Margaret Thatcher was renowned for her no-nonsense turn of phrase.

  • "I wasn't lucky. I deserved it" - Comment on receiving a school prize, aged nine.
  • "There is no alternative" - Comment made on several occasions about her economic policy, giving rise, through the initial letters of the word, to her nickname "Tina".
  • "I am not hard - I'm frightfully soft. But I will not be hounded" - Interview, 1972.
  • "It will be years - and not in my time - before a woman will lead the party or become Prime Minister" - Speech, 1974.
  • "Let our children grow tall, and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so" - Speech in United States in 1975.
  • "I've got a woman's ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it" - Speech, 1975.
  • "I stand before you tonight in my green chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved. The Iron Lady of the Western World? Me? A cold war warrior? Well, yes - if that is how they wish to interpret my defence of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life" - Speech in 1976 after the Kremlin dubbed her the Iron Lady.
  • "Britain is no longer in the politics of the pendulum, but of the ratchet" - Speech to the Institute of Public Relations, 1977.
  • "I can trust my husband not to fall asleep on a public platform and he usually claps in the right places" - Interview, 1978.
  • "Votes do not fall from the trees like ripe plums. They have to be fought for" - Private meeting of Tory candidates before the 1979 general election.
  • "Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country" - Election campaign, 1979.
  • "If a woman like Eva Peron with no ideals can get that far, think how far I can go with all the ideals that I have" - Interview in 1980.
  • "I love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job" - Interview, 1980.
  • "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.
  • "No one would have remembered the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He had money as well" - Television interview, 1980.
  • "A crime is a crime is a crime" - News conference in Saudi Arabia, 1981, rejecting any view that there could be political reasons for IRA terrorism.
  • "We should rejoice at that news" - On the recapture of South Georgia during the Falklands conflict, 1981.
  • "We knew what we had to do and we went about it and did it. Great Britain is great again" - Comment at end of Falklands conflict.
  • "In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman" - Speech 1982.
  • "The battle for women's rights has been largely won" - Interview, 1982.
  • "Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth" - Interview, 1982.
  • "I owe nothing to women's lib" - Interview, 1982.
  • "Victorian values were the values when our country became great" - TV interview, 1982.
  • "I am painted as the greatest little dictator, which is ridiculous - you always take some consultations" - Interview, 1983.
  • "We are the true peace movement" - Interview, 1983.
  • "Oh, I have got lots of human weaknesses. Who hasn't?" - Interview, 1983.
  • "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" - Speech to Scottish Tories, 1983.
  • "The National Health Service is safe in our hands" - Conservative Party conference, 1983.
  • "State socialism is totally alien to the British character" - Interview, 1983.
  • "Young people ought not to be idle. It is very bad for them" - Interview, 1984.
  • "I love being at the centre of things" - Interview, 1984.
  • "This is a man I can do business with" - After her first meeting with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
  • "That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared. And the fact we are gathered here, now, shocked but composed and determined, is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail" - Tory conference, 1984, a few hours after the Brighton bomb outrage which nearly killed her.
  • "This is a day I was not meant to see" - the Sunday following the Brighton bomb.
  • "I think, historically, the term 'Thatcherism' will be seen as a compliment" - Speech, 1985.
  • "Why, Marks and Spencer of course. Doesn't everyone?" - When asked where she bought her underwear, 1986.
  • "I don't mind how much my ministers talk, as long as they do what I say" - Interview, 1987.
  • "There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women, and there are families" - Interview, 1987.
  • "I am certain we will win the election with a good majority. Not that I am ever over-confident" - Comment during 1987 election campaign which she won with a three-figure majority.
  • "I think I have become a bit of an institution - you know the sort of thing people expect to see around the place" - Speech, 1987.
  • "Had we gone the way of France and got 60% of our electricity from nuclear power, we should not have environmental problems" - Speech, 1988.
  • "What's wrong with British water" - When presented with French Perrier water at a lunch in 1989.
  • "We are a grandmother" - On the birth of her grandson, Michael, February, 1989.
  • "The Chancellor is unassailable" - Comment about Nigel Lawson only days before he resigned from the Government in 1989.
  • "I fight on. I fight to win" - Statement on November 21, 1990, after she was forced into a second ballot in the leadership battle, but she in fact withdrew before it occurred.
  • "Having consulted widely among colleagues, I have concluded that the unity of the party and the prospects of victory in a general election would be better served if I stood down to enable Cabinet colleagues to enter the ballot for the leadership" - Statement the following day.
  • "It's a funny old world" - Comment after her decision to quit in November 1990, pointing out that she had never lost an election in her life, yet had been forced to stand down.
  • "I'm enjoying this" - An interjection in a rumbustious speech she made in the Commons only hours after announcing she would quit.
  • "The Mummy returns" - During the 2001 general election campaign after passing a poster publicising a film of that name.