Margaret Thatcher

We will not take money in taxes from those who work hard and pay it out to those who don't. We are trying to roll back the tide of Socialism. We must get 'stuck in' and sort out our problems in our traditional British way instead of asking the Government to intervene every time.

The power of a highly organised minority is great. But it should not be greater than the power of an elected majority. That is the basis of the democratic contract.

We exploded the myth that Governments can spend their way to economic revival - a half doctrine of Maynard Keynes peddled by those who persistently ignore the other half.

The Socialist myth is that we can make Britain strong by nationalisation and government interference. The truth is that government interference and nationalisation are sapping Britain's strength.

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

I want this country of ours to be a place where those who obey just laws need not go in fear of their jobs or their safety.

The Socialist myth is that wealth is there to be redistributed. The truth is that wealth has to be created.

To young people, I say: "when you visit Eastern Europe, learn from them about the socialist past that didn't work, & tell them about the Conservative future that will. And then come home & tell your friends of the excitement of people who are tasting freedom for the first time".

I believe our way of life is infinitely superior for every human being than any which the Communist creed can offer.

Liberty and property are intricately bound up in our history; and a country that has no property right has no human rights... You cannot have freedom without capital and private property in the hands of the people.

Marx was wrong about the working-class when he wrote his books; and his prescriptions have as little use today as other mid-Victorian arguments have as to what should, or should not, be done.

Terrorism has to be defeated; it cannot be tolerated or side-stepped.

Islamic extremism today, like Bolshevism in the past, is an armed doctrine. It is an aggressive ideology promoted by fanatical, well-armed devotees. And, like Communism, it requires an all-embracing long-term strategy to defeat it.

The Communist Party is like a monstrous parasite which consumes the flesh of its host and leaves behind a shell, which is designed to conceal the change by which the Party has itself become the State.

I am an undiluted admirer of American values and the American dream and I believe they will continue to inspire not just the people of the United States but millions across the face of the globe.

Socialism and political correctness has resurfaced in the language and programmes of "group rights". The process has gone furthest in the United States: though I suspect that if Britain were so foolish as to elect a Labour Government we could quickly catch up.

Conservatives are not in the business of Government to forge a standardised society. In States where that is the aim, political liberty is lost. The task of Government is to provide a framework within which everyone is free to pursue a better life.

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

I believe in Britain. I believe in the British people. I believe in our future.

Because you see, it is not as if you are judged wholly on what you say. You are up against people who deliberately set out to twist what you say to make it mean other things, and that I am afraid is part of the job, part of the world in which one lives.