Discours prononcé initialement en 1950 à Dartford
Les chemins du pouvoir, Mémoires II, 1995
Margaret Thatcher:
354
citations
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J'aime
Margaret Thatcher citations célèbres
français
Discours de Bornemouth, 10 octobre 1986
The lady is not for turning
Propos tenus dans un discours devant le Conseil central de son parti, en octobre 1980
10 Downing Street, Mémoires, 1993
Propos tenus dans un discours devant le Conseil central de son parti, en mars 1990
10 Downing Street, Mémoires, 1993
français
Discours de Bornemouth, 10 octobre 1986
Margaret Thatcher: Citations en anglais
Speech to Christian Democratic Union Conference (25 May 1976) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103034
Leader of the Opposition
Contexte: In some European countries, we now see Communist parties dressed in democratic clothes and speaking with soft voices. Of course we hope that their oft-proclaimed change of heart is genuine. But every child in Europe knows the story of little Red Riding Hood and what happened to her in her grandmother's cottage in the forest. Despite the new look of these Communist parties, despite the softness of their voices, we should be on the watch for the teeth and the appetite of the wolf.
“You can't build a secure future on dishonest money.”
Speech to Conservative Party Conference (11 October 1985) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106145
Second term as Prime Minister
Contexte: We will not reflate... Past governments have tried that. Past governments have deliberately created inflation in the hope of reducing unemployment. It always finished up with worse inflation and worse unemployment. Mr President, You can't build a secure future on dishonest money. And there is a fundamental truth, from which no government can escape.
“We who believe in strong defence are the true peace party.”
Speech to Young Conservative Conference (12 February 1983) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105252
First term as Prime Minister
Contexte: Peace is not bought cheaply. It cannot be won without cost. The cost of Britain's defence is the price we pay to prevent war. The money for our armed services is truly our “peace tax”. What a cruel irony it is that the word “peace” has been hijacked by those who seek one-sided disarmament. It's ironic because if only one side disarms, the other is far more tempted to aggression. Unilateralism makes war more likely. We who believe in strong defence are the true peace party.
Speech to Conservative Party Conference (12 October 1990) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108217
Third term as Prime Minister
Contexte: Now again in the sands of the Middle East, principle is at stake. Mr President, dictators can be deterred, they can be crushed—but they can never be appeased. These things are not abstractions. What changed the world and what will save the world were principle and resolve. Our principles: freedom, independence, responsibility, choice—these and the democracy built upon them are Britain's special legacy to the world. And everywhere those who love liberty look to Britain. When they speak of parliaments they look to Westminster. When they speak of justice they look to our common law. And when they seek to regenerate their economies, they look to the transformation we British have accomplished. Principles and resolve: They are what changed Britain a decade ago. They are what the Conservative Party brings to Britain. And they alone can secure her freedom and prosperity in the years ahead.
Speech to Conservative Rally in Cardiff (16 April 1979) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104011
Leader of the Opposition
Contexte: As Conservatives we believe that recovery can only come through the work of individuals. We mustn't forever take refuge behind collective decisions. Each of us must assume our own responsibilities. What we get and what we become depends essentially on our own efforts. For what is the real driving force in society? It's the desire for the individual to do the best for himself and his family. People don't go out to work for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. They go out to work for their family, for their children, to help look after their parents... That's the way society is improved, by millions of people resolving that they'll give their children a better life than they've had themselves. And there's just no substitute for this elemental human instinct, and the worst possible thing a Government can do is to try to smother it completely with a sort of collective alternative. They won't work, they can't work. They crush and destroy something precious and vital in the nation and in the individual spirit.
Statement on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street, after her election as Prime Minister, as quoted at On this day (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/4/newsid_2503000/2503195.stm. (This is a paraphrasing of a prayer commonly misattributed to St. Francis of Assisi.)
First term as Prime Minister
Source: [Who wrote Prayer of St. Francis? Doubtful it was friar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 January 2009, 28 July 2019, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-1n27prayer00320-who-wrote-prayer-st-francis-doubtf-2009jan27-htmlstory.html, Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy.]
Source: [The real prayer of Francis of Assisi, Howse, Christopher, The Daily Telegraph, 12 April 2013, 28 July 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9991301/The-real-prayer-of-Francis-of-Assisi.html, That was written in 1912, in French, and published in a pious magazine edited by Fr Esther Bouquerel. It was attributed to St Francis in 1927 through its having been printed on the back of a picture of the saint.]
