Winston S. Churchill

Quotes

• “I had a feeling once about Mathematics - that I saw it all. Depth beyond depth was revealed to me - the Byss and Abyss. ...”
• “Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measur...”
• “Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy...”
• “The machinery of propaganda may pack their minds with falsehood and deny them truth for many generations of time. But th...”
• “Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of ...”
• “I thought of a remark . . . that the United States is like a 'gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lighted under it there i...”
• “nothing would be more fatal than for the Government of States to get in the hands of experts. Expert knowledge is limite...”
• “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls at...”
• “The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law and particularly to...”
• “I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have will...”
• “If I had been an Italian I am sure that I should have been whole-heartedly with you from the start to finish in your tri...”
• “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, excep...”
• “In the long years to come, not only will the people of this island but of the world, wherever the bird of freedom chirps...”
• “Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can mi...”
• “In every age there comes a time when a leader must come forward to meet the needs of the hour. Therefore, there is no po...”
• “During their lifetimes, every man and woman will stumble across a great opportunity. Sadly, most of them will simply pic...”
• “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 co...”
• “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities – but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of t...”
• “Here was a place where real things were going on. Here was a scene of vital action. Here was a place where anything migh...”
• “A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And t...”
• “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lo...”
• “An old battleax of a woman said to Winston Churchill, "If you were my husband I would put poison in your tea." Churchill...”
• “Woe betide the leaders now perched on their dizzy pinnacles of triumph if they cast away at the conference table what th...”
• “A man must choose his own way of life, and…it is only by following out one’s own bent that there can be the really harmo...”
• “The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In ...”
• “There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues o...”
• “If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave ...”
• “How fortunate it was for the world that when these great trials came upon it there was a generation that terror could no...”
• “If he trips he must be sustained. If he makes mistakes they must be covered. If he sleeps he must not be wantonly distur...”
• “A lady came up to me one day and said 'Sir! You are drunk', to which I replied 'I am drunk today madam, and tomorrow I s...”
• “You make all kinds of mistakes, but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or e...”
• “I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift h...”
• “Churchill kept perspective on the crowds that gathered to hear him speak by conceding they would be twice as big if gath...”
• “Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without vicory ...”
• “So long as I am acting from duty and conviction, I am indifferent to taunts and jeers. I think they will probably do me ...”
• “Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he dem...”
• “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal s...”
• “If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood u...”
• “Extolling the virtues of conservation of energy, Churchill advised, "Never stand when you can sit, and never sit when yo...”
• “When I hear a man say that his childhood was the happiest time of his life, I think (puff) my friend, you have had a pre...”
• “Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl - no superior alternative has yet be...”
• “Of this I am certain, that if we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the fu...”
• “Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his eq...”
• “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 d...”
• “Books, in all their variety, offer the human intellect the means whereby civilization may be carried triumphantly forwar...”
• “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...”
• “...anger is a waste of energy. Steam which is used to blow off a safety valve would be better used to drive an engine.”
• “People stumble over the truth from time to time,but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.”
• “A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.”
• “Democracy is more vindictive than cabinets, the wars of peoples will be more terrible than those of kings.”