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.

The remark contrasts governance driven by sentiment with governance grounded in reasoned argument and coherent principles. Read in light of Thatcher’s broader rhetorical style, it frames politics as a contest between emotional appeal and intellectual seriousness, implying that public life suffers when leaders prioritize managing feelings—whether their own, their party’s, or the electorate’s—over engaging with ideas, evidence, and long-term consequences. The quote also functions as a critique of what she saw as evasive or therapeutic politics: substituting empathy-signaling for hard choices. Its significance lies in its enduring relevance to debates about populism, media-driven politics, and whether democratic leadership should persuade through argument or through emotional identification.