Source: True Grit (1968), Chapter 7, p. 178 : exchange between 'Lucky Ned Pepper' and 'Mattie Ross'
“The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet politburo don't have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns.”
Speech at Kensington Town Hall ("Britain Awake") (19 January 1976) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=102939
In response to this speech, the Soviet Army newspaper Red Star labelled Thatcher "the Iron Lady," a moniker that would stick for the remainder of her political career.
Leader of the Opposition
Context: She's ruled by a dictatorship of patient, far-sighted determined men who are rapidly making their country the foremost naval and military power in the world. They are not doing this solely for the sake of self-defence. A huge, largely land-locked country like Russia does not need to build the most powerful navy in the world just to guard its own frontiers. No. The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet politburo don't have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns. They know that they are a super power in only one sense— the military sense. They are a failure in human and economic terms.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Margaret Thatcher 348
British stateswoman and politician 1925–2013Related quotes

"Meet the Senator Who Filibustered for 15 Hours on Gun Control" http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/meet-the-senator-who-filibustered-for-15-hours-on-gun-control-20160620, RollingStone.com, 20 June 2016.
“This is the guy I'll be thinking about when I put a gun to My head.”
On an elderly man in the front row who had fallen asleep.
A Big, Steaming Pile Of Me

“Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.”

"Dancing in the Dark"
Song lyrics, Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

Daily News (18 February 1905)

Quoted in The Reactionary Mind
2000s