“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” — Margaret Thatcher
Other than observing that, of course, this trenchant observation can be applied to a wide variety of arguments beyond the stated one (I usually substitute either the word “rational,” or the word “thoughtful,” or the word “sane,” for the word “political” when I say it to myself), I don’t think I can improve upon it, or that it needs further clarification or explanation.
I think it’s my favorite quote of hers.
But. Perhaps not. Because, there is this:
Or this:
Or this:
God. I miss Maggie. Love her or hate her, she had a way with words. And, as far as I know, she never uttered the “MF” word, the “B” word, or the “P” word, all of which have become part of the daily parlance of twenty-first century politics, in the United States, at least.
Talk about being spoiled for choice.
Now I don’t know what my favorite Attila the Hen quote is. Help me out, please?
Reminds me of something Yaacov Lozowick wrote after Thatcher passed about her visit to Yad Vashem where he was chief archivist at the time.
“In those days I used to meet all sorts of prominent folks and give them tours; I met presidents, prime ministers, and many lesser luminaries. None of them left the impression she did. Her intelligence was so fierce and unusual it was like a physical force, knocking over whatever wasn’t solid enough to withstand it. I don’t remember exactly what it was I showed her – it must have been assorted interesting documents, some Nazi, some Jewish, that was the sort of thing I normally showed in such cases. She saw the essential significance in each of them well before I had finished explaining what they were, and tied them into her understanding of the world. I vividly remember thinking at the time that being one of her aides or ministers must have been unusually demanding, since if you didn’t have total control of whatever it was you were presenting to her she’d have made you feel like an idiot.”
A good insight. Yes, I bet she was a hard taskmaster (mistress?)
Alas, but her eventual downfall is the familiar story trope of the vendetta of the aggrieved. I don’t know how she was personally, in private and away from the spotlight, but I wonder if her wit may have gotten the better of her, and stung enough people around her to have sowed the seeds of eventual disloyalty. I’ve worked with other forces of personality like her (my father is one such example), and their fierce intelligence and determination to see their own visions through often carries others along, but also often breaks relationships and fractures partnerships.