ‘The Mummy Returns’.”

“You don’t tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.”

“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.”

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

“It pays to know the enemy – not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.”

“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.”

“To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only this to say, ‘You turn if you want; the lady’s not for turning.”

“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.”

“No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.”

“Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.”

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

“There are significant differences between the American and European version of capitalism. The American traditionally emphasizes the need for limited government, light regulations, low taxes and maximum labour-market flexibility. Its success has been shown above all in the ability to create new jobs, in which it is consistently more successful than Europe.”

“It’s a funny old world.”

“What Britain needs is an iron lady.”

“Being prime minister is a lonely job… you cannot lead from the crowd.”

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

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

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

“For every idealistic peacemaker willing to renounce his self-defence in favour of a weapons-free world, there is at least one warmaker anxious to exploit the other’s good intentions.”

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

“Watch your thoughts, for they will become actions. Watch your actions, for they’ll become… habits. Watch your habits for they will forge your character. Watch your character, for it will make your destiny.”

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

“Some Socialists seem to believe that people should be numbers in a State computer. We believe they should be individuals. We are all unequal. No one, thank heavens, is like anyone else, however much the Socialists may pretend otherwise. We believe that everyone has the right to be unequal but to us every human being is equally important.”

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

“They’ve got the usual Socialist disease — they’ve run out of other people’s money.”

“I wasn’t lucky. I deserved it.”

“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.”

“Platitudes? Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.”

“I don’t think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime.”

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

“I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.”

“The battle for women’s rights has been largely won.”

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.”

“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.”

“I too have a certain idea of America. Moreover, I would not feel entitled to say that of any other country, except my own. This is not just sentiment, though I always feel ten years younger – despite the jet-lag – when I set foot on American soil: there is something so positive, generous, and open about the people – and everything actually works. I also feel, though, that I have in a sense a share of America.”

“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 when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.”

“There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.”

“People think that at the top there isn’t much room. They tend to think of it as an Everest. My message is that there is tons of room at the top.”

“A man may climb Everest for himself, but at the summit he plants his country’s flag.”

“It is always important in matters of high politics to know what you do not know. Those who think that they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge.”

“Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.”

“I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand ‘I have a problem, it is the Government’s job to cope with it!’ or ‘I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!’ ‘I am homeless, the Government must house me!’ and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first… There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.”

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

“The choice facing the nation is between two totally different ways of life. And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark, divisive clouds of Marxist socialism and bring together men and women from all walks of life who share a belief in freedom.”

“I just owe almost everything to my father and it’s passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.”

“Whether it is in the United States or in mainland Europe, written constitutions have one great weakness. That is that they contain the potential to have judges take decisions which should properly be made by democratically elected politicians.”

“Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.”