All from Margaret Thatcher. The first in many ways sums up everything. She said it at the age of nine, upon receiving a school prize:
“I wasn’t lucky. I deserved it.”
In collectivist, leftist, envy-ridden mediocre Britain, those were words you were not supposed to say. They were revolutionary words. And they carried the added benefit of truth. My other faves:
“It will be years – and not in my time – before a woman will lead the party or become Prime Minister,” – 1974.
“In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman,” – 1982.
“I am painted as the greatest little dictator, which is ridiculous – you always take some consultations,” – 1983.
“I can trust my husband not to fall asleep on a public platform and he usually claps in the right places,” – 1978.
But I have to say my truly treasured words from her were among her last as prime minister, as she was dispatched by that brutal machine, the British Conservative Party:
“It’s a funny old world.”
It is, innit?
The Dish 