Margaret Thatcher Zitate

seite 11

„So etwas wier die Gesellschaft gibt es nicht. Es gibt nur einzelne Männer und Frauen und es gibt Familen. Keine Regierung kann existieren, ohne dass die Menschen zunächst für sich selbst sorgen.“

„Es stört mich nicht, was meine Minister sagen, solange sie tun, was ich ihnen sage.“

„Das Rückgrat ist bei manchen Politikern unterentwickelt – vielleicht weil es so wenig benutzt wird.“

„Wir bitten nicht die Gemeinschaft oder sonst jemanden um Geld. Wir wollen einfach unser eigenes Geld zurück.“

„Nicht einer würde sich an den Guten Samariter erinnern, wenn der nur gute Absichten gehabt hätte. Er hatte auch Geld.“

„Meinen Erfolg habe ich vor allem der zuverlässigen Unterstützung durch meinen Mann zu verdanken.“

„Wenn Sie in der Politik etwas sagen wollen, fragen Sie einen Mann. Wenn Sie etwas erledigen möchten, fragen Sie eine Frau.“

„Wenn Sie in der Politik etwas gesagt haben wollen, fragen Sie einen Mann. Wenn Sie etwas getan haben wollen, fragen Sie eine Frau.“

„Der Thatcherismus wird überleben, weil er eine Sache des gesunden Menschenverstandes ist.“

„Die Dame lässt sich nicht verbiegen.“

„Es ist nicht Sache eines Politikers, allen zu gefallen.“

„Folge nicht anderen, lass andere dir folgen.“

„Für mich bedeutete die Wiedervereinigung ein völlig verändertes Europa. Genau das ist eingetreten.“

„Wenn ich etwas in der Politik verabscheue, dann den Typ des Aals, der sich vor lauter Geschmeidigkeit am liebsten selbst in sein Hinterteil beißen würde.“

„Europa wurde von der Geschichte gegründet. Amerika von der Philosophie.“

„Konsens erscheint mir als ein Prozess des Überbordwerfens aller Überzeugungen, Prinzipien, Werte und Grundsätze.“

„Jede Frau, die versteht einen Haushalt zu führen, wird dem Verständnis des Problems, ein Land zu führen, näher sein.“

„Wenn man die Hälfte seines politischen Lebens mit stumpfsinnigen Angelegenheiten wie der Umwelt zu tun hatte, ist es aufregend, eine richtige Krise an der Hand zu haben.“

„So etwas wie eine Gesellschaft gibt es nicht.“

„Wir haben aufgehört, eine Nation auf dem Rückzug zu sein.“

„Rückzug ist manchmal eine erforderliche Taktik. Als dauerhafte Politik aber nagt er an der Seele.“

„Zweimal haben wir die Deutschen geschlagen. Jetzt sind sie wieder da.“

„Es ist doch klar: Ihr Deutschen wollt nicht Deutschland in Europa verankern. Ihr wollt den Rest Europas in Deutschland verankern.“

„Geld fällt nicht vom Himmel. Man muss es sich hier auf Erden verdienen.“

„Folge nie der Menge, nur weil du Angst hast, anders zu sein.“

„Ich verschwende keine Zeit auf Argumente.“

„Ich glaube nicht, dass es zu meinen Lebzeiten einen weiblichen Premierminister geben wird.“

„Man muss eine Schlacht oft mehr als einmal schlagen, ehe man sie gewonnen hat.“

„Toleranz lernt man am besten in der Ehe. Unverheiratete Politiker haben davon keine Ahnung.“

„Ich kämpfe, ich kämpfe, um zu gewinnen.“

„Ihr könnt umkehren, wenn ihr wollt. Die Lady wird nicht umkehren.“

„Halten Sie mal die Luft an.“

„So leicht sind wir nicht zu dominieren, wir bestimmt nicht.“

„Wenn ich mich noch mal entscheiden könnte, würde ich nicht wieder in die Politik gehen. Das hat meine Familie kaputtgemacht.“

„Wir fordern einen Großteil unseres Geldes zurück.“

“I do not believe that people who go on strike in this country have a legitimate cause. Throughout the period of the Labour Government and this one, I have never supported any strikes in this country.”

“Last week, Mr President, I seemed to hear a strange sound emanating from Blackpool. And I thought at first it was seagulls. [laughter] Then I remembered that Labour was holding its annual Conference there. And I realised it wasn't seagulls, it was chickens—[laughter and applause] chickens being counted before they were hatched—[laughter and applause] except for Labour's call to enter the ERM and cut interest rates. That was a case of counting chickens after they'd flown the coop. Then, I heard voices getting all worked up about someone they kept calling the “Prime Minister in Waiting”. [laughter] It occurs to me, Mr President, that he might have quite a wait. [applause] I can see him now, like the people queuing up for the Winter sales. All got up with his camp bed, hot thermos, woolly balaclava, CND badge… [laughter and applause] Waiting, waiting, waiting… And then when the doors open, in he rushes—only to find that, as always, there's “that woman” ahead of him again. [applause and laughter] I gather there may be an adjective between “that” and “woman” [laughter] only no-one will tell me what it is. [laughter and applause]”

“I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air—the rather nauseating stench of appeasement.”

“Member for Islwyn was going to have a single currency willy-nilly. He has already made up his mind. The argument that he uses is that, if others have it, we must. That is an argument for a flock of sheep, not for people who are sent here to analyse the problem and to use our minds and our reason to say which course we should follow.”

“I don't know by whom we might be threatened. What I do know is a government [sic] we have to be prepared for any eventuality, and I do know that possessions of those nuclear weapons has kept the peace between nuclear powers far better than the possession of conventional weapons did. You know when we only had conventional weapons Europe was at war again with 21–22 years. We have had 38 years peace and in another four or five years we will have the longest period of peace in Europe for centuries. That, to me, is the greatest prize of all, and…I'm prepared to allocate that expenditure to keep peace for the people for whom I'm responsible.”

“The President of the Commission, M. Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community, he wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No. No. No.”

“If they do not wish to confer the honour, I am the last person who would wish to receive it.”

“The kind of Conservatism which he and I…favoured would be best described as "liberal", in the old-fashioned sense. And I mean the liberalism of Mr Gladstone not of the latter day collectivists. That is to say, we placed far greater confidence in individuals, families, businesses and neighbourhoods than in the State.”

“Paddy Ashdown: …this is an agreement which the right hon. Lady will be entitled to regard with a certain pride and satisfaction as she looks back on the twilight days of her premiership…”

“The battle of the Falklands was a remarkable military operation, boldly planned, bravely executed, and brilliantly accomplished. We owe an enormous debt to the British forces and to the Merchant Marine. We honour them all. They have been supported by a people united in defence of our way of life and of our sovereign territory.”

“I am a great admirer of Professor Hayek. Some of his books are absolutely supreme—“The Constitution of Liberty” and the three volumes on “Law, Legislation and Liberty”—and would be well read by almost every hon. Member.”

“[It is a] killing field of the like of which I thought we would never see in Europe again [and is] not worthy of Europe, not worthy of the west and not worthy of the United States… This is happening in the heart of Europe and we have not done more to stop it. It is in Europe's sphere of influence. It should be in Europe's sphere of conscience… We are little more than an accomplice to massacre.”

“We have brought three words—freedom, choice, opportunity—into the centre of the political debate. And we have exposed the language of Socialism, the gloss they put on words to conceal their true meaning. For instance, Socialists say “publicly owned”. What they mean is “State controlled”. Socialists say “Government aid”. What they mean is “taxpayers' aid”. Socialists say “social justice”. What they mean is “selective justice”. Socialists say “equality.” What they mean is “levelling down”. Why do they twist the truth like this? Because they dare not spell out the Socialist reality. One way to destroy capitalism, said Lenin, was to devalue its currency. Another way is to debase its language. Whenever we can, let us, like Luther, nail the truth to the door—and let us do it in unambiguous English. These are the opening rounds in the battle of ideas. It is a battle that we are winning.”

“It is traditional conservatism…It is radical, because at the time when I took over we needed to be radical. I would not call it populist. I may say many of the things that I have said strike a chord in the hearts of ordinary people. Why? Because they are British. Because their character is independent. They do not like to be shoved around. Because they are prepared to take responsibility. Because they do expect to be loyal to their friends and loyal allies. You call it populist. I say it strikes a chord in the hearts of people. I know, because it struck a chord in my heart many many years ago.”

“Socialists then shift the ground for taking industries into “public ownership”. They then tell us that some industries cannot survive any longer unless they are taken into public ownership, allegedly to protect the public from the effects of their collapse. It all sounds so cosy, and so democratic. But is it true? No, of course it isn't. The moment ownership passes into the name of the public is the moment the public ceases to have any ownership or accountability, and often the moment when it ceases to get what it wants. But it is invariably the moment when the public starts to pay. Pays to take the industry over. Pays the losses by higher taxes. Pays for inefficiencies in higher prices.”

“Today we are coming to realise that an epoch in history is over…For more than forty years that Iron Curtain remained in place. Few of us expected to see it lifted in our life-time. Yet with great suddenness the impossible has happened. Communism is broken, utterly broken…We do not see this new Soviet Union as an enemy, but as a country groping its way towards freedom. We no longer have to view the world through a prism of East-West relations. The Cold War is over.”

“It is generally acknowledged that the Government are running, in the Maze prison, one of the most liberal and humane prison regimes anywhere…What hunger strikers are asking for—the one who died last was in fact a murderer; let us not mince our words—is political status by easy stages. They cannot have it. They are murderers and people who use force and violence to obtain their ends. They have made perfectly clear what they want. They cannot and will not have it.”

“Unfortunately in our education system youngsters are still not given sufficient encouragement to go into industry or commerce and not told that it is a good thing to make an honest profit. They should be told that if you don't make a profit, you won't be in business very long because you haven't anything to plow back for tomorrow. You make your profit by pleasing others so you have to make it honestly.”

“I can't bear Britain in decline. I just can't.”

“This is what we believe.”

“Marxism has had it.”

“The fightback begins now!”

“I hope to go on and on.”

“You've really outlined an approval of what I would call Victorian value.”

“The lady is not for turning.”

“When you fight – fight to win.”

“Don't allow tyrants and aggressors to get away with it”

“Don't take public opinion for granted – but don't either underrate the degree to which good people will endure sacrifices for a worthwhile cause”

“Don't fall into the trap of imagining that the West can remake societies”