Winston Churchill - biography

“If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country.  And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire.”

“In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.”

“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”

“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd.  Without innovation, it is a corpse.”

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.”

“They told me how Mr Gladstone read Homer for fun, which I thought served him right.”

“The British nation is unique in this respect.  They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.”

“It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.”

“Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot.  Others look on it as a cow they can milk.  Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.”

“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”

“Sir, we must beware of needless innovation, especially when guided by logic.”

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”

“Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular.  This is really the test of civilization.”

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities...  because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary.  It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things.”

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”

“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.”

“Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.”

“Every day you may make progress.  Every step may be fruitful.  Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path.  You know you will never get to the end of the journey.  But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

“Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.  Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

“Never submit to failure.  Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance.  You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world.”

“Now this is not the end.  It is not even the beginning of the end.  But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

“This is no time for ease and comfort.  It is time to dare and endure.”

“We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.”

“We shall not flag or fail.  We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

“What kind of people do they think we are?  Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?”

“A woman once drove me to drink, and I never had the decency to thank her.”

“I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk.”

“I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.”

“I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”

“Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.”

“My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them.”

“Statistics are like a drunk with a lampost: used more for support than illumination.”

“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

“You have enemies?  Good.  That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

“Baldwin thought Europe was a bore, and Chamberlain thought it was only a greater Birmingham.”

“But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age....  Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, This was their finest hour.”

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

“True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.”

“I am prepared to meet my Maker.  Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

“There but for the grace of God goes God.”

“Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into a even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.”

“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe.  No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.  Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

“So they [the Government] go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.”

“When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country.  I make up for lost time when I come home.”

“The price of greatness is responsibility.”

“For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.”

“History is written by the victors.”

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”

“Study history, study history.  In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.”

“If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.”

“In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.”

“A joke is a very serious thing.”

“The truth is incontrovertible.  Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

“We have always found the Irish a bit odd.  They refuse to be English.”

“If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.”

“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”

“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.”

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

“My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.”

“My wife and I tried to breakfast together, but we had to stop or our marriage would have been wrecked.”

“It saves a lot of trouble if, instead of having to earn money and save it, you can just go and borrow it.”

“A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.”

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

“I am an optimist.  It does not seem too much use being anything else.”

“A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.  And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.”

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

“Headmasters have powers at their disposal with which Prime Ministers have never been invested.”

“I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians.  When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.”

“I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament.  The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister.  That is a political statistic.”

“I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.”

“No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections.”

“Politics are very much like war.  We may even have to use poison gas at times.”

“Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous.  In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.”

“Politics is not a game.  It is an earnest business.”

“Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year.  And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.”

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

“To be conservative at 20 is heartless and to be a liberal at 60 is plain idiocy.”

“It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.”

“The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.”

“The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.”

“We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.”

“Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

“Success is never final.”

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

“There is no such thing as a good tax.”

“MacDonald has the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thoughts.”

“A love of tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril; but the new view must come, the world must roll forward.”

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”

“There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.”

“Before Alamein we never had a victory.  After Alamein we never had a defeat.”

“The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.”

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

“You ask, What is our policy?  I will say; It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime.  That is our policy.  You ask, What is our aim?  I can answer with one word: Victory - victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”

“All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”

“He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”

“We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.”

“A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.”

“Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.”

“Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver.  The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.”

“For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank.”

“If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce.”

“In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.”

“Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.  The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.”

“One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called.  I said at once ‘The Unnecessary War’.”

“The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy’s aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure.”

“Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.”

“To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”

“Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness.  A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war.  The cheers of the weak, well-meaning assemblies soon cease to count.  Doom marches on.”

“War is a game that is played with a smile.  If you can’t smile, grin.  If you can’t grin, keep out of the way till you can.”

“War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.”

“When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin.”

“When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.”

“’No comment’ is a splendid expression.  I am using it again and again.”

“Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.”

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

“Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.”

“Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.”

“Don’t talk to me about naval tradition.  It’s nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.”

“Eating words has never given me indigestion.”

“Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”

“Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.”

“For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else.”

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”

“Great and good are seldom the same man.”

“Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.”

“Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt...  We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire.  Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down.  Give us the tools and we will finish the job.”

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

“I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place.”

“I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.”

“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”

“I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded.  In fact, if anything, I am the prod.”

“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”

“I am fond of pigs.  Dogs look up to us.  Cats look down on us.  Pigs treat us as equals.”

“I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel.  He replied, ‘Verify your quotations.’”

“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia.  It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key.  That key is Russian national interest.”

“I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours.  I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.”

“I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.”

“I like a man who grins when he fights.”

“I like pigs.  Dogs look up to us.  Cats look down on us.  Pigs treat us as equals.”

“I never worry about action, but only inaction.”

“I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside.”

“I’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.”

“If heaven is going to be full of people like Hardie, well, the Almighty can have them to himself.”

“If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.”

“If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever.  Use a pile driver.  Hit the point once.  Then come back and hit it again.  Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.”

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

“India is a geographical term.  It is no more a united nation than the Equator.”

“It helps to write down half a dozen things which are worrying me.  Two of them, say, disappear; about two, nothing can be done, so it’s no use worrying, and two perhaps can be settled.”

“It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.”

“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead.  The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.”

“It is no use saying, We are doing our best.  You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”

“It might be said that Lord Rosebery outlived his future by ten years and his past by more than twenty.”

“It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion’s heart.  I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.”

“Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.”

“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.”

“Mr.  Attlee is a very modest man.  Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.”

“Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.”

“No crime is so great as daring to excel.”

“No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.”

“One does not leave a convivial party before closing time.”

“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it.  If you do that, you will double the danger.  But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.”

“Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong.”

“Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”

“Play the game for more than you can afford to lose...  only then will you learn the game.”

“Really I feel less keen about the Army every day.  I think the Church would suit me better.”

“Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.”

“Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.”

“Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.”

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.”

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.”

“The first quality that is needed is audacity.”

“The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.”

“There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.”

“There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.”

“These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived.”

“This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.”

“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years.  To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”

“Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.”

“Unpunctuality if a vile habit, and all my life I have tried to break myself of it.”

“We are all worms.  But I believe that I am a glow-worm.”

“We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years.”

“We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.”

“We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.”

“When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.”

“When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.”

“Who will relieve me of this Wuthering Height?”

“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they’ve tried everything else.”

“[He] looks at foreign affairs through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe.”

Winston Churchill has appeared in the following films:
The Four Just Men (1939)
This Above All (1942)
Divide and Conquer (1943)
The Battle of Britain (1943)
The Nazis Strike (1943)
The Battle of China (1944)
Tunisian Victory (1944)
War Comes to America (1945)
The Weaker Sex (1948)
Something of Value (1957)
Dunkirk (1958)
Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)
The Extraordinary Seaman (1969)
And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
Time After Time (1979)