Source: [Who wrote Prayer of St. Francis? Doubtful it was friar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 January 2009, 28 July 2019, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-1n27prayer00320-who-wrote-prayer-st-francis-doubtf-2009jan27-htmlstory.html, An article published last week in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said the prayer in its current form dates only from 1912, when it appeared in a French Catholic periodical. ... Although news to many, the truth about the prayer had apparently been hiding in plain sight. “No one among the Franciscans ever thought it really was by St. Francis,” said Giovanni Maria Vian, the editor of L'Osservatore Romano.]
Speech to Conservative Party Conference (12 October 1984) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105763
Second term as Prime Minister
Contexte: In the Conservative Party, we have no truck with outmoded Marxist doctrine about class warfare. For us, it is not who you are, who your family is or where you come from that matters. It is what you are and what you can do for our country that counts. That is our vision.
“Failure? Do you remember what Queen Victoria once said? “Failure—the possibilities do not exist”.”
TV Interview for ITN (5 April 1982) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104913 regarding the Falkland Islands
First term as Prime Minister
Contexte: I am not talking about failure, I am talking about my supreme confidence in the British fleet... superlative ships, excellent equipment, the most highly trained professional group of men, the most honourable and brave members of Her Majesty's Service. Failure? Do you remember what Queen Victoria once said? “Failure—the possibilities do not exist”. That is the way we must look at it, with all our professionalism, all our flair and every single bit of native cunning, every single bit of professionalism and all our equipment and we must go out calmly, quietly, to succeed.
“Which is the one most likely to get results? The one who says, come on you can do it. That's me.”
Radio Interview for IRN (28 November 1980) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104452
First term as Prime Minister
Contexte: It's like a nurse looking after an ill patient. Which is the better nurse? The one who smothers the patient with sympathy and says ‘never mind, dear, there there, you just lie back and I'll bring you all your meals. I'll bring you all your papers. Just lie back, I'll look after you’? Or the nurse who says ‘Now, come on. Shake out of it. I know you've had an operation yesterday. It's time you put your feet to the ground and took a few steps. That's right, dear, that's right. Now get back and take a few more tomorrow’... Which is the one most likely to get results? The one who says, come on you can do it. That's me.
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
This quote is widely attributed to Margaret Thatcher on various websites, and also appears in a number of books, including The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Columbia University Press (1989), ed. Robert Andrews, p. 320 : ISBN 0231069901. 9780231069908 , but without any further source information such as date, location or any other context.
One valid Thatcher quote which may be the basis for the version above appears in the Second Carlton Lecture http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105799 (‘Why Democracy Will Last’), delivered at the Carlton Club, London (November 26, 1984) : Mr. Chairman, each generation has to stand up for democracy. It can’t take anything for granted and may have to fight fundamental battles anew. You know that marvellous quotation from Goethe : ‘That which thy fathers bequeathed thee / Earn it anew if thou would possess it.’
Thatcher also expressed this thought in a Speech to Atlantic Bridge (May 14, 2003) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111266, delivered at the St. Regis Hotel, New York City : My friends, every generation has to fight anew the battle for liberty.
Disputed
“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”
Variante: I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.” - Margaret Thatcher
Interview for Press Association (3 May 1989) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107427
Third term as Prime Minister
From an interview for Italian television (RAI) (10 March 1986) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106223
Second term as Prime Minister
Contexte: In my work, you get used to criticisms. Of course you do, because there are a lot of people trying to get you down, but I always cheer up immensely if one is particularly wounding because I think well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. That is why my father always taught me: never worry about anyone who attacks you personally; it means their arguments carry no weight and they know it.
“When I'm out of politics I'm going to run a business, it'll be called 'rent-a-spine.”
Quoted from an interview for the television programme "The Thatcher Years - Part 2" on BBC1 The Thatcher Years 2 of 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEYPKLyug5c (13 october 1993)
Post-Prime Ministerial
“No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.”
TV Interview for London Weekend Television Weekend World (6 January 1980) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=104210
First term as Prime Minister
Reacting to doubt over her economic policies http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10/newsid_2541000/2541071.stm at a Conservative Party Conference (10 October 1980)
A play on The Lady's Not for Burning, a 1948 play by Christopher Fry about a witchcraft trial.
First term as Prime Minister
Speech to Conservative Election Rally in Plymouth (22 May, 2001) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108389
Post-Prime Ministerial
Variante: 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.
Source: Margaret Thatcher
TV Interview for BBC2 Newsnight (27 July 1984) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105565
Second term as Prime Minister
