"There is no such thing as public money."

[ontheblack]

The article leads off with this:
"No one in the world, with the exception of Ronald Reagan, spoke with as much elegance, eloquence, power, and persuasiveness like the late Margaret Thatcher."

I couldn't agree more. These quotes are excellent, so I posted them all below.

“To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukemia with leeches.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society — from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“We want a society where people are free to make choices, to make mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. This is what we mean by a moral society; not a society where the state is responsible for everything, and no one is responsible for the state.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“My job is to stop Britain from going red.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Socialists cry “Power to the people”, and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean—power over people, power to the State.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Communist regimes were not some unfortunate aberration, some historical deviation from a socialist ideal. They were the ultimate expression, unconstrained by democratic and electoral pressures, of what socialism is all about. … In short, the state [is] everything and the individual nothing.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Of course it’s the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“I owe nothing to Women’s Lib.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Pennies don’t fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Good Conservatives always pay their bills. And on time. Not like the Socialists who run up other people’s bills.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Let us never forget this fundamental truth: The State has no source of money other than the money people themselves earn.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Let me give you my vision: A man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“All corporatism – even when practised in societies where hard work, enterprise and cooperation are as highly valued as in Korea – encourages inflexibility, discourages individual accountability, and risks magnifying errors by concealing them.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Constitutions have to be written on hearts, not just paper.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

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

“Many of our troubles are due to the fact that our people turn to politicians for everything.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“When all the objectives of government include the achievement of equality – other than equality before the law – that government poses a threat to liberty.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Socialism’s results have ranged between the merely shabby and the truly catastrophic – poverty, strife, oppression and, on the killing fields of communism, the deaths this century of perhaps 100 million people. Against that doctrine was set a contrary, conservative belief in a law-governed liberty. It was this view which triumphed with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. Since then, the Left has sought rehabilitation by distancing itself from its past.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

“Marxists get up early to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

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Interesting tidbits about her background (from Wikipedia):

- Her father was a merchant that was also involved in local politics and the Methodist church.

- She got a bachelors degree in chemistry in 1947 and worked as a research chemist.

- While at college, she was influenced by political works such as Friedrich von Hayek's The Road to Serfdom (1944), which condemned economic intervention by government as a precursor to an authoritarian state.

- She qualified as a barrister in 1953 and specialised in taxation. That same year her twins, Carol and Mark, were born.

Her sharp wit made her formidable and entertaining as a Prime Minister while answering questions from the opposition in regularly scheduled sessions with the House of Commons